Measuring the impact of advanced placement failure on students' academic achievement and retention in college

Abstract

This quantitative study examined the impact that Advanced Placement (AP) coursework had on students attending college with specific emphasis on those who failed the exam. The study comprised four years of entering freshmen students between the academic years 2006-2009. The study was comprehensive in that it revealed all AP attempts regardless of score and student's desire to submit results to Temple University and the universities' acceptance of the same for college credit. For consistency, college success was determined based on data in the first two academic years of study. Students' grade point average (GPA) and retention were analyzed as the two primary assessments defining college access. The sample consisted of 16,731 students over four years of entering first-time freshmen to Temple University. The results indicated that AP score had a significant effect on both GPA and retention, although the effects for GPA were much stronger than for retention. Essentially, the results showed that the GPA of students decreases linearly from those who obtained an average AP score of "5", through "4", "3" and "2". Students whose average AP score was "1", however, performed at a lower level than students who had taken no AP course at all. Moreover, when various pre-college factors (specifically, SAT scores, high school GPA, mothers' and fathers' educational level and family income) were used as covariates, the effect for AP performance was markedly reduced. As such, it became evident that the real issue in evaluating the impact of AP performance is not whether students who take and pass AP courses do better in college. The real issue is whether AP performance provides an advantage over and above the advantages that students already possess. This study also revealed a threshold at which AP exposure correlated to college success when studying the AP failures with a score of `1'. The study findings contribute to emerging literature examining the relationship that AP failures have on students and colleges.