Packer, of the College Board, said Grasmick set the goals for the state. "At the state level there has been leadership and directives that have fostered a sense of expectations in the local school districts." He said much of work has been been done at the local level by administrators who designed a curriculum that would give students the preparation early on.
Grasmick said that seven years ago she began a partnership with the College Board that includes a staff member at the State Education Department, paid jointly by the College Board and the state, who is responsible for helping schools establish and expand AP programs.
Grasmick also said Maryland has been successful in receiving federal grants that have allowed state schools to prepare middle school students for AP classes in high school. An additional $2 million grant, which will be targeted primarily to city schools, has just been received, she said.
The College Board does not prescribe a curriculum for the Advanced Placement courses, nor is there an AP textbook. Teachers develop their own lesson plans in the more than 30 courses that the College Board tests, from English language to calculus to Spanish to art. To pass the exams, students must have mastered a certain amount of the material. Increasingly, the AP exams are requiring students to answer questions with more depth and analysis, rather than simply showing they have mastered the facts. For the AP exam in art, students turn in a portfolio rather than take a written exam.
Getting a 3 or better on an AP exam is considered a predictor of how well students will do in college. A recent study showed that even among students in the same socioeconomic and racial groups, those who had taken and passed AP tests got better grades in college than those who did not. In addition, students who had taken AP classes were more likely to graduate from college in four years.
Baltimore Sun reporters Gadi Dechter and Arin Gencer contributed to this article.
