Advanced Placement (AP) Educator Toolkit

Abstract

The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers students the opportunity to engage in rigorous, college-level coursework while still in high school. Yet, participation has historically reflected systemic inequities, with underrepresented groups often facing barriers to access and success. These gaps are not due to student ability, but to inequitable systems, structures, and expectations. Educators play a pivotal role in breaking down these barriers. Teachers shape student confidence, scaffold learning, and foster a classroom culture in which rigorous expectations are achievable for all. When students, especially those from historically marginalized groups, see themselves succeed in AP, the benefits extend well beyond a single class: They gain transferable college credits, develop persistence, and see themselves as belonging in advanced academic spaces. By intentionally centering equity, AP educators expand pathways to college, careers, and lifelong success. To support teachers in implementing AP effectively, this toolkit provides strategies, resources, and best practices across planning, instruction, assessment, classroom management, and professional growth. The goal is to empower AP educators to create engaging, inclusive, and high-performing classrooms that set students up for long-term success.