This paper reports on a study conducted to examine a shift in responsibility for learning to the students in an advanced placement American history class. Specifically, the extent to which students (N=9) were analytic in their thinking and writing and self-directed in their work was investigated. Naturalistic inquiry and comparative analysis were used to identify emerging themes among the data collected through interviews with the students and the teacher, classroom observation, analysis of student papers, and a student questionnaire. A rubric for analysis, including student background, interpretation of the meaning of analytic skills, perspective towards history, and the meaning of self-directed learning, provided a framework for the creation of case studies, four of which are presented in the text. Regarding student analytic skills, more evidence of evaluation and interpretation was found in student writing, and more justifying orally was discovered in student interaction. Use of content seemed to be the least emphasized. All nine students perceived student directed learning (SDL) as doing and completing assignments on their own, not as an intellectual growth process, i.e., using their minds well by developing an internalized, historically grounded perspective. Only one student's work approximated the criteria for SDL; the others had attitudes grounded in their backgrounds, not perspectives grounded in American history. Appendixes provide a class survey for classroom restructuring, rubric for analysis of five remaining students, and an interview excerpt. (Contains 30 references.) (LL)