In order to help students succeed in Advanced Placement (AP) courses, instructional materials must address the knowledge and skills articulated in the new AP course frameworks. To that end, the College Board partnered with Learning List™ to provide educators with independent, professional reviews of AP materials[1].
As part of the review process, Learning List verifies a material’s alignment to each of the Learning Objectives (LO), Essential Knowledge statements (EKs) and Skills/Practices in the relevant course framework. 
The alignment reports identify the “citations” (e.g., pages, lessons, videos) listed in the publisher’s correlation that Learning List verified to be aligned and not aligned to each LO, EK and Skill/Practice for the course.
The College Board used these reviews to decide which materials to include on the 2016 and 2017 Example Textbook Lists for each of these courses.
However, educators should be aware that a material’s inclusion on an Example Textbook List does not mean that the material is aligned to 100% of the Learning Objectives or Skills/Practices of the course. [Read More]
As this table shows, there is a wide range in the alignment percentages among materials on the AP Example Textbook Lists.
In addition to helping AP teachers select materials that are aligned to the course frameworks, the alignment reports also serve as valuable instructional resources. Teachers can use Learning List’s alignment reports for the materials their district owns to identify specific citations that Learning List has verified to be fully aligned to teach AP standard. Moreover, the alignment reports are downloadable, so AP teachers can import the “aligned citations” into their lesson plans.
The AP course frameworks define what students “should know and be able to do” after completing a particular AP course. Students are more likely to do well in Advanced Placement courses if their instructional materials address the knowledge and skills course frameworks require them to learn. Using citations that are aligned to standards in the course frameworks will focus students’ time and energy on learning precisely the knowledge they will be held accountable for on the AP exam.
This 4-minute video provides more information about Learning List’s reviews of AP materials. Learning List is a subscription service. For more information, contact Info@LearningList.com.
Stay tuned for our upcoming blog, “Trends in AP Materials.”