Preparing Students for Advanced Placement: An Evaluation of the Academic Contributions of Enrollment in Pre-AP Middle School Programs

Over the past 20 years, the College Board has expanded its Advanced Placement program to consist of over 30 courses offered to millions of students throughout the United States. While more students are enrolling in AP courses, the percentage of students passing the exams has declined. With students enrolling in the Advanced Placement courses as early as ninth grade, middle schools now have an increased responsibility in preparing students for the rigors of the AP program. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the academic contributions of enrollment in a Pre-AP middle school social studies program on student performance on Advanced Placement exams in high school. A Pre-AP middle school social studies program created by the researcher was examined in this study. The mixed method approach used in this study examined both quantitative data in the form of student scores on the AP World History and AP United States History exams and qualitative data in the form of interviews conducted with AP United States History teachers in the researcher's school district. The quantitative data were collected to demonstrate the academic contributions to student performance on the AP exams while the qualitative data were collected to provide insight into the expectations, pedagogical approach, and instructional strategies utilized by AP teachers. The quantitative data revealed that enrollment in the Pre-AP program contributed to increased passing rates, mean scores, and percentage of level 4 and 5 scores on both the AP World History and AP United States History exams as compared to students from local districts and the researcher's district who were not enrolled in a Pre-AP program while in middle school. The qualitative data also revealed a close alignment between the Pre-AP middle school social studies course and the best practices espoused by the College Board and the AP United States History teachers interviewed in this study. This close alignment in expectations, instruction, and assessment practices may provide an understanding for the variance in AP scores. This study shows that Pre-AP programs in middle school can contribute to increased student performance on AP exams taken in high school. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]