Advanced placement (AP) courses are college-level courses taught with the same texts and at a similar speed to normal college courses. Like honors classes, AP courses implement curricula at a faster, more intensive pace than comparative high school classes. AP courses provide an excellent opportunity to prepare for the college experience. Increasing numbers of college-bound students use it for such experience.
College Preparation
The benefits of being enrolled in AP coursework stretch beyond the college preparatory experience. The college admissions process is becoming more competitive each year. Factors such as coursework, grade point average (GPA), SAT scores, and AP test scores are becoming increasingly significant in determining a student's acceptance into college. AP students benefit from an extra GPA point added to grades from their advanced courses. In addition, since AP courses follow a standard curriculum across the U.S. and end with national AP exams, AP courses are the prime...
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Suggested Reading
Camara, W. J., & Schmidt, A. E. (1999). Group differences in standardized testing and social stratification. College Board Report No. 99–105. Retrieved September 27, 2006 from http://www.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/rr9905_3916.pdf
Contreras, F. E. (2005). Access, achievement, and social capital: Standardized exams and the Latino college-bound population. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 4(3), 197–214.
Klopfenstein, K. (2004). Advanced placement: Do minorities have equal opportunity? Economics of Education Review, 23(2), 115–131.
Solórzano, D. G., & Ornelas, A. (2002). A critical race analysis of Advanced Placement classes: A case of educational inequality. Journal of Latinos Education, 1(4), 215–229.
Solorzano, D. G., & Ornelas, A. (2004). A critical race analysis of Latina/o and African American advanced placement enrollment in public high schools. High School Journal, Feb/Mar, 15–26.
Suggested Resources
CollegeBoard—www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/about.html: This national website offers information on AP and other resources involved in college preparation.
United States Department of Education—http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/2004/03/03302004a.html: The United States Department of Education offers AP Incentive Program grants to eligible organizations to assist them in increasing the participation of low-income students in pre-AP and AP courses and tests.
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Weiss-DeBoer, E., Carlson, J.S. (2010). Advanced Placement. In: Clauss-Ehlers, C.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cross-Cultural School Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71799-9_14
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