What Constitutes Rigor in High-School AP Courses?

In this American Educational Research Journal article, Walter Parker, Jane Lo, Angeline Jude Yeo, Sheila Valencia, Diem Nguyen, Robert Abbott, Susan Nolen, John Bransford, and Nancy Vye (University of Washington) report on their comparison of traditional Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics courses and more project-based courses on the same content in 12 classrooms in four high schools. Their conclusion: the traditional AP course “emphasizes fast, superficial learning at the expense of meaningful learning, which is problematic because meaningful learning appears to increase the likelihood of adaptive transfer… We believe that gearing advanced high-school courses on government and politics toward depth of understanding, engagement, and adaptive expertise rather than bare-bones test prep actually matters. It matters not only for student learning but also for democratic institutions such as independent judiciary, checks and balances, and equality under the law. These institutions require agents – citizens – for their maintenance and invigoration. The AP platform places severe limits on this aim by packing too much curriculum into a single course and then capping it with a high-stakes, breadth-oriented exam.”

“Beyond Breadth-Speed-Test: Toward Deeper Knowing and Engagement in an Advanced Placement Course” by Walter Parker, Jane Lo, Angeline Jude Yeo, Sheila Valencia, Diem Nguyen, Robert Abbott, Susan Nolen, John Bransford, and Nancy Vye in American Educational Research Journal, December 2013 (Vol. 50, #6, p. 1424-1459),

http://aer.sagepub.com/content/50/6/1424.abstract; Parker can be reached at denver@uw.edu. 

From the Mrshall Memo #514