Validity
Low-SES Students and College Outcomes:
The Role of AP® Fee Reductions1
By Jeffrey N. Wyatt and Krista D. Mattern
College Board Research & Development
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Introduction
Many educators are focusing efforts on increasing college
access and success among students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Current research indicates
that students from low-SES households are less likely to
enroll in college (58 percent) than students from middle-SES
(63 percent) or high-SES families (78 percent).2 Additionally,
low-SES students attending college are much more likely to
attend a two-year college than are students from high-SES
families, who more often attend four-year institutions.3 LowSES students may have less access to rigorous course work
such as advanced math courses in high school, which prepare
students for college-level work and also serve as an important predictor of college graduation.4 Accordingly, low-SES
students are less prepared for college and are more in need
of remediation, which has been shown to be associated with
decreased graduation rates.5
In an attempt to prepare better disadvantaged students for
college work, the College Board and many other educational
organizations emphasize the importance of an academically
rigorous curriculum and/or advocating college-preparatory
standards for high school degrees. In particular, the AP®
Program, which consists of more than 30 courses and exams
designed to offer college-level curricula, provides an opportunity to introduce rigorous course work to students within
the high school setting.6 Research has found that students
who participate in the AP Program earned higher grades in
college, had higher graduation rates, and were more likely to
earn an advanced degree than non-AP students.7
To increase access to the AP Program for low-SES students,
who tend to be educationally disadvantaged relative to their
higher-SES peers, the College Board, schools, and states collaborate to provide AP fee reductions to students who qualify
based on eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch. Typically,
students receiving a College Board fee reduction take AP
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Exams at no cost or for a nominal fee. Approximately 150,000
AP Exam takers from the graduating class of 2009 used a fee
reduction to take an AP Exam. The proportion of AP Exam
takers who use fee reductions has been increasing in recent
years, from 14 percent in 2004 to 19 percent in 2009.
About the Research
While prior research has established an association between
AP participation and many positive college outcomes, few
if any studies have investigated the relationship specifically
for low-SES students, who are traditionally underserved by
the education community. Given the College Board’s commitment to bringing the benefits of AP to all students, this
study investigated whether low-SES students benefited by
participating in AP through the College Board’s fee reduction
program. Specifically, this study investigated whether lowSES students participating in AP through the College Board’s
fee reduction program had higher initial enrollment in college,
higher initial enrollment in four-year colleges, higher retention
rates, and higher first-year grade point averages (FYGPA) than
low-SES students not taking AP.8
Data and Methodology
Two samples were used in this study: Sample 1 contained
postsecondary records for more than 135,000 students who
graduated in 2007, took the SAT with writing, indicated a
household income of $30,000 or less, and either took an AP
Exam using a College Board fee reduction or did not take any
AP Exams. This sample was used to calculate enrollment by
college type (two-year or four-year). Sample 2 was a subset
of Sample 1, which contained FYGPA and retention data and
included more than 8,000 students who attended one of
110 four-year institutions that participated in the SAT validity
study. This sample of institutions was diverse with respect
to region of the U.S., control (i.e., public vs. private), selectiv-
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ity, and size. A series of analyses investigated differences in
enrollment by college type (two-year and four-year), FYGPA,
and retention to the second year of college9 by AP participation. An additional analysis was done by AP score for those
students who took an AP Exam.10
Additionally, analyses by AP score indicated that:
• All low-SES AP fee reduction students, regardless of AP
score11,had higher four-year college enrollment rates than
did low-SES students not taking AP.
• Low-SES AP fee reduction students with an AP score of
2 or higher had higher FYGPAs and retention rates than
did low-SES students not taking an AP Exam.
Results and Conclusions
The results indicated that low-SES students who participated
in AP through the AP fee reduction program were more likely
to:
• Enroll in college (78.5 percent vs. 67.5 percent) and were
more likely to enroll in a four-year college (60.5 percent
vs. 38.0 percent);
• Earn a higher FYGPA, on average (2.76 vs. 2.49); and
Overall, these results suggest that low-SES students participating in the AP fee reduction program had more positive
results than low-SES students not taking an AP Exam. While
further research is needed, the results indicate that AP participation may increase college-going rates and performance
among low-SES students, thus providing more opportunities
for educationally disadvantaged students.
• Be retained for their second year of college (83.6 percent
vs. 74.1 percent).
1. J. Wyatt and Mattern, K., An Examination of College Outcomes for Low-SES
Students Who Received an AP® Fee Reduction as Compared to Low-SES
Students Who Took No AP Exams (College Board Research Report 2011-9)
(New York: The College Board, 2011).
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/profdownload/pdf/RR2011-9.pdf
2. Susan Aud, William Hussar, Michael Planty, Thomas Snyder, Kevin Bianco,
Mary Ann Fox, Lauren Frohlich, Jana Kemp, and Lauren Drake, The Condition
of Education 2010 (NCES 2010-028) (National Center for Education Statistics,
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington,
DC, 2010).
3. Stephen Provasnik and Michael Planty, Community Colleges: Special
Supplement to The Condition of Education 2008 (NCES 2008-033) (National
Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S.
Department of Education. Washington, DC, 2008).
4. Clifford Adelman, The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From
High School Through College (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
2008); Clifford Adelman, Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity,
Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor’s Degree Attainment (Washington, DC: U.S.
Department of Education, 1999).
5. John Wirt, Susan Choy, Patrick Rooney, Stephen Provasnik, Anindita Sen,
and Richard Tobin, The Condition of Education 2004 (NCES 2004-077) (U.S.
Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2004).
Retrieved April 5, 2010, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2004/2004077.pdf
6. http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/index.html
7. April Bleske-Rechek, David Lubinski, and Camilla P. Benbow, “Meeting the
Educational Needs of Special Populations: Advanced Placement’s Role In
Developing Exceptional Human Capital,” Psychological Science 15 (2004):
217–224; Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian, The Relationship
Between Advanced Placement and College Graduation (2005 AP Series,
Report 1) (Austin, TX: The National Center for Accountability, 2005).
8. Krista D. Mattern, Emily J. Shaw, and Xinhui Xiong, The Relationship
Between AP® Exam Performance and College Outcomes (College Board
Research Report No. 2009-4) (New York: The College Board, 2009).
9. The data used were from students from the 2007 graduating class. FYGPA
and retention data were obtained from a subset of students who attended
one of the 110 four-year institutions participating in the College Board’s validity
study.
10. If more than one AP Exam was taken, the highest AP Exam score was
used.
11. For students taking multiple AP Exams, the highest AP Exam score was
used.
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