Rethinking Rigor in High School Coursework: Toward Deep Knowing and Equity in “Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics”

• In Event: Moving Advanced High School Courses to Poverty-Impacted Urban Settings: Multidisciplinary Research on Rigor, Access, Learning, and Engagement

Abstract

Objective and Perspective. This paper reports research from the first two years of the project (2008-2010). During these years—one for initial development and implementation, a second for refinement—the research team co-developed with teachers a project-based version of the AP U.S. Government and Politics course (APGOV) course. The aim was to achieve greater depth of understanding and more active engagement by a broader array of students. The context was a suburban public school district with a strong AP course-taking culture, but with high schools of varying achievement histories (high and moderate, based on past AP test scores, PSAT, GPA, and the state reading test) and student populations (10% and 30% free and reduced lunch ratios, for example). Theoretically, the study provides a conceptual framework for penetrating the notorious breadth/depth tension in AP courses while enabling a broader range of students to experience success, and doing so without diminishing the rigor of the course but, by design, increasing it. In this study, we asked (1) Is it possible in the experimental course to achieve same or better scores on the AP test than in a traditionally taught AP course? (2) Is it possible also to achieve deeper kind of knowing than that measured by the AP test? The measure for the former was the College Board administered AP test; the measure for the latter was a complex-scenario test of adaptive expertise (e.g., Bransford et al., 2000; Hatano & Inagaki, 1986) that was developed by the research team.

Methods. The study was a mixed-methods nonrandomized ‘design experiment’ (Brown, 1992) with statistically matched intervention and control groups. The treatment was an alternative, project-based approach to AP coursework based on principles from How People Learn (Bransford et al., 2000) and project-based learning (e.g., Darling-Hammond et al., 2008). Involved in these two years were 613 students across five high schools located in two suburban public school districts. Two of the schools, one high-achieving and one moderate-achieving, implemented the treatment; the other three were controls. In addition to the two quantitative measures (above), individual and group interviews with treatment teachers and students were conducted across the two years.

Findings. Quantitative findings indicate that a course of quasi-repetitive, content-rich project cycles unified by a master course question can lead to same or higher scores on the AP exam along with deeper learning. Qualitative findings suggest that AP students (both ‘veterans’ and newcomers) need to be oriented to a new kind of coursework. Also, in-class supports (e.g., for reading, writing, and collaborative work) are needed if a wider array of students are to be successful in the course. Additionally, interviews revealed that students toggled, sometimes creatively, between several “two world” tensions: between AP test-prep and project involvement, between school work and “real life,” between high school learning and (imagined) college learning, and between what were, for them, conventional and unconventional ways of “doing school.” Findings from year one were used to refine the course in year two.

Authors

• Walter C. Parker, University of Washington - Seattle

• Angeline Jude Enk Sung Yeo, University of Washington

• Jane C Lo, Florida State University