ADVANCED PLACMENT COURSES AND IB PROGRAMS: THEIR ROLE IN SERVICES FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

1. ADVANCED PLACMENT COURSES AND IB PROGRAMS:THEIR ROLE IN SERVICES FOR GIFTED STUDENTS Carolyn Callahan University of Virginia cmc@virginia.edu

2. Background and Philosophies of the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs

3. Advanced Placement Courses • Response to Ford Foundation early college entrance program • Not developed as a program or courses for gifted students or with any specific philosophy of gifted • Originally for seniors only

4. Exponential Growth in AP

5. International Baccalaureate • Response to international educators • Standard college preparatory program with standard international college entrance exam—Diploma Program • Originally for gifted students

6. Changes in IB • Originally only at the high school level • Have added Middle Years Program and Primary Program • May now elect IB Career-Related Certificate • Now also available online

7. International Baccalaureate 2011 • total of 2283 schools offered the DP • 61,894 students registered in DP programs

8. APPROVALS • AP –now requires course syllabus approval • IB –school must apply and meet standards set by IB for teaching faculty and financial commitment

9. Currently • Serve as the primary “gifted” program options at the high school level

10. Research on AP & IB Courses

11. FRAMEWORK FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE RESEARCH

12. Major questions addressed in research on AP and IB Impacts of AP and IB on: • Student satisfaction • Learning outcomes • Success in college

13. Data Sources • Surveys of student and teacher satisfaction • Data on college success • Appropriateness of AP and IB for minority students • Studies have not been constructed in ways that allow examination of differential effects on gifted students

14. OUR SPECIFIC STUDY

15. Research Questions • How do teachers conceptualize and implement curriculum, instruction, and assessment for high-end learners in AP and IB classrooms? • To what extent do the environments created by AP and IB programs and courses meet the needs of gifted learners, including those from traditionally under-served populations?

16. Data Sources • Classroom observations • Interviews: • Teacher interviews (individual and focus groups) • Focus group interviews with participating students • Interviews with eligible but non-participating students (focus groups and individual) • Administrator interviews • Document analysis • Observer field notes

17. Sample • 23 high schools from 7 states including CA • High schools represent varied metropolitan areas, student SES, cultural groups, scope of programs (AP, IB, both AP and IB, other services) • Approximately 200 teachers, 300 students, 25 administrators/coordinators, 8 counselors • Included both students in AP and IB courses and students who had once been, but were no longer enrolled

18. So… what did we learn? And how did our findings corroborate other researchers’ findings?

19. No simple answers to our questions

20. Sometimes our data was supportive of use of AP and IB as options for gifted students; but with many caveats

21. AP and IB Teacher Themes

22. AP and IB teachers: • Veteran teachers

23. Enjoy teaching AP and IB classes • BUT • Challenged by teaching AP and IB

24. Student Perceptions • Dedicated • Hardworking • Highly motivated • Usually, but not always, “good teachers”

25. Student Voices: AP teachers “She uses a curriculum that is way below AP level or even honors level… she’s used to dealing with kids who don’t want to learn anything, and that’s kind of the way she treats us. I feel like she treats us like we’re in elementary school.” (Student Interview, Mill Valley HS) BACK

26. TRAINING Inconsistently trained

27. Perceptions of the Curriculum Identify many advantages to teaching these courses Believe their courses provide college-level challenge

28. Perceptions of the Curriculum Extraordinary pressure to teach to the exams

29. Exam Pressure “When you keep hearing, you know, you’ve got to make these scores, you’ve got to have this many pass... you keep finding yourself going back to that idea of… okay, I’ve got to teach them this, this, and this, and well, this part of this isn’t tested, so I’ll leave that out and I’ll teach it to them next year.” (Teacher Interview, Swingback HS) NEXT

30. Other corroborating studies • Experienced AP science teachers felt a need to adopt a “strong lecture format and minimize time-consuming, student-centered activities such as laboratory experiments, student projects, and student presentations • 1/3 of the AP science teachers participating in the Herr study judged the pace of AP to be too fast and indicated a preference to switch to honors if given a choice. • Also indicated that they failed to spend time on topics that piqued the interests of students because of demands to cover large amounts of material

31. A Tale of Two Teachers…

32. A Tale of Two Teachers Ms. Night “She says she doesn’t know how to get these students to pass the AP test. She says that she’s going to have problems because of their backgrounds– she says they are mostly ‘deprived,’ their parents aren’t educated and never got through school, and that most of the parents are very young. Ms. Night says that the school is trying to get to that culture, to encourage them to work hard, but they don’t do their homework, they’re failing everything.” (Researcher Field Notes, Jackson HS) BACK

33. A Tale of Two Teachers Ms. Day “This year, the class was really incensed about the black legend and how they really felt that it underpinned American History II. So they, therefore, decided that would be their thesis topic. Once the AP test is over, then they would do two weeks of very intensive research. They work cooperatively in groups. Then the co-editors and I go down and have it published and I also let them talk to the principal about getting the money so they understand those kinds of relationships. Then we produce the book and we give one to each of our school board members. We put one in the Smithsonian. We put one in the local library. We keep one in our library.” (Teacher Interview, Jackson HS) NEXT

34. Teacher Opinions • 5 most pressing issues • keeping up with changing discipline content, • integrating new teaching methods, • preparing students for assessments, • dealing with lack of family involvement, and • accessing good professional development. • Belief that expansion of the AP program to larger numbers of students might “dumb down” AP course curriculum

35. A look into AP/IB classrooms…

36. Curriculum/ Instruction in AP and IB Classrooms… Determined by the tests and course guides

37. EXPECTATIONS/CHALLENGE • Generally high • Level of challenge varies

38. INSTRUCTION • Quality/mode varies from classroom to classroom • Dominated by fast-paced instruction, lecture, Q&A • Emphasis is on exam (test prep)– particularly in month before exam

39. Perceptions of Students and Impact on Instruction

41. Teacher Perceptions of Student Homogeneity “When they get to the AP level classes, then everybody’s the same, pretty much. It’s much more homogeneous, and they’re always expecting you to teach to a much higher level.” “When teaching AP students, you don’t have to spend time filling gaps and catching people up, and so you spend more time looking at things more in-depth.” Later –consider implications for students from traditionally underserved populations NEXT

42. Student Themes

43. UDENTS IN AP WHO ARE THEY?

44. THE ONES WHO PERSIST

45. CHALLENGE-SEEKING MOTIVATED CONFIDENT WELL -PREPARED COMPLIANT MULTI-TASKERS HIGH ACHIEVERS GOOD TIME MANAGERS

46. “ The successful AP student is highly disciplined, confident, lacking in fear…and self-driven. They want to succeed and if they are not succeeding they talk to me about it.” Teacher interview – Swingback High School

47. Student Perceptions of AP“The Legend of AP” Starring: The College Board

48. Admission to Prestigious Colleges/Universities “This looks good on college applications and stuff. This is what gets you into college.” Oleander High School NEXT

49. Students… • Largely satisfied with their AP & IB classes in meeting their need for rigorous, challenging academics. • Know that they have to perform in a certain way or they will not be successful. • Don’t feel entitled to instruction geared toward their individual needs– don’t seem aware that there is any other way to learn at the secondary level

50. Because students buy into “The Legend of AP & IB,” they do not question how courses are taught or what is taught.