Connect AP to College Directly

To provide connections between students’ current day-to day experiences and the future college expectations they will need to meet to succeed.

Students will have a concrete understanding of what to expect in college; this will motivate them to engage in the work now in order to be prepared for what’s to come.

• Isolate performance expectations, assignments, or elements of students’ classroom experiences that they are struggling with.
• Pull artifacts or resources (syllabi, assignments, texts, assessments, papers, or input from college students) directly from a college or university (preferably a program students are familiar with).
• Build an experience where students can draw connections between the isolated element of the classroom to the college-level equivalent via a mini-lesson or full lesson. Students can also reflect using a journal or reflection activity.
• Collect feedback (e.g. using Google form or focus groups) from students to gauge if the connection was made.
• Monitor students’ motivation/performance to gauge effectiveness.

To extend this activity further, teachers and AP coordinators can connect with professors at their local college who can speak with students about how AP coursework impacts college performance and readiness.

Teachers can also record students talking through the connections they’ve made between their AP coursework and college readiness and use the footage to recruit prospective students to AP classes.