<Article>Promotion Policy of the Articulation between Upper Secondary Schools and Universities in the USA: Focusing on the Advanced Placement Program in Arkansas

From the viewpoint of Articulation between Upper Secondary Schools and Universities, it can be expected that high schools and their teachers will be asked to combine the ability required by the new educational guidelines (2020) with university knowledge. In the United States, a half century has passed since the Articulation between Upper Secondary Schools and Universities has already been implemented, and the influence has been exerted on Asian countries by the accumulation of theory and practice. Among them, the most representative is the Advanced Placement Program (AP). This paper will focus on AP in Arkansas, to verify the promotion policy of the Articulation between Upper Secondary Schools and Universities. The final objective of this paper is to extract necessary elements in order to implement and disseminate the Articulation between Upper Secondary Schools and Universities in Japan. Specifically, we will focus on support policies for districts and schools, high school students, and measures for improving the quality of AP teachers. In Arkansas, all districts must provide AP courses to guarantee the opportunity for students to take an AP course. Independence and diversity of the AP course are also emphasized. Secondly, it is necessary to provide incentives and support to promote good practices. Thirdly, it is important to construct a vertical team and emphasize cooperation among universities, high schools, regions, and management institutions. Arkansas realized the spread of AP within the state through the continuous support policy. Finally, AP teachers in Arkansas are obliged to participate in AP and Pre-AP teacher training. Through these policies, Arkansas improved the quality of high school education and its college-going rate