Extending the Reach and Relevance of AP

What was the first time in your life you encountered fictional tragedy—something that didn’t have a happy ending? That was the question posed by Trevor Packer, senior vice president, AP^® and Instruction, and Jennifer Mulhern, vice president, AP Program Access, at the start of the highly interactive colloquium session, “AP Priority Relevance Agenda,” on the first day of College Board’s 2024 Forum.

Trevor discovered tragedy when his dad took him to see Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. This memory stuck with him, so when The Lucas Foundation approached the AP Program with a proposal to study the outcomes of project based learning versus standard AP curricula, he was intrigued. The results were eye-opening, with the students randomly assigned to the project based version performing at significantly higher levels on the AP Exam.

The findings were so powerful that Trevor, Jen, and their colleagues in the AP Program started to think about what else they could do with AP courses to reach and engage a broader group of students. In this session, they polled the audience on which of the 16 ideas they thought should be prioritized, and why. The ideas fell into four categories:

Create new courses that provide pathways to career and opportunities for applied learning. 
1.    Pathway: Anatomy and Physiology (2-course sequence) 
2.    Applied Learning: Agricultural Science
3.    Pathway: Business (2-course sequence) 
4.    Pathway: Allied Health (2-course sequence)

Revise existing courses to deliver them in a more engaging way. 
5.    U.S. History: 1850 to the Present 
6.    English Language: Writing with AI 
7.    Computer Science Principles: AI 
8.    English Literature: Analyzing Literature with AI

“It seems like we’re entering the next industrial revolution with AI.” (audience member)

Require and embed project based learning within course frameworks and exams, inviting students to work in teams, solve problems, and demonstrate their learning in new ways. 
9.    Statistics 
10.    World History 
11.    Human Geography 
12.    Environmental Science 
13.    U.S. Government and Politics

Build (optional) supplemental guides for teachers to accompany existing courses with skill development or thematic content. 
14.    Seminar English 10: CTE Edition 
15.    U.S. History: Negotiation Edition
16.    English Language: Sports Edition

Trevor and Jen asked the audience to vote among each group and explain their choice, and then to vote again, choosing 3 of the 16 ideas that would be most likely to attract students who would otherwise take zero AP courses. Good news: AP Business Principles with Personal Finance—which won overwhelmingly with 69% of the votes—is already being field-tested around the country.