How College Students Use Advanced Placement Credit

Abstract

Millions of high school students take Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which can provide college credit. Using nationally representative data, I identify a diverse set of higher education outcomes that are related to receipt of AP college credit. Institution fixed effects regression reduces bias associated with varying AP credit policies and student sorting across higher education. Results indicate college credits earned in high school are related to reduced time to degree, double majoring, and taking more advanced coursework. Bounding exercises suggest the time to degree and double major outcomes are not likely driven by bias from unobserved student characteristics. Policies used to support earning college credits while in high school appear to enhance undergraduate education and may accelerate time to degree. ABSTRACT AUTHORS VERSION AbstractMillions of high school students take Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which can provide college credit. Using nationally representative data, I identify a diverse set of higher education outcomes that are related to receipt of AP college credit. Institution fixed effects regression reduces bias associated with varying AP credit policies and student sorting across higher education. Results indicate college credits earned in high school are related to reduced time to degree, double majoring, and taking more advanced coursework. Bounding exercises suggest the time to degree and double major outcomes are not likely driven by bias from unobserved student characteristics. Policies used to support earning college credits while in high school appear to enhance undergraduate education and may accelerate time to degree.

Studying the Relationships Between the Number of APs, AP Performance, and College Outcomes

“…The results of this study suggest that the benefits from AP participation and performance are positively associated with first‐year college performance and likelihood to complete a BA degree within 4 years. The effect of AP on degree attainment could be due, in part, to faster accumulation of college credits from passing AP exams (Evans, ). We also find that the largest associated increases in FYGPA and BA completion rates come from students taking their first and second AP exams, and from earning a 3 or higher on their first and second AP exams.…”

Oral proficiency levels of first‐year entering college students with and without Advanced Placement scores

“…Finally, the foreign language profession has yet to fully explore how students use their foreign language AP scores. A fascinating study of how college students use AP credits examined critical issues involving a number of dilemmas (Evans, 2019). First, it is well known that many students face economic pressures upon entering college.…”

From Interpretation to Instructional Practice: A Network Study of Early-Career Teachers’ Sensemaking in the Era of Accountability Pressures and Common Core State Standards

“…The term θ j represents 9 fixed effects for the teachers who appeared in our sample in more than 1 year and whose fixed effects estimates were statistically different from those of the group of teachers measured only once (including 34 fixed effects for all teachers who participated in more than 1 year would have overtaxed the degrees of freedom). Fixed effects account for the dependencies due to repeated observations on a given teacher (Wooldridge, 2010) and have been used extensively in education research (e.g., Evans, 2019; Hurwitz et al, 2019; Ronfeldt et al, 2013). The term α y represents the fixed effects for the year of data collection as well as a single fixed effect for Year 3 in a specific district that had a dramatic change in curriculum and corresponding professional development.…”