Predictors of Success Among High School Students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Programs

Abstract

More high school students are seeking, and being offered, enrollment in accelerated curricula that prepare them for college and/or yield college credit than in previous decades. Two such accelerated curricula are Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes and programs (Thomas, Marken, Gray, & Lewis, 2013). There is increasing diversity among students enrolled in AP/IB in terms of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, socioeconomic status (SES), academic preparation, and prior experience managing rigorous academic coursework (Handwerk, Tognatta, Coley, Gitomer & ETS, 2008; McKillip & Mackey, 2013). In evaluating student success within these more diverse programs, researchers have raised questions of how success should be defined in terms of domains and indicators. Completion of accelerated courses was once considered the primary indicator of student success (Adelman, 2006), but performance on end-of-course exams has been argued by some as a more accurate indicator of student success (Ackerman, Kanfer, & Calderwood, 2013) than mere participation in AP or IB courses. An exclusive focus on academic skills and test performance may be too narrow, however. Students' quality of life and mental health outcomes are also relevant within a holistic definition of student success. The importance of considering such indicators of emotional well-being is due in part to the recognition that high school students in AP and IB classes report significantly higher levels of stress associated with intense curricular demands compared to students in general education (Suldo & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2013b; Suldo, Shaunessy, Thalji, Michalowski, & Shaffer, 2009). Examining the emotional well-being of a population with greater stress is justified by research with general samples of youth that has established positive associations between stress and mental 758443G CQXXX10.

Predictors of adaptive help seeking across ninth‐grade students enrolled in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses

“…Furthermore, students enrolled in AP/IB courses are a relatively unique group of students because of their heightened risk of experiencing greater academic related stress compared with their peers in general education at the same school, which can impact AP/IB students’ emotional well‐being (Suldo et al, ; Suldo et al, ). A recent study of students in AP and IB courses identified seeking academic support (i.e., from teachers, tutors, and classmates) as a way of coping with academic stressors that tended to co‐occur with other approach strategies (e.g., time and task management, turn to family) on a higher order coping style reflecting problem‐focused coping strategies (Suldo et al, ). Higher levels of problem‐focused coping predicted better emotional well‐being, whereas responding to school‐related stressors by isolating oneself and attempting to handle problems alone predicted worse mental health.…”

“…High school students enrolled in accelerated curricula in the form of college‐level courses are more likely to experience heightened levels of academic stress compared with their peers, which can impact their emotional wellbeing (Suldo, Shaunessy, & Hardesty, ; Suldo, Shaunessy, Thalji, Michalowski, & Shaffer, ). Despite support for positive outcomes experienced by Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) students who seek academic help to cope with stress (Suldo, Shaunessy‐Dedrick, Ferron, & Dedrick, ), scholars have not investigated why AP/IB students may be more or less likely to seek help from their teachers and the factors associated with academic help seeking. Approximately 24% of public high school students enroll in AP and IB courses each year (Thomas, Marken, Gray, & Lewis, ), representing a significant portion of high school youth.…”

Curriculum and instruction for the gifted: The role of school psychologists

“…School psychologists can also serve in as critical resources for educators who may have little to no training in gifted education and are unfamiliar or developing in their understanding of the social-emotional needs of gifted students. School psychologists may know of specific instances when a student exhibits perfectionism (Mofield, & Chakraborti-Ghosh, 2010;Speirs Neumeister, 2018;Vekas, & Wade, 2017) or difficulties managing academic stress (Suldo, Shaunessy-Dedrick, Ferron, & Dedrick, 2018). In such instances, the school psychologist can provide educators with recommended classroom modifications or facilitate professional learning experiences for teachers based on these issues so that educators become more informed and able to respond to these student needs.…”

An Exploratory Analysis of International Baccalaureate Diploma Program: 11th- and 12th-Grade High School Students’ Expectations

“…Suldo and Shaunessy-Dedrick (2013) found that students in AP and IB report a significantly higher level of stress compared with students in general education. Stress is typically associated with high academic demands, which may contribute to greater school burnout (Suldo et al, 2018). Gifted IB students do report higher levels of stress and perceive the program to be stressful.…”