Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to add to existingEducational literature on the role of the Advanced Placement (AP) teacher in AP course success for students, including the role teacher professional development plays in those courses. Since 2009, the state of Indiana has required high schools to offer at least two AP courses, and at the district level, school corporations are expected to provide AP science and math courses. Nationally the number of students taking AP courses continues to grow; the number of students scoring at least a 3 on an AP exam is not keeping pace with the growth in enrollment. Descriptive statistics and tests of multiple regression were used to analyze the data collected for this study. The study was conducted by administering an electronic survey to all public school AP teachers in the state of Indiana who taught an AP course in the 2013-2014 school year. An 11-question AP Teacher Survey was created to quantitatively measure the opinions and perceptions of AP teachers about College Board professional development. A total of 216 teachers submitted responses to the AP Teacher Survey via the Qualtrics website. Statistical analysis of the data included descriptive analysis as well as inferential analysis. A composite score was tabulated from the survey that helped to determine if years teaching experience, total professional development hours, effectiveness rating for professional development, andEducational background serve as predictors of student success on AP tests in the areas of English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Multiple regression tests found no significance in the areas of mathematics and science. Multiple regression tests found in the area of English/language arts as years teaching AP English/language arts increases, passing rates on student exams are predicted to decrease. For English/language arts teachers for every additional hour of College Board professional development a teacher earns, the predicted passing rates on student exams is expected to increase. In the area of social studies, as years teaching AP social studies increases, passing rates on student exams are expected to increase.

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