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I don’t think it’s a question of forcing. I do disagree with you about gatekeeping–I think it can be overdone or done too rigidly or simplemindedly, but I think that if done intelligently and responsibly it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. </p>
<p>And actually the Texas study you linked to–although I’m hesitant to refer to it given that it seems to have been a CB-sponsored project–contains some hints that gatekeeping might be in order. For instance, Table 37 shows that students with poor mean AP grades do not benefit in college from having taken multiple APs–only the strong performers do. </p>
<p>Beyond that, I can’t find anything in the study on a quick read-through that addresses the question of whether the kids being studied went to schools where there was AP gatekeeping in place or not. If there was, then the study really doesn’t tell us a whole lot–and certainly can’t be used as evidence for open-enrollment AP policies!</p>