ERIC ED541866: Raising the Bar: A Baseline for College and Career Readiness in Our Nation's High School Core Courses PDF
Preview ERIC ED541866: Raising the Bar: A Baseline for College and Career Readiness in Our Nation's High School Core Courses
COLLEGE READINESS Raising the Bar A Baseline for College and Career Readiness in Our Nation’s High School Core Courses ACTisanindependent, not-for-profitorganizationthatprovidesassessment, research, information,andprogram management services inthebroad areas ofeducationandworkforcedevelopment.Eachyear weserve millions ofpeople inhigh schools,colleges,professional associations,businesses, andgovernment agencies,nationallyandinternationally.Thoughdesigned tomeetawidearrayofneeds,allACTprogramsandservices have one guiding purpose—helpingpeopleachieveeducationandworkplacesuccess. Theresearchstudydescribedinthisreportwasfundedbyagrantfromthe Bill&MelindaGatesFoundation.TheviewsexpressedarethoseofACT,Inc. ©2012byACT,Inc.Allrightsreserved.TheACT®isaregisteredtrademarkofACT,Inc.,intheU.S.A.andothercountries.ACTNationalCurriculumSurvey®, EXPLORE®,PLAN®,andQualityCore®areregisteredtrademarksofACT,Inc.CollegeReadinessStandards™isatrademarkofACT,Inc. Raising the Bar A Baseline for College and Career Readiness in Our Nation’s High School Core Courses Contents Introduction .............................................................................. 1 1. How Much Are Students Learning in Today’s High School Core Courses? ........................ 7 2. How Much Are Today’s High School Core Courses Helping Students to Become Ready for College and Career? ...................................................... 15 3. Are Today’s High School Core Courses Adding Value to Both Student Achievement and College and Career Readiness?............................ 21 Conclusion and Recommendations .................................... 31 Appendix: Sampling Process and Study Methodology .............................................. 35 References .............................................................................. 39 Introduction Howwellareournation’shigh schoolspreparingstudentsforcollege andcareer? Recent analyses byACT show lowratesofcollegeand career readiness among United Stateshigh schoolgraduates.Data frompostsecondaryinstitutions revealhighremediationratesandlow second-year retention rates amongfirst-year college students.Employers lamentthedifficulty offindingentry-level employeeswiththenecessary skillsforsuccess onthejob. All ofthesesuggestdisparities between students’highschool preparation andthelevelofreadiness required forpostsecondaryeducation,training,andtheworkplace. Butthecriteriaforevaluating schooleffectiveness atpreparing students arenumerous, varied,sometimesconflicting, andfrequentlybased on opinion. Andtoooften thesecriteriaoverlook thecrucialfactorofwhat isactually goingonintheclassroom.Preparation forcollegeandcareer occurssubstantially intheclassroom.Whatistaughtandlearnedin thecourses students take—especially thecorecourses inEnglish, mathematics,andscience—contributessubstantially towhatstudents areabletodoonce they leavehighschoolwith diploma inhand. Whatisneededisevidence that notonly enables ustoseewhatthecore courses ACT’sEmpiricalDefinitionof inourschools currently contributetoward CollegeandCareerReadiness preparingstudents forcollege andcareer, ACT’sempiricalresearchdefinescollege butalsogivesusanidea ofhowmuch readinessasacquisitionoftheknowledge improvementisneeded within each course andskillsthatstudentsneedinordertoenroll ifwearetohelpallhigh school graduates andsucceedincredit-bearingfirst-yearcourses becomereadyforcollege andcareer. atapostsecondaryinstitution,suchasa two-orfour-yearcollege,tradeschool,or Thisreportexaminesthedegreetowhich technicalschool(ACT,2010).Simplystated, corecourses, astheyarecurrentlytaught readinessforcollegemeansnotneedingto inanationally representative sampleofU.S. takeremedialcoursesincollege. highschools, areeffective inpreparingour ACTresearchalsoshowsthatcareerreadiness nation’shighschool graduates toentersome requiresthesamelevelofknowledgeand formofpostsecondaryeducation (atwo-year, skillsinmathematicsandreadingthatcollege four-year,trade,ortechnicalschool)without readinessdoes:themajorityofthejobsthat remediation ortoenter workforcetraining requireatleastahighschooldiploma,paya livingwageforafamilyoffour,areprojected programsreadytolearn job-specificskills. toincreaseinnumberinthe21stcentury, Inshort,thisstudy establishes anempirical andprovideopportunitiesforcareer baseline forthevalue added tocollege advancementrequirealevelofknowledge andcareer readiness bycorecourses in andskillscomparabletothoseexpectedof highschools across thenation. thefirst-yearcollegestudent(ACT,2006). ACTresearch hasconsistently shown that highschoolstudentswhotake thecorecurriculum recommendedin ANation atRisk (NationalCommissiononExcellenceinEducation,1983)— fouryearsofEnglish andthree years eachofmathematics,science, and socialstudies—are likely tobemore preparedforcollegeandcareerwhen theygraduatethan arestudents whodonottakethisnumberofcourses (ACT,2004).Decades ofresearch bearoutthis recommendation. 1 Butwhile taking therightnumber ofcoursesiscertainlybetterthan not,itisnolongerenoughtoguarantee thatstudentswillgraduate readyforcollegeandcareer.InRigoratRisk: ReaffirmingQualityin theHighSchool CoreCurriculum(ACT,2007),ACTdemonstrated thatmany high schoolcorecoursesappeartobewatereddownand arenotfocusing ontheknowledgeandskillsthatstudentsneedto succeedincollege orintheworkplace,whereentry-level workers increasingly require thesame level ofknowledgeandskillsas college-goingstudents. Asdefined byACT’s CollegeReadinessBenchmarks1 fortheACT® test,only 29percent of2010highschool graduateswhotook the numberofcore courses recommendedinANationatRisk were prepared forcredit-bearing,entry-level collegecourseworkinEnglish, mathematics, naturalscience,andthesocial sciences (Figure1). Half of2010graduates werepreparedinone,two,orthreeofthese subjectareas, while 21percent—aboutoneinfivegraduates—were notprepared inany subjectarea. Figure 1: ACT College Readiness Benchmark Attainment for 2010 ACT-Tested High School Graduates Taking a Core Curriculum, by Number of Benchmarks Attained metno metall4 21% Benchmarks Benchmarks 29% met1–3 50% Benchmarks ACTresearch suggeststhatstudentstoday donothave areasonable chanceofbecoming readyforcollegeandcareerunless theytake a numberofadditional higher-level courses beyondthecorecurriculum recommended inANationatRisk.Yeteven whenstudentstake substantial numbersofadditionalcourses, nomore thanabout three-fourths ofthemarereadyforfirst-year collegecoursework in English ormathematics,whileeven fewerarereadyinnatural science (seesidebar,p.3). 1 TheACTCollegeReadinessBenchmarksaretheminimumscoresrequiredontheACTEnglish, Mathematics,Reading,andScienceTestsforhighschoolstudentstohaveapproximatelya75percent chanceofearningagradeofCorbetter,orapproximatelya50percentchanceofearningagrade ofBorbetter,inselectedcoursescommonlytakenbyfirst-yearcollegestudents:EnglishComposition; CollegeAlgebra;socialsciencescoursessuchasHistory,Psychology,Sociology,PoliticalScience, orEconomics;andBiology(ACT,2010).Seethesidebaronp.26foradditionalinformation. 2 EvenAdditionalCourseworkBeyondtheCore IsFrequentlyNotEnoughtoPrepareStudents forCollege andCareer OnlyinEnglishdoesthe 100 percentageofstudentswho 90 k arereadyforcollege-levelwork mar 80 aftertakingadditionalcourses ch 70 77 n inhighschoolexceed75 Be 60 67 percent. ng 50 eeti 40 Ofthosestudentswhotakea M nt 30 coremathematicscurriculum, e c 20 only16percentarereadyfora er P 10 credit-bearingfirst-yearCollege 0 Algebracourse.Itisnotuntil 4years 4.5years (Core) studentstakeonefullyearof NumberofYearsofEnglish additionalmathematicscourses beyondthecorethatweseemorethanhalf(62percent)ofACT-tested studentsreadyforcollege-levelworkinmathematics. 100 k 90 mar 80 h c 70 75 n e B 60 62 g n 50 eti e 40 M 38 nt 30 e c 20 er P 10 16 0 3years 3.5years 4years 4.5years (Core) NumberofYearsofMathematics ...Inscience,26percent 100 ofstudentstakingthe 90 k sciencecorearereadyfor mar 80 acredit-bearingcollege ch 70 n Biologycourse;although Be 60 thispercentagerisesto g n 50 38forstudentstakingan eeti 40 additionalyearofscience, M 38 thatstillleavesmorethan cent 2300 26 6studentsin10whoare er P 10 notreadyforcollege-level 0 scienceafterhavingtaken 3years 4years (Core) fouryearsofsciencein highschool.—ACT,2007 NumberofYearsofScience 3 Thisfinding isinpartareflectionofthequalityandintensity—inother words, therigor—of thehighschoolcurriculum. Without improving the quality andcontent ofthecorecourses, itappears thatmoststudents needtotake additionalhigher-level courses tolearnwhatthey should havelearned fromarigorous corecurriculum,withnoguaranteeeven thenthat they willbepreparedforcollege-level work. Thesestatistics suggestthatformost studentsthereisalargegap betweenthehigh schoolexperienceandmeetingtheexpectationof college andcareer readiness. Closingthegapbetweencollegeand careerexpectations andhighschoolpracticehas becomeapriority amongstate policymakers. Asonestep inthis direction,theCouncilof Chief State School OfficersandtheNational GovernorsAssociation’s NGACenterforBestPracticesjoinedtocoordinatetheCommon Core StateStandards Initiative, astate-ledefforttodevelop andadopta commonsetofstateeducationstandards.TheCommon CoreState Standards arealigned withcollegeandwork expectations, include rigorous contentandskills,andareinternationallybenchmarked. Theevidence andresearchbaseforthese standardswas drawn fromtheworkofnationalandinternational institutionsand organizations, includingACT. Manyofthedevelopmentalprinciplesbehind theCommonCore StateStandards Initiative areconsistentwithwhatACThas long advocatedgiven itsresearchunderlyingtheACT CollegeReadiness Standards™:that fewer,clearer,andhigherhighschoolstandards areneeded that focus onwhatisessentialforcollegeandcareer readiness. TheresultsofthemostrecentACTNationalCurriculum Survey® (ACT,2009)indicate that,inmany states,highschoollearning standards maybetoonumerous,forcinghighschool teachersto sacrifice depthforbreadthwhencollegeinstructorsclearlywant incoming students tohaveasolidfoundationoffundamentalcontent knowledgeandskills. Thesesurvey findings,alongwiththecurrentneedforhighschool students totake additionalhigher-level coursesbeyond thecoresimply inordertobeminimallyreadyforcollegeandcareer,clearly indicate thatthetimehascometoimprovethequalityofthecorecoursesso thatallstudents have anequalopportunitytobecome preparedfor postsecondaryeducation—whetherinatwo-year,four-year,trade,or technical institution—andforcareers that,ataminimum, payaliving wage forafamily offourandofferopportunities foradvancement. Before wecanevaluatetheeffectiveness ofeffortstoimprovethecore curriculum, wemust firstcreateabaseline againstwhichsuchefforts maybecompared. Suchabaselinecanbeused todetermine which innovations aresucceedingandhowwelltheyaresucceeding.This reportestablishes thisempiricalbaselinebymeasuringandevaluating thedegree towhich today’s corecourses inournation’s highschools addvalue tostudents’academicpreparationandtotheirreadiness forcollege andcareer. 4 The study Thisreportexamines growthinstudentachievement ineighthigh schoolcore courses: three eachinEnglish andmathematics,and twoinscience (Table 1): Table 1:CoreCoursesExamined English Mathematics Science English10 AlgebraI Biology English11 Geometry Chemistry English12 AlgebraII A nationally representative sample of more than 35,000 students in public and private U.S. high schools participated in the study. Table 2 presents the characteristics of the 62 participating schools.2 Table 2:SchoolCharacteristics (n=62) Percentage Characteristics ofSchools Type Public 88 Private 12 Size 400–799 43 800-plus 57 Region East 38 Midwest 41 Southwest 14 West 7 Thegoalofthestudy wastoanswer twoquestions: 1. Howmucharetoday’s highschoolcorecoursesincreasing students’knowledge andskillsincourse subjectmatter? 2. Howmucharetoday’s highschoolcorecoursesincreasing thoseparticular skills thatstudentsneedtobecome readyfor collegeandcareer? Tomeasurechangesinstudents’ knowledgeandskillsattributable toagivencourse, theappropriateACTQualityCore® end-of-course examination (see sidebar, p.6)was administeredasapretest atthe beginning ofeachcourse andasaposttestattheendofeachcourse. QualityCoreexaminations focusontheknowledgeandskillsastudent shouldlearninrigoroushigh schoolcourses. AlthoughQualityCoreis aninstructional improvement program,nointerventions toimprove teachingorlearning weremadeinanyofthecourses. Thiskeptthe baseline measure free ofconfoundingsystematiceffortstoimprove studentgrowth inachievement. 2 SeetheAppendixfordetailedinformationaboutthesamplingprocessandthestudymethodology. 5 Tomeasure progress instudents’overall level ofreadiness forcollege andcareer inagiven subjectarea,ACT’sPLAN® orACTtest(see sidebar, this page) forthatsubjectareawas also administeredasa pretest andposttest. Thecollegeandcareerreadiness assessment useddepended onthegrade level ofthecourse: PLAN,whichis intended forstudents ingrade 10,was administeredinEnglish10, AlgebraI,andBiology,whiletheACT, forstudentsingrades11and12, was administered inEnglish11,English12,Geometry,AlgebraII,and Chemistry.3 PLANandACTscoresarereportedusingacommon scale. All students need tograduate fromhighschool readyforcollegeand career. Todoso,they must have theopportunitytotake rigorouscore courses that teachtheessentialknowledgeandskillsforcollegeand careerreadiness.Bycreatingabaselinemeasureofthecurrentquality ofthecore coursesinanationallyrepresentativesampleofournation’s highschools, thisreporttakes anessentialfirststepinunderstanding theextent towhich these courses aredoingthejobweneedand expectthemtodo.Knowingthevaluethatcorecourses arecurrently offeringstudents,wewillbeabletoeffectivelydetermine theimpact ofcourse improvement effortsandmeasuretheprogress thatschools, districts, andstates needtomake ifwearetoprepareallstudents forcollege andcareer. ACT’sCollegeandCareerReadinessSystem TheexaminationsandassessmentsusedinthisstudyarepartofACT’s CollegeandCareerReadinessSystem,anintegratedsystemthatmeasures studentprogressatbecomingreadyforcollegeandcareer.Thelongitudinal assessmentcomponentofthesystemconsistsofthreealignedprograms sharingacommonscorescale:EXPLORE®,forstudentsingrades8and9, providesearlyinformationontheacademicpreparationofstudentsthat canbeusedtoplanhighschoolcoursework;PLAN,forstudentsin grade10,providesamidpointreviewofstudents’progresstowardtheir educationandcareergoalswhilethereisstilltimetomakenecessary interventions;andtheACT,forstudentsingrades11and12,measures students’academicreadinesstomakesuccessfultransitionstocollege andcareerafterhighschool.ThecontentofEXPLORE,PLAN,andthe ACTisreflectedintheACTCollegeReadinessStandards,setsofstatements detailingwhatstudentswhoscoreinvariousrangesontheassessments knowandareabletodo,andwhattheyarereadytolearnnext. QualityCoreoffersend-of-courseexaminations,benchmarkformative assessmentpools,modelinstructionalmaterials,andprofessional developmenttrainingintwelvehighschoolcorepreparatorycourses. QualityCoreisintendedtoincreasestudentachievementinhighschool corepreparatorycoursesandtoimprovetheeffectivenessofcurriculum, instruction,andassessmentinthesecourses. 3 AlthoughPLANandtheACTcontaintestsinbothEnglishandReading,onlytheEnglishtests wereusedintheEnglishcourses. 6
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