AP European HistoryCollege Comparability Study 2007A Presentation and Discussion at the 2007 AP Annual Conference,

Las Vegas Nevada, June 14

Paul Borysewicz

Educational Testing Service

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The following PowerPoint presentation represents data gathered from a comparability study conducted in 2007. During a college comparability study a portion of an AP Exam is administered to college students and the free-response portion is scored during the AP reading. The results of a comparability study is one factor that is considered when setting AP grades in order to ensure that the AP standards are comparable with or higher than the performance of college students who participated in the study.

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Why do we do comparability studies?

• To create a better fit between college-level grading standards and AP standards

• To improve the validity of AP exams and courses

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How is the study performed?

• College students are given a mini-version of the exam (one FRQ and 20 MC questions)

• Their instructors grade the exams on the A-F scale

• AP readers grade the college essays using the same standards as regular AP essays

• Statisticians extrapolate an AP grade for each college student and compare it to that student’s college grade

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Who participated in the 2007 study for APEH?

Nearly 700 students taking European history survey courses at 16 colleges:University of South Carolina Upstate

University of Southern California

Oregon State University

University of Maryland

Baylor University

Elon University

Washington University in St. Louis

Michigan State University

Furman University

University of Louisville

Purdue University

University of South Florida

University of New Mexico

Duquesne University

Iowa State University

East Carolina University

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What were the results of the study?

• AP students at the 5-4 cut point scored higher than the average score earned by a college student at the level

• AP students at the 4-3 cut point scored higher than the average score earned by a college student at the B level

• AP students at the 3-2 cut point scored higher than the average score earned by a college student at the C level

• AP students at the 2-1 cut point scored lower than the average score earned by a college student at the D level

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How did the results affect scoring?

• The cut points for 5-4, 4-3, and 3-2 were unchanged

• The cut point for 2-1 was raised to bring it more in line with college-level performance at the D level. Thus, there were more AP grades of 1.

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What was the rationale for the decisions?

• The average college scores may have been lower than AP scores because of factors unrelated to overall ability (motivation and lack of a truly representative sample) Hence, cut points were not lowered in response to stronger performance by AP students

• With expansion of AP, there seems to be a larger percentage of poorly prepared or unmotivated students taking the test. This is consistent with an increased percentage of grades of 1.

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What are the implications of the study for the future of APEH?

• The study indicated no serious discrepancy between APEH course content and grading standards and those of the college courses in the survey

• The study is consistent with other evidence indicating an increase in the number of poorly prepared/unmotivated APEH students

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What can you, as APEH teachers do?

• Keep doing what you’re doing!

• Pay close attention to the Course Description and supporting materials (especially as we move toward redesign of the AP history courses)

•Work on developing students’ writing and analytic skills