Integrating the Advanced Placement Statistics Exam into the Higher Education Curriculum

• Activity Number: 270
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 10, 2004 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Allison Clark*+ and Brad Hartlaub*+ and Jessica Utts*+ and Calvin Williams*+
• Companies: Advanced Placement Program, College Board and Kenyon College and University of California, Davis and Clemson University
• Keywords: Advanced Placement ; higher education ; K-12 statistics education ; introductory statistics course

Abstract

The purpose of this panel is to present current thinking behind the curriculum development of the Advanced Placement Statistics course and exam, AP exam-scoring procedures, research on AP Statistics student performance, and data on AP Statistics exam credit and placement policies at a variety of different higher education institution types. Over 58,000 students took the AP Statistics exam in 2003 (total 2003 AP examinees was over 1 million). AP Statistics student performance is often not adequately assessed due to the lack of a clear department and academic path once the student has entered college. Given that an introductory statistics course is required in many fields such as the social sciences, health sciences, and business, it is important that such departments, along with math and statistics, consider AP Statistics exam scores. The goals of the panel include: provide greater familiarity with the AP Statistics exam; discuss how the AP Statistics exam can be better utilized to bridge the gap between statistics education in high school and college; and discuss how AP Statistics can help foster student interest in the study of statistics into their post-secondary academic career.