A Model-Based Examination of College Outcomes for AP® Fee Reduction Students. Research Report

A recent report by Wyatt and Mattern (2011) compared college outcomes for low-socioeconomic status (low-SES) students who received Advanced Placement® (AP®) fee reductions versus low-SES students who did not participate in the AP Program. The results indicated that AP Fee Reduction students had better college outcomes than students from low-SES backgrounds who did not participate in AP. The results were parsed by gender, ethnicity, HSGPA, SAT® score, and highest parental education level to evaluate whether the AP effect remained after considering these variables. In general, there was still an AP effect; however, these analyses only controlled for one variable at a time. This report describes a follow-up study employing more rigorous methods to determine whether an AP effect remains when all demographic and academic variables are simultaneously controlled for using regression analysis. Results reveal that after controlling for gender, ethnicity, HSGPA, SAT score, and highest parental education level concurrently, low-SES students who participated in AP through the fee reduction program were more likely to enroll in a four-year college, transfer to a four-year college from a two-year college, earn higher college grades, and ultimately graduate college as compared to low-SES students not participating in AP.