In an article appearing on July 26 in The Atlantic, Institute economist Brad Hershbein discusses research he performed with Gregory Ferenstein on whether AP courses prepare students for the rigors of college coursework. In "When the Value of High School Is Exaggerated," Hershbein tells reporter Emily Deruy that the evidence he and Ferenstein uncovered reveals that a student who took an AP course in a particular subject in high school was no more likely to get higher grades in that subject in college than someone who did not take the AP course. According to Hershbein, "It’s really the underlying skills that stay with people."
The article in The Atlantic is based on a Brookings Institution blog posting from July 20 by Ferenstein and Hershbein titled "How important are high school courses to college performance? Less than you might think."