EPIC leads the nation in the development and application of methods and tools to analyze the content of courses. Listed below are examples of how these unique approaches are being applied to a range of situations in which the content of courses and their alignment with specific standards need to be determined.

CURRENT PROJECT view project

The AP Course Audit was created at the request of the College Board, who sought a means to provide teachers and administrators with clear guidelines on the curricular and resource requirements for AP courses. The AP Course Audit also helps colleges and universities better interpret secondary school courses marked "AP" on student transcripts.

Schools wishing to label a course "AP" on student transcripts must receive authorization from the College Board. Authorization is granted after an independent review by EPIC trained faculty consultants. It is an annual process that began with courses taught in the 2007-08 academic year. Once a course has been authorized, schools can renew authorization for subsequent years.

Alignment and Challenge Audits provide a process to analyze course syllabi from a high school in order to determine how well aligned the school's program is with college readiness standards. The audit identifies the ways high school instructional programs prepare students to succeed in entry-level university courses and makes recommendations on ways to increase the challenge of the curriculum.

Teachers submit their syllabi and supporting course documents to a website. Specially selected and trained postsecondary faculty from across the U.S. review the submitted high school course documents, then apply a criterion-based rating system to identify the presence or absence within each document of content that aligns with the Knowledge and Skills for University Success standards developed by the Center for Educational Policy Research. Through a series of related judgments, the content of each course is analyzed, and the resulting analytic pattern is used to determine the degree of alignment that exists between a school's program of study and college readiness standards.

Staff researchers then analyze the ratings and produce reports summarizing areas of alignment and lack of alignment. These analyses can be done in each of six subject areas: English, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, second languages, and the arts. This information enables high school faculty to adjust the content and challenge level of courses to facilitate a better transition for students from high school to college-level work.

CURRENT PROJECT view project

The Maine Department of Education is partnering with EPIC to develop a web-based system that provides a method of reviewing the course pathways present in every high school in Maine. Each course pathway must effectively embed state standards and learning requirements in ways that allow all students to have an opportunity to learn all Maine Learning Requirements before graduating.

Eventually all public high schools in the state will submit course syllabi that identify which Maine Learning Results (state standards) are covered in each course. Trained content experts will review each course syllabus to validate the alignment of the course with specific Maine Learning Results. Each high school will then have a profile of which combinations of courses enable students taking those courses to have an opportunity to receive instruction in all of the Maine Learning Requirements.

TOOL view tool

SyllabusMaker is an online tool for generating high quality syllabi consistently across a department or school. Such syllabi are the building blocks for an aligned curriculum that addresses all important aspects of college readiness as well as state standards. In the process of creating a syllabus online by using SyllabusMaker, teachers respond to a series of prompts that ensure that their syllabus contains all essential information on the course's content and challenge level. Once teachers complete SyllabusMaker, they can generate a PDF file with the syllabus in a format that will be consistent across all teachers in the school who use SyllabusMaker. In addition, the syllabi created through this process can immediately be analyzed against state standards or college readiness standards in much the same fashion as the alignment and challenge audit described above to create a schoolwide profile of alignment.