Education Next With A Research Report….

looking at the state of Texas and the APIP program they had that paid out cash for high test scores. The program started out in 1996 in Dallas with 10 schools and then moved onto 40 schools in the state.

Students in this program could wind up getting 100-500 bucks for a passing score of three or better on an AP exam. Private donors pay 65-75% of the total cost of this program.

They include a bar chart looking at just the schools in Dallas. A massive jump in AP exams taken and passed occurred 1996. Then through the rest of the years looked at, through 2006, showed a long term trend of more AP exams taken and passed.

In another bar chart they showed a good increase in the amount of students getting over 1100 points on the SAT exam after three years of the program adoption.

The person behind the report does say that students in APIP schools do not have graduation rates better than schools that are not in this program though.

I do agree with the author that a more long term look at long term effects of this program is in order. Do students at these school that have taken AP exams go to college and graduate faster than students in schools that do not have this program.