Do Advanced Placement Courses Provide a More Rigorous High School Experience?

• In Event: Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: Programs for the Gifted, Creative, and Talented

Abstract

Do Advanced Placement courses indicate a more rigorous high school academic experience? If AP courses are more rigorous, we would expect AP students to have slightly lower GPAs. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study data set and propensity scores to match AP students to non-AP students with similar curricula, we found that AP course-taking does not result in lower 12th grade GPAs, and is actually associated with a small .08 increase in cumulative (9th–12th grade) academic GPA—the opposite of what would be expected for more rigorous coursework. The extra emphasis the college admissions process gives to AP course participation may not be warranted and may increases inequities for students who have less access to AP participation.

Authors

• Craig L. Esposito, Goodwin College

• Anysia P. Mayer, California State University - Stanislaus