ERIC ED333052: Performance at the Top: From Elementary through Graduate School. Policy Information Report.

68 Pages·1991·1.8 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 333 052
TM 016 895
AUTHOR
Barton, Paul E.; Coley, Richard J.
TITLE
Performance at the Top: From Elementary through
Graduate School. Policy Information Report.
INSTITUTION
Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ. Policy
Information Center.
PUB DATE
91
NCTE
72p.; For a related document, see "The Education
Reform Decade": ED 326 549.
AVAILABLE FROM
Educational Testing Service, Publications Order
Service, P.O. Box 6736, Princeton, NJ 08541 ($6.00;
make check or money order payable to the Educational
Testing Service).
PUB TYPE
Statistical Data (110)
Reports
Evaluative/Feasibility (142)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Academic Ac, levement; Achievement Gains; Achievement
Tests; *College Students; *Elementary School
Students; Elementary Secondary Education; Graduate
Study; Graphs; *High Achievement; Higher Education-
Mathematics Achievement; National Surveys;
Performance; *Profiles; Reading Achievement;
Sciences; *Secondary School Students; Statistical
Data; Tables (Data); Test Results; Trend Analysis
IDENTIFIERS
National Assessment of Educational Progress
ABSTRACT
Available informatlm, largely for selected
years in
the 1970s through 1990, on academic performance
at the highest levels
of achievemedt is summarized for elementary
through graduate school
levels. Profiles of students who performed well
on particular
measures of academic achievement or attained advanced
degrees are
provided. Data were obtained from testing
programs administered by
the Educational Testing Service including
statistics from the
National Assessment of Educational Progress. At the
elementary school
level (9 year olds), the level of highest
ac.:ievement in reading,
mathematics, and science has not varied greatly from
assessments in
the 1970s. At the junior high school level (13
year olds), it was
apparent that achievement in mathematics and
science lags behind some
other countries. At the high school level, few
students demonstrated
high levels of performance. More associate's
and bachelor's degrees
were awarded in 1988 than in 1978, but fewer master's
degrees were
granted. The increase in doctoral degrees and
first professional
degrees did not keep pace with population growth.
Thirty-nine figures
illustrate students' performance. An appendix
contains 21 tables of
supplemental data.
(SLD)
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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best
that can be made
from the original document.
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POLICY INFORMATION REPORT
PERFORMANCE
AT THE TOP:
FROM
ELEMENTARY
THROUGH
GRADUATE
SCHOOL
-PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS
or touccrioN
U.E. DEPARTMENT
MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
offiot ol Educational Reaearcn and Improvement
EDI /CATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
t
12101111te-j) 27 00
CENTER (ERIC)
Cl/h,s
document has been reprOduced 83
received from the per$On Or coganiRation
originating it
c7. ',Amor changes have been made to improve
reproduction Quality
TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Points &View or opinions Stated in this docu
ment do not necessarily represent otticiel
INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."
OERI position or poI(cy
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Policy
INFORMATION cENTER
Educational Testing Service
Princeton, New Jersey 08541-0001
CONTENTS
N OT F. TO READERS
Preface
1
A summary of this report
Acknowledgements
appears on pages 56 to 58.
Introciuction
2
Each perf-ormance indicator is
Elementary School
presented in sequence from
9-Year-Old Reading
4
elementary school through
6
9-Year-Old Mathematics
graduate school on two facing
8
9-Year-Old Science
pages. On the right page, a brief
summary is provided in a box
junior High School
above a graphic or chart. On the
13-Year-Old Reading
10
left page, a more complete
Eighth Grade History and Civics
12
description of the data is pro-
13-Year-Old Math and Science
14
vided along with, in some cases,
High School
technical notes.
17-Year-Old Reading, Math, and Science
16
12th Grade Civics and History
18
12th Grade Writing
19
Advanced Placement Participation
20
High School to College
College Admissions Tests
22
Achievement Tests of the Admissions
Testing Program
24
Educational Pathways of High Sclu)ol Seniors,
1972 and 1980
26
Educational Pathways of High School Seniors,
1980 and 1987
28
Educational Pathways of High Ability Seniors
30
.
Bachelor Level Education
Graduate Record Examination General Test
Graduate Record Examination Subject Tests
34
Graduate Management Admissions Test
36
Bachelor's Degrees
38
Graduate Education
Graduate Education
4()
Master's Degrees
Doctoral Degrees
44
Polky Information Reports are
Degree Attainment by 175 Citizens
46
published by the ETS Policy
Information Center, Educational
Higher Education: Racc and Gender
Testing Service, Princeton, Nj
Higher Educatkm Participation
48
06541-0001; [phone].
Higher Education Completions by Race and Sex
50
Copyright C 1991 by Educa-
tional Testing Service. All rights
Attainment of Bachelor's and Advanced Degrees,
reserved. Educational Testing
1977 to 1987
52
Service is an Affirmative Action/
Equal Opportunity Ems:Oyer.
Summary: Higher Mucation Degrees
54
Ethocatiowal Testing Service,
Summary
56
En and
are registered
Appendix
trademarks of Educational
59
Testing Service.
Acknowledgments
Preface
Jenkins of the National
This report was pre-
education beyond what it
For well over a de.:ade
Assessment of Educational
pared by Paul E. Barton
has settled for in the past.
now, America has been
Progress at EIS, Larry Ogle
In this report we will
(Director of ETS's Policy
taking its pulse in the
of the National Center for
Information Center) and
f.,ummarize the available
enterprise of education.
Education Statistics, and
Richard J. Coley (Senior
information on "perfor-
The pulse quickened in
Research Associate), with Don Powers of ETS's
mance at the top." We
the late 1970s when par-
Division of Applied Mea-
help from a considerable
will profile students who
ents and educators were
surement Research.
performed well on par-
number of people At ETS.
alarmed by a decline in
Carla Cooper provided
The report also benefated
ticular measures of aca-
the number of "high
word processing services,
from reviews by several
demic achievement or
scorers" on the SAT. Of
Al Benderson was the
people outside of ETS.
attained advanced
late, Americans have been
editor, Ric Bruce was the
At ETS, advice about
degrees. It complements
concerned that students
designer, and Roseann
program data and inter-
the Policy Information
lack "higher order skills"
pretation was provided by
Spano managed production.
and have begun to fear
Center's prior report,
Gary Marco, Len Ramist,
The Education Reform
that the nation's preemi-
and David Wright of the
nence is fading in science, Decade, which looked
comprehensively at per-
Admissions Testing Pro-
mathematics, and engi-
formance for only the
gram; Walt Ma;-Donald
neering. Along with the
and Joe Stevens of the
elementary and secondary
quality of elementary and
Advanced Placement
school systems.
secondary education, the
Program; Dawn Robinson,
quality of higher educa-
Rob Durso, and Gary
tion has entered the
Paul Barton
Schaeffer of the Graduate
Director
national debate, and
Policy Information Center
Record Examinations
sharp critiques charging
Program; and Esti
curricular dilution, such as
Rosenblum and Fred
Allan Bloom's The Closing
McHale of the Graduate
of the American Mind,
Management Admission
have increased demand
Test. Tom Hilton re-
for accountability through
viewed the longitudinal
the use of standardized
data on talent flow in
assessment instruments.
higher education that
America continues,
were drawn from his
however, to have a higher
research. American Col-
education system that is
lege Testing Program
the envy of many coun-
(ACT) data were provided
tries of the world, and a
higher portion of its youth
by James Maxey of ACT,
and Dan Koretz of the
go through its under-
Rand Corporation re-
graduate programs than in
viewed the materials on
any other country. While
minority participation in
we currently express great
higher education.
dissatisfaction with our
The report was also
elementary and secondary
improved by the reviews
education systems, they
of Wade Curry ef the
still prepare large num-
College Board, Russ
bers of students for higher
Edgerton of the American
education. Worried on the
one hand, and proud on
Association of Higher
Education, Margaret
the other, the nation
seems to be gearing up
Goertz of ETS's Education
for another decade of
Policy Research Division,
Archie Lapointe and Lynn
trying to lift American
Introduction
objectives, this report
tk)nal achievement ()I'
one time and t() see
Not since the launching of
will simplify no more than
minority populations to
clearly where we stand in
Sputnik in 1957 has the
that of the majority; this
is necessary for reason-
relat km to these goals.
health of tlie nation been
will be especially true in
ably focused and dear
The last Policy Informa-
so ek)sely tied to educa-
the future, as minority
presentation.
tkm Report, Pm Educa-
tional achievement as it is
However inspired in its
groups will become an
tion Mfin-m Decade,
now. A difference is that
increasing prop(mion
purpose, a factual repo )rt.
concentrated on progress
the interest now is not
of
such as this one aspires to
the whole.
in the 1980s in elementary
narrowly focused; rather,
be, is limited by the
To focus on this high-
and secondary education,
it reaches int() every nook
existing sources of reli-
est band of educational
looking at achk.vement at
and cranny of the educa-
able information. In this
achievement is to address
all levels and for minority
tkmal enterprise. has the
scan of performance from
(mly one aspect of educa-
populations as well as for
engagement of every level
the fourth grade thn)ugh
tional performance. It is
the nation as a whole,
of government, attends t()
not intended t() convey
the dowtorate degree. we
This report has a
literacy as well as t() the
have used data ftimi
single purpose: t() present
that this is necessarily
education of scientists and
several sources. From
where the principal
data on educational
engineers, and extends
problems lie. or the
elementary school
achievement that indicates
from chiklren's school
through gradliate school,
solutions for that matter.
how well students at the
readiness to adults'
we mined the data avail-
We know we have prob-
top of the distribution are
opportunities for life-long
able from testing pro-
lems in the area of lit-
performing. Concerns
learning.
eracy, and we know we
grams administered by
regarding the flow of such
The breadth of this
Educational Testing
have provided inadequate
talent through our educa-
concern was reflected in
Service (ETS), such as the
tional system are basically educational services f()r
the National Goals for
high school students who
Scholastic Aptitude Test
three-fokl. First, from the
Education ad()pted in
do not directly enter
(SAT), Advanced Place-
economic standpoint we
early 1990 by the Presi-
want to know whether we
ment (AP) Program,
college after graduation.
dent and the nation's
Rut the concern with the
have enough talent at the
Graduate Management
governors, goals which
Admission Test (GMAT).
top to lead in the compe-
top level is nevertheless
ranged from ensuring that
and Graduate Record
tition to design and
legitimate. f()r preemi-
children arrive at school
nence in the world
Examination (GRE). We
produce quality products
well-fed and healthy to
als() used data collected
community would be
and sell them in interna-
providing quality educa-
threatened by a failure at
by the National Assess-
tional programs for adults
tional markets. Sq!cond.
ment of Educational
frinn the standpoint of the
the higher reaches of
in the middle of their
principles underlying our
Progress (NAEP). carried
achievement.
careers. And for the
out at ETS. For the
Truth in Libeling
educational system,
public elementary and
remainder we have relied
requires that we state at
inspired by Thomas
secondary sch(iol system,
particularly on the
Jefk.rson, we cannot be
the outset that we have
the goals emphasized
increasingly comprehen-
content with only narrow
not answered the ques-
neither raising average
sive statistics provkled by
tion of whether our
ecommiic goals, but are
achievement, nor achieve-
the National Center for
concerned with the
country has sufficient
ment at the bottom or
Educatkm Statistics and its
pursuit of learning for it::
high-level talent. While
at the top. but rather
principal report, Me
as part of most would agree that it
own sake
increasing significantly
Condition of Education.
is unsatisfactory that only
the pursuit of happiness.
-the academic perfor-
Where possible we
Third, from the standpoint
one in five nine-year-olds
mance of elementary and
have provided trend
of the commitments this
can handle basic math-
secondary students
.
.
information, and often we
ematical operations and
society has made to its
in every quartile."
have identified high levels
people, we want to know
beginning problem
is to
As desirable as it
of performance separately
whether we have created
solving, it is a less
have such breadth and
fOr minority and majority
opportunities for indivi-
straightforward matter
depth in the goals for
populations. Increasing
duals to realize their full
to judge whether the
education, it is neverthe-
high level talent is contin-
potential. Given the
less difficult to bring the
increase in doctorates in
gent on raising the educa-
complexity of multiple
whole of it into focus at
business administration is
2
5
ments, we have
more or less than needed.
used the
proficiency level of 350
We do hope that bringing
(on a wale of from 0 to
this information together
500 ) for 17-year-okls and
will enable those who
make such judgments to
12th graders.
organization
of this
be better infwmed. We
The
repc)rt is primarily by
also hope that tracing the
level of education. It
devdopment of human
begins with achievements
resour..e.s thnnigh various
elenwn-
9-vear-okls in
stages in the educational
tarv school, then
pipeline will provide a
13-year-
junior high
olds in
more complete picture
schoul,
the high
and moves to
than specialized analyses
school level.
The next
at various I'R)ints now
pnwide.
section addresses the
transition from high
Lastly, we recognize
school
that a lot of different
college
to
and
persistence into and
people and groups mean
through higher education
different things when they
bach-
institutions. From
discuss educational
elor level education
performance at these high
the
report moves to graduate
levels. There is discussion
education, and then
of -higher order skills.-
to an
of milwrity
examination
"critical thinking skills,- as
and gender participation
well as high levels of
in higher education. It
pn)ficiency on the scales
closes with a summary of
of NAEP. The term "high
trends in bigbereduca-
scorers- was used in the
tiwi
degrees,
stories of alarm over
declines in SAT scores. In
higher education pn)gress
by advanced
is measured
degrees.
In this report we use
context of
"high- in the
the
setting and measures
that are available, and in
a fashion that is often
necessarily scmiewhat
arbitrary. In the case of
we
the SAT, for example,
use
scores of 6(X) or
In the case of
higher.
Advanced Placement
examination candidates.
those that take the exami-
nation and get a score of
3 or better
(on a scale to
1 to 5) can he considered
top achievers among high
school students. In the
of
case
NAEP assess-
t;
3
PI,
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
At age 9, one in six students can search for
9-Year-Old
specific information, interrelate ideas, and make
Reading
generalizations (represented by performance at
Level 250 on the NAEP scale).* There has been
little change between 1971 and 1988 in the percent-
middle level.
age of 9-year-olds who can read at this
However, the percentage of males who read at this
level has been growing, as can be seen Figure 1.
Although gaps have narrowed between minority
and White students, and among regions of the coun-
try, they remain considerable (see Figure 2).
About one in 100 of all 9-year-olds read at the
"adept" level, a level reached by 11 percent of 13-
year-olds and 42 percent of 17-year-olds. Performance
at the "adept" level suggests the ability to find, under-
stand, summarize, and explain relatively complicated
information.
'N.41-P uses a detwhynnenIal scale. the same one Inr 9-ytar-nlds as Jew I I-
is relatively high in
and 1 Tytur-n/ds. Me middle level if 250 fat the
terms of erpmtatuin,sjiir Qivear-nhis
Level 250 Reading
Readers with the ability to use
inwrmediate skills and
strategies can search for
locate, and organize the
inlbrmation they find in
relatavly lengthy passages and
can recognize paraphrases of
what they have read. They can
(rho make inferences and
generalizations (4170141 main
ideas and authors purposes
from passages dealing with
literature, science, and social
studies. Performance at this
letvl suggests the ability to
search for specific informa-
tion, interrelate ideas, and
make generalizations.
4
In reading, one in six 9-year-olds can search for specific
information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations.
Figure 1
Percentage of 9-Year-Olds at or above Level 250 on the NAEP Reading Scale
22
20 -
Females
18
All Students
16 -
Males
-
14
12
10
75
'80
'71
'84 '88
Figure 2
Percentage of 9-Year-Olds at or above Level 250 on the NAEP Reading Scale
by Race/Ethnicity, Region, and Parent Education, 1988
22%
21%
20%
20%
17%
14%
14%
8%
6%
6%
HS
Sack Hispanic
White
SE
NE
C
HS Glad
>HS
Source: See Appendix Table 1.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
9-Year-Old
One in five 9-year-olds can pertOrm
at the 250 level on the NAEP scale, where
Mathematics
they can handle basic mathematical operations
and beginning problem solving. There was
virtually no change between 1978 and 19So. There
is no difference in the percentage of males
and females who perform at this level, as
can be seen in Figure 3
The disparities are huge by race, ethnicity
the percentage of Black students at this level
is one-fifth the percentage of White students (see
Figure .4). Regional disparities have narrowed
slightly. but are still considerable. I.ess than one
percent of 9-year-olds reach the 300 level where
they can apply moderately complex pnwedures and
reasoning.
Level 250 Matb
At level 25(i stmienis &an
handle basic Hperanons awl
problem
solving,
beqin min;
They can snlve pmblem8
such as:
'Mere are III a irpl a nes ',or the
gronoul. Six lake off
and
many are on
more laml.
Ihe go wild then%
6
In mathematics, one in five 9-year-olds
can perform
basic operations and beginning problem solving.
Figure 3
Percentage of 9-Year-Olds at or above Level 250 on the NAEP
Mathematics Scale
30
25
20
15
All Students
Males
Females
10
'78
'82
'86
Figure 4
Percentage of 9-Year-Olds at or above Level 250 on the NAEP
Mathernatics Scale by Race/Ethnicity, Region, and Parent Education, 1986
29%
26%
25%
25%
25%
17%
17%
16%
8%
8%
5%
Black Hispanic
White
NE
SE
C
W
cHS
Coll
HS
>HS
Grad
Grad
Source: See Appendix Table 2.
7