Ben Stone
6/2/2011
AP vs ECE at Montville High School
A Longitudinal Study
Statement:
The objective of this study is to gather data pertaining to college-level courses offered at
Montville High School.
Rationale:
Information will be used by administration and staff to determine which courses are to be offered
in the future.
Impact on Education:
Montville High School currently offers a number of classes that students can take in order to earn
college credit. The list of offerings has been evolving over the years. Determining how many
students actually meet the criteria for receiving college credit from the different classes taken at
Montville High can be used to revise our current course offerings in order to increase the rate at
which college credit is earned in the future.
This information could also be used to inform students and parents about courses offered that
best fit student’s needs and expectations.
Related Literature
Montville High School wants as many students as possible to be able to earn college credit
during their high school years. This trend in preparing high school students to enter college with
some college coursework all ready completed appears locally and nationally.
High schools "are seeing rapid growth in "dual or concurrent enrollment" programs that permit
students to earn credit for college coursework while still in high school, either by taking such
courses at a college or on their own campuses. Forty-two states now have laws or state school
board rules pertaining to such programs, the report says, up from 23 in 2000" (Lynn Olson,
Education Week, July 8, 2006, p.8).
Locally, "One of the oldest and best-known programs, UConn Early College Experience, which
started in 1955, has doubled enrollment to 7,306 students this year from 3,609 in 2005, in part as
more suburban schools look beyond AP courses (Winnie Hu, "In Suburban Schools, an
Alternative to AP", New York Times, January 8, 2010).
And on the AP side, participation "has exploded in the past decade because of higher student
aspirations as well as efforts by reformers to push students into challenging courses. Enrollment
has grown from about 704,000 students in 1999 to 1.7 million last year" (Jack Gillum and Greg
Toppo, "Failure Rate for AP Tests Climbing", USA Today, February 4, 2010).
While participation in "concurrent" coursework is increasing, one possible disadvantage that the
AP program is facing is that many schools are not accepting coursework from high school
students who have attained a "passing" grade of 3 on an AP exam.
"Elite schools such as Harvard are now requiring the top score of five for advanced standing.
Other elite schools, such as the California Institute of Technology, award no advanced placement
credit (Lewin, 2002). Certainly, there does seem to be a shift, at least at elite colleges, to rethink
the appropriateness of accepting AP courses as substitutes for campus core requirements
("Rethinking Advanced Placement," 2006). In part, these schools are concerned that focus on AP
credit serves to distort the preparation of high school students for college. For example, the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology no longer awards AP credit for chemistry courses (Lewin,
2002). Some educators argue that AP classes are preoccupied with teaching to the test and that
this preoccupation distorts high school learning (Oxtoby, 2007).
This rethinking of AP credit at the college level is also taking place at many mid-level
institutions across the country. A recent report published by George Washington University, for
example, argues for both raising the standards for AP credits--shifting from 4 to 5 for test scores
assigned undergraduate credit--and limiting the number of AP credits that can be counted toward
a degree to fifteen (George Washington University, 2002). The goals of these suggested reforms
are to encourage enrollment in more college-level courses with fewer options to place out of
primarily general education courses" (Maureen E. Kelleher, Lauren C. Pouchak, and Melissa A.
Lulay, The Role of Advanced Placement Credit in Honors Education, Journal of the National
Collegiate Honors Council, Spring-Summer 2008, 61(19)).
Results
AP score results for the past four years were requested from the Montville High School
Counseling Department along with class lists and final grades for all ECE courses offered over
the same time period. From these lists, a snapshot of college-level courses was taken for the
class of 2009 and a comparative longitudinal analysis of the AP and ECE program was
performed. This information was put into a Powerpoint presentation in order to show staff and
administration what our current and past status has been in regards to college level courses.
Slide 1
MHS Class of 2009
• 175 students (95 female, 80 male)
• 75 students (43%) took an AP or ECE class
during their high school career
• 67 students attained the criteria needed to
earn credit for 149 college classes
• Females met the criteria for 60% of the 149.
Females comprise 54% of the 2009 class (*not a
significant difference)
Slide 2
2009 MHS Courses Offered
for College Credit
AP(2006-11)
ECE(2006-6)
Chemistry
Eng Lang/Comp
Environmental Sci
French
Spanish
Statistics
US History
American Studies
Biology
English
Maritime
Modern Europe
Spanish
Calculus
US History
Human Dev
The University of Connecticut issues an official transcript for students who complete an ECE
class. Generally, a C or better earns transfer credit from another institution. A 3 or better on the
AP exam was used to signify a student qualifying to earn credit from a participating college or
university, however many institutions require at least a 4 and some do not accept AP classes at
all for credit. For example, Southern Connecticut accepts a 3 or better on AP exams while the
University of Connecticut requires a 4 or a 5.
Slide 3
http://www.ece.uconn.edu/
• UConn ECE students are considered nondegree students at the University of
Connecticut and have an official University
transcript indicating their coursework.
• Students must receive a grade of C or above in
any UConn ECE course to receive course
credit.
Slide 4
AP Exam Transfer Guidelines
• University of Connecticut requires a 4 or a 5
on all AP exams in order credit to be awarded.
(http://web2.uconn.edu/transfer/apchart.htm)
• Southern Connecticut State University
requires a 3 or better to earn credit.
(http://www.southernct.edu/admissions/schoolcounselors/advancedplace
ment)
The graph below shows that the AP participation rate has been steadily decreasing for the past
four years while at the same time participation in the ECE program has been steadily increasing.
In fact, in 2006 there were eleven different AP courses offered compared to only seven in 2009.
During the same time period, ECE courses offered grew from six to nine.
Slide 5
Number of Students Enrolled
in College Level Classes
The number of students who meet the criteria for earning college the past four years can be seen
in the graph below. These numbers follow the same pattern as the above graph.
Slide 6
The percentage of students meeting the criteria for eligibility for college credit can be seen
below. The difference between the AP and ECE percentages are significant.
Slide 7
Percent Meeting Eligibility for Credit
Two courses were compared. Course 1 was taught as an AP course before switching over to
ECE. Course 2 had been taught by two different instructors during the same year. One class was
taught as an AP class and the other as an ECE class.
Slide 8
Same Course Comparisons
• COURSE 1: 18 out of 39 (46%) students earned a 3 or
higher over two years. Since switching over to ECE,
40 out of 45 (89%) earned a final grade of a C or
higher
• COURSE 2: In the same year, 9 out of 24 (38%)
students earned a 3 or higher on the AP test
compared while 41 out of 42 (98%) earned a C or
higher in the ECE equivalent
A survey was sent to former students asking them what their experience had been with receiving
college credit for classes taken at Montville High School. The survey was done using Naviance
software. Two representative student responses are shown in slides 9 and 10.
Slide 9
Student Response 1
• Have you enrolled in college since
graduating from MHS?
• Yes, the University of Vermont
• If yes, did you receive college credit for any
AP or ECE classes that you took while at MHS?
If yes, for which classes?
• Yes, I received college credit for ECE Calculus,
ECE Spanish, ECE American Studies II, and ECE
Biology.
Slide 10
Student Response 2
• Have you enrolled in college since graduating
from MHS?
• The University of Pittsburgh
• If yes, did you receive college credit for any AP
or ECE classes that you took while at MHS? If
yes, for which classes?
• No, I took AP, but they only give credit if you
scored a 5. Here's a list of my school's scores
for eligibility for credit. Hope it helps.
Enrollment in both programs is increasing as more and more high schools offer college-level
courses.
Slide 11
New York Times 1/10/2010
"One of the oldest and best-known programs,
UConn Early College Experience, which started
in 1955, has doubled enrollment to 7,306
students this year from 3,609 in 2005, in part
as more suburban schools look beyond AP
courses. "
Slide 12
USA Today 2/3/2010
"Once a hallmark of elite, college-bound high
schoolers, AP has exploded in the past decade
because of higher student aspirations as well
as efforts by reformers to push students into
challenging courses. Enrollment has grown
from about 704,000 students in 1999 to 1.7
million last year."
AP courses have historically been thought of as more academically rigorous than classes offered
through a local college; however, there are advantages that the ECE program holds over AP. In
an AP class, more time is spent teaching to and reviewing for the test which is usually taken in
early May. This extra time spent preparing for the AP exam may be better utilized by allowing
instructors to get into more depth of topics in an ECE class where there is no end-of-the-yearhigh-stakes test. Also, seniors taking ECE courses might be motivated to work harder throughout
their final year knowing that they can receive college credit for a grade calculated from work
completed for the year rather than from a single test.