The rigors of high school
Testing company ACT reports U.S. high school course “lack the rigor needed” to adequately prepare students for college classes.
In a press release, Iowa-based ACT describes its research report, “Rigor at Risk,” which suggests even students who take college-preparatory coursework often are ill-equipped to handle college classes. The report also suggests many students lose their “academic momentum” during their junior and senior years of high school.
“We’ve been urging college-bound students to take the core curriculum in high school for many years,” Cynthia B. Schmeiser, president and chief operating officer of ACT’s education division, said in the release. “But now it is clear that just taking the right number of courses is no longer enough to ensure that students will be ready for college when they graduate. Students must take a number of additional higher-level courses in high school to have a reasonable chance of succeeding in college courses, and even that does not guarantee success.”
View the full report here.
ACT recommends that schools improve the quality and rigor of their core courses.
“It’s neither realistic nor justifiable to expect all students to take more courses just to learn the skills they need to be ready for success after high school,” Schmeiser said. “We have to ensure that the essential core courses provide all students with this knowledge.”
The core curriculum ACT recommends is based on the “A Nation at Risk” report of 1983. The ACT-recommended curriculum consists of:
-Four years of English
-Three years each of math (Algebra I and higher), science and social studies.
ACT score results have shown that students who take this core curriculum are much more likely than those who don’t to be prepared for college, according to the release.
However, among ACT-tested 2006 high school graduates nationally who took the core curriculum, only around one-fourth met all four of the ACT benchmarks in English, math, reading and science, according to the release. The benchmarks represent a likelihood students will earn a “C” or higher in first-year college courses such as English composition, algebra, biology, and social science courses. Twenty percent of the tested students met no benchmarks at all.
“During the high school years, the rate of failure is exceeding the rate of success in terms of preparing students for college,” Schmeiser said.
The report provides factors that contribute to insufficient college preparation in high schools. They include:
-State diploma requirements: More than half of states do not require students to take specific core courses in math or science in order to graduate.
-State learning standards: The majority of states’ learning standards are not aligned with college expectations.
-High school readiness: Many students enter ninth grade without having learned the skills they need to perform well in high school.
-High school course grades: High grades in high school courses do not translate to college readiness for around half or more of ACT-tested students taking Algebra II and physics.
-Teacher quality: The quality of teachers and their qualifications to teach assigned courses have a huge impact on student learning.
However, ACT research shows high school courses can be rigorous, and rigorous content can be effectively taught and learned.
The report recommends five steps schools can take to improve the rigor of their courses. They are:
-Specify the number and kinds of courses that students need to take to graduate from high school ready for college and work.
-Align high school course outcomes with state standards that are driven by the requirements of postsecondary education and work.
-Hire qualified teachers and provide training or professional development support to help them improve the quality of the courses they teach.
-Expand access for all students to high-quality, vertically aligned core courses. Measure results at the course level.
If the results of this research stand up under scrutiny, they paint a dire picture for postsecondary education and begin to explain why so many students drop out. Any thoughts?
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