David Miller Shines as AP Chief Reader

Professor David Miller

Mississippi College English professor David Miller helps shape content for Advanced Placement exams and delivers lectures reaching students around the world.

It’s his final year as Chief Reader for the AP Literature and Composition exam. It’s an important position. First appointed to the post in 2017 after 17 years of service in AP leadership positions, Dr. Miller is a distinguished professor and scholar. He leads a cohort of nearly 1,000 faculty from almost 900 colleges, universities and secondary schools.

Dr. Miller selects and manages 950 readers, all educators, gathering to evaluate student essays, key parts of the AP exam. The summer event is organized and run by the Educational Testing Service based in Princeton, New Jersey.

In addition, the award-winning MC professor teaches in the AP daily lecture series. His English lectures join those offered by other higher education professors and AP classroom teachers. So far, the lectures have been viewed by more than six million students. The lectures enhance instruction for high school students during an academic year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For high school students taking AP classes and exams, outstanding scores will allow them to receive college credits each year. Miller also serves on the committee responsible for the content of the exam.

Given the coronavirus health emergency crisis since March, there have been changes for AP’s program and the approach by all people connected with it. Since 1956, Advanced Placement has offered students the chance to enroll in higher-level courses, build college skills and receive college credits.

What’s different in 2020? “As part of these challenging times, the College Board, the parent group of the AP program, has provided students and teachers with a world of helps. These include faculty lectures posted on YouTube," Miller said. The lectures are designed to be mini-master classes in the AP program.

For his lengthy service with the AP and in MC English classes, colleagues salute professor Miller.

“Dr. David Miller is an extraordinary academician who has enhanced Mississippi College students’ learning for many years," says associate provost Debbie Norris. “Now his lectures will be heard beyond Mississippi College. I wish to congratulate the College Board for choosing Dr. Miller’s lectures to disseminate to many other students who can enjoy that same opportunity," adds the MC Graduate School dean.

English professor Steve Price says Miller has been incredibly successful with the AP program. As chief reader, “David has advocated for students and for the value of literature. He’s a vocal proponent of empowering teachers through training and resources," he said. “David motivates teachers to be their best and to pass that love for literature on to their students."

Joining the MC faculty in 1991, Dr. Miller is a professor in the Department of English and Philosophy. His areas of expertise include early American literature, British Romantics and information literacy. He earned his bachelor’s in English at Nyack College in New York. He received a master’s in literature along with a doctorate in literature and American church history at Baylor University in Texas.