SUBJECT: 2004-05 FOLLOW-UP TO ‘A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSAT SCORES AND AP ENROLLMENT

Prior analyses conducted by Research Services revealed that the proportion of Broward County Public Schools ’ (BCPS) tenth grade students who participated in the Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT) and enrolled in an Advanced Placement (AP) course in the following school year increased from the 2002-03 school year to 2003-04 (De Rose & Clement, 2003). This increase was attributable to the district’s recent emphasis on using PSAT scores to aid in upper-level course placement. The present analyses provided an updated assessment of the relationship between PSAT scores and the following year’s AP enrollment status. The first set of analyses compared the proportion of 2003-04 PSAT-participating tenth grade students who enrolled in an AP course in 2004-05 with the enrollment rate of the previous school year. Supplemental analyses evaluated district high schools in terms of the upper-level course enrollment (including AP, Dual Enrollment, International Baccalaureate [IB], and Honors) of their highest- and lowest-performing tenth grade PSAT students in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2004-05. The objective of this report was to identify whether schools were using PSAT scores as an aid for upper-level course placement. For the three student cohorts examined, the findings revealed an overall increase in the proportion of tenth grade PSAT-participants enrolling in AP courses in the following school year. However, a slight decline was registered between the two most recent student cohorts (from 2003-04 t