Methodology

To ensure that AP^® teachers get the support they need in the quest to provide rigorous learning experiences for their students, the College Board is committed to maintaining clear alignment among its AP courses, exams and professional development materials. In doing so, the AP Program also ensures alignment with college standards and expectations.

For all course work and corresponding professional development, AP uses a goals-driven method that guides teachers in first identifying with specificity the knowledge, skills and abilities that should be taught in a college-level class. After this precise definition, the method then guides teachers in creating incremental assessments and learning activities that best promote those goals.

Known as “backward design,” this method is a primary principle of Understanding by Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) and is used in tandem with the fundamentals of Evidence-Centered
Design (Mislevy & Riconscente, 2005), which drives AP Exam development. As a natural extension
of the Understanding by Design process, AP Exam development is designed to assess knowledge and skills based on what the course work asserts it has provided: achievement of the identified
learning objectives.

These combined approaches, which share parallel principles and design implementation, dovetail to form the groundwork from which AP courses, exams and instructional materials are produced and maintained. As an outcome of the “backward design,” approach, each AP course has clearly identified goals or learning objectives, a description of evidence indicating that learning objectives have been attained, and descriptions of the instructional pathways toward those learning objectives.

Finally, the AP course and exam revision process relies on groups of nationally renowned subject-matter experts in each discipline, including professionals in secondary and postsecondary education as well as from professional organizations. This consortium of experts serves to ensure that course and exam material reflects the most up-to-date information available, that it is presented with the rigor befitting a college-level course and that proficiency of that material is assessed properly.