Essetial Elemets of State Policy for College Completio Policy Brief Jue 20112 Jauary 2013 Souther Regioal Educatio Board 592 10th St. N.W. Atlata, GA 30318 (404) 875-9211 www.sreb.org Trasitioal Courses for College ad Career Readiess To be competitive i the 21st-cetury global ecoomy, every state eeds a highly skilled workforce. States eed to improve public high school graduatio rates dramatically ad esure that may more studets are ready for college or career traiig programs that lead to the workplace. SREB has foud that states historically have uderestimated the eormous eed for remedial postsecodary courses i readig, writig ad mathematics i our atio. The reality is that may high school graduates have to repeat basic academic courses that slow dow ad ofte derail their completio of a degree or credetial. Ad with the implemetatio of the Commo Core State Stadards (CCSS) ad other rigorous state stadards, states will see studet achievemet gaps ad college remediatio rates rise eve further i the ear term. These factors create a urget eed to prepare more studets for college-level work before they graduate from high school. Implemetig specific college- ad career-ready curriculum ad itervetios statewide i the juior or seior year of high school ca preemptively tackle the problem. SREB believes that a supplemetal college-ready curriculum i the juior or seior year for studets who are assessed as uderprepared for etry-level, credit-bearig college courses ca lesse the readiess gap ad prevet studets from eedig remediatio i college. This curriculum also allows our studets to graduate with more optios to choose a career pathway. However, trasitioal courses are just oe piece of a statewide college-ready ageda. SREB ad other orgaizatios, particularly Achieve, have worked with states over the past years to istitute statewide policies ad practices to icrease college readiess. These efforts were based o a model actio ageda icludig six steps: 1. Implemet statewide college- ad career-readiess stadards. 2. Assess high school studets for college readiess o later tha the juior year. 3. Develop a high school curriculum of trasitioal courses to assist juiors ad seiors who are uderprepared for credit-bearig, college-level work. 4. Provide targeted teacher developmet for teachers of these trasitioal courses. 5. Esure that postsecodary educatio recogizes ad applies the state readiess stadards to placemet tests (ot college acceptace). 6. Adjust school ad college accoutability systems to iclude meetig measures that prove a icrease i studets college readiess. This paper was writte by Mega Root, seior policy associate, Presidet s Office, Souther Regioal Educatio Board. It is part of SREB s Essetial Elemets of State Policy series, which is supported by grats from the Bill & Melida Gates Foudatio ad Lumia Foudatio. The coclusios cotaied withi are those of SREB ad do ot ecessarily reflect positios or policies of the fuders.
Natioally, most states have accomplished the first two elemets by adoptig the CCSS or redesigig their ow state stadards ad stregtheig curret high school assessmets. A few efforts across the coutry are still lookig to create improved college-readiess assessmets. Steps 3 ad 4 are the recommedatios that SREB edorses for implemetig trasitioal curricula. Steps 5 ad 6 provide measures that a state ca use to esure that the stadards, assessmets ad ew curricula are implemeted effectively across the state ad actually icrease readiess. Oly through sustaied adjustmets i curricula ad teachig ca the key areas of the readiess ageda take hold i all of a state s public schools. Sice 2007, SREB has worked with a umber of states to develop ad implemet special 12th-grade courses built o the skill requiremets of the CCSS or other rigorous state stadards i discipliary literacy (readig ad writig istructio specific to academic subjects so studets ca read ad uderstad complex texts) ad math. The courses are modular ad iclude tools (such as the Literacy Desig Collaborative ad the Mathematics Desig Collaborative) to help a sigificatly higher umber of studets build the skills they eed to succeed i credit-bearig, college-level courses. The work is supported by a grat from the Bill & Melida Gates Foudatio. This paper oe i SREB s series o the essetial elemets of state policy to icrease college completio provides a framework to help policy-makers explore implemetig high school trasitioal courses through legislatio or other forms of statewide policy. It offers questios to cosider ad provides examples of existig policy ad state actios. The core of the paper cotais SREB s recommeded essetial elemets of effective public policy for trasitioal courses to help more studets prepare for ad complete their postsecodary studies. Key Policy Questios College- ad career-readiess efforts are cetral to the growig effort of esurig that studets graduate from high school prepared to succeed i ay postsecodary study. Policy-makers examiig the potetial of trasitioal courses should ask these questios: What are the state s college- ad career-readiess goals for public high school studets? How do the state s readiess goals support its college completio goals? How do public high schools idetify studets who are ot o track to be college-ready by the begiig of the seior year? How do public high schools help these studets use the 11th ad 12th grade to stregthe their college-readiess skills? Is state policy eeded to esure that studets who are ot o track to be college-ready by the ed of the 11th grade have access to trasitioal courses i 12th grade to stregthe their math ad discipliary literacy skills? Is state policy eeded to require that studets who are ot college-ready eroll i trasitioal courses? Why are Trasitioal Courses Needed? America high school studets performace o college admissios tests that measure college readiess cotiues to be grim. For example, oly 67 percet of the atio s Class of 2012 met ACT Ic. s college-readiess bechmark i Eglish, 52 percet did so i readig, ad 46 percet i math. Such low readiess levels fuel a huge demad for remedial courses i postsecodary istitutios ad drive up college costs for studets ad states. The readiess gap is especially sigificat amog studets at public two-year commuity ad techical colleges with ope-access admissios requirig oly a high school diploma or its equivalet. Typically, at least 70 percet to 80 percet of studets admitted to public two-year colleges require remedial work i Eglish, math or both. I public four-year colleges ad uiversities, over oe-half eed or would eed additioal preparatio if appropriate readiess stadards were applied statewide. I most states, these two sectors of higher educatio serve from 70 percet to 80 percet of the udergraduate studets i public istitutios. The 2010 SREB report Beyod the Rhetoric otes that oly at those istitutios with highly selective admissios policies is the readiess gap omial. Not oly are the vast majority of studets ot prepared for college-level study, but may high school graduates also lack the readig comprehesio, writig ad math skills required for success i etry-level jobs. The Co- 2 essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013
ferece Board s 2006 Workforce Readiess Report Card idicates that far too may ew high school graduates are iadequately prepared to succeed i the workplace. Accordig to a 2005 Natioal Associatio of Maufacturers report, may employees have iadequate problem-solvig skills ad lack basic employability traits such as cosistet attedace, timeliess ad a strog work ethic. Fifty-oe percet of maufacturers reported that may employees were deficiet i math ad sciece skills, ad 38 percet pipoited employee deficiecies i readig ad comprehesio. Clearly, the eed to better prepare studets i literacy ad math i high school is well-documeted. As more studets move through the elemetary ad middle grades ad ito high school, states should expect to see the positive impact of the stroger CCSS ad specific state performace stadards o studet readiess for college ad careers over time. I the short term, however, states eed to be proactive to esure that studets correct deficiecies i math ad discipliary literacy before they graduate. It is importat to recogize that, as states implemet higher stadards ad better assessmets, the eed for developmetal educatio will rise i the ear term as iitially studets will fail to meet the rigorous stadards, but it will declie i the log term as more studets receive college-ready istructio. The 11th-grade assessmets beig developed by the states through the Partership for Assessmet of Readiess for College ad Careers (PARCC) ad the Smarter Balaced Assessmet Cosortium (SBAC) will idetify greater umbers of studets who eed developmetal educatio because they caot perform at the higher levels required by the CCSS. The state actios take ad the lessos leared by states participatig i the SREB college- ad career-readiess iitiative ca provide immediate guidace to policymakers who are decidig how to help may more studets successfully trasitio ito postsecodary educatio ad the workforce. State Actios to Implemet Courses Uder a grat from the Bill & Melida Gates Foudatio titled Advacig Commo Core Stadards, Educator Effectiveess ad College Readiess i SREB States, SREB has bee workig with teams of state ad local educators from K-12 ad postsecodary educatio from Arkasas, Georgia, Ketucky, North Carolia, Oklahoma ad Teessee to develop model trasitioal courses i discipliary literacy ad math. Recetly, eight additioal states joied this cosortium upo the recommedatio of PARCC. These states iclude Arizoa, Colorado, Florida, Idiaa, Louisiaa, Mississippi, New York ad Ohio. This iitiative icludes the writig of professioal developmet guidelies to prepare teachers to teach these courses. Both the literacy ad math courses will utilize the teachig tools developed through the Gates-supported Literacy Desig Collaborative ad Mathematics Desig Collaborative, which develop practices that help teachers iterpret ad teach the CCSS effectively. SREB will work with states to esure that there is a process for measurig the extet to which studets emerge from these courses college-ready. I each state, both K-12 ad postsecodary educatio will be egaged i the developmet ad applicatio of the courses. The SREB cosortium is: establishig the model courses ad field-testig them i states that do ot have such courses workig with policy-makers o policies that support the statewide implemetatio of the courses, ad assistig states where this work already is uder way i updatig their material to reflect the model course characteristics ad ecourage full statewide implemetatio. As metioed above, this work cotiues SREB s effort with idividual states to implemet a comprehesive college-readiess ageda oe piece of which is the developmet ad implemetatio of trasitioal courses. Florida, Ketucky, Texas, Virgiia ad West Virgiia developed their ow state trasitioal courses i math, Eglish or both. Florida ad Ketucky implemeted math ad Eglish trasitioal courses statewide ad have see positive iitial results i various school districts where studets received higher test scores after the trasitioal courses; West Virgiia has doe so with math, while Texas ad Virgiia are pilotig both courses. Ketucky is parterig with SREB agai to realig its previously developed courses with the CCSS. essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013 3
It was reported at the Ketucky Board of Educatio meetig i December 2012 that through the College ad Career Readiess Delivery Pla, which icludes studet itervetios ad trasitioal course completio by those tested as below college ad career readiess (CCR) levels, Ketucky has exceeded its goal for studet readiess. The state s goal for CCR was 40 percet for the seior Class of 2012, up from 34 percet i 2010. State data results show that 47.2 percet of seiors were CCR i 2012. The state s ext goal is for 49 percet of high school seiors to be CCR i 2013. (Available olie at: http://portal.ksba.org/public/meetig.aspx?publicagecy ID=4388&PublicMeetigID=8154&AgecyTypeID=.) Each state is choosig a state or atioal test to assess studets readiess i the courses. Most pla to use the PARCC or SBAC 11th-grade assessmet that will be implemeted atiowide durig the 2014-2015 academic year. (For details of the five states efforts, see the SREB report State College ad Career Readiess Iitiative: Statewide Trasitioal Courses for College Readiess.) Several states have passed legislatio to require the implemetatio of trasitioal courses or college-readiess courses: Georgia - House Bill 186 (2011) requires the state Board of Educatio, the Board of Regets of the Uiversity System of Georgia, ad the Board of Techical ad Adult Educatio to develop course stadards that esure the core curriculum of all Georgia public high schools will be accepted at ay istitutio of higher educatio i the state, begiig with studets eterig high school i fall 2011. This coordiatio esures the readiess of studets ad lesses the eed for remedial classes i Georgia s public colleges ad techical schools. Additioally, the legislatio requires studets o the Career, Techical, ad Agriculture Educatio (CTAE) pathway to take academic core subject courses ad pass ed-of-course assessmets. These assessmets allow CTAE studets to receive credit upo demostratio of proficiecy, rather tha attedace of a madatory umber of classes. Florida - Seate Bill 1908 (2008) ad House Bill 1255 (2011) comprise Florida s existig college-readiess state laws. The first piece of legislatio requires the state Departmet of Educatio to establish trasitioal courses for high school studets who are uderprepared based o multiple state test scores. The bill also requires the departmet to aalyze the assessmets ad develop teacher developmet for the courses. House Bill 1255 (2011) ow requires all districts ad high schools to offer the five college-readiess ad success courses for all high school seiors who do ot test as ready for college-level work o the P.E.R.T. Ketucky - Seate Bill 1 (2009) is a comprehesive piece of legislatio desiged to brig about immediate ad far-reachig chages to achieve college- ad career-readiess goals. Its madates iclude: aligmet of the revised academic stadards from elemetary through postsecodary educatio, so that studets ca be successful at each level requirig schools to provide a trasitioal course or moitored itervetio to every studet ot meetig college-readiess (ACT) bechmarks i Eglish/laguage arts or math, ad requirig the Ketucky Departmet of Educatio (KDE) to provide for the traiig of teachers ad admiistrators o itegratig the revised stadards ad assessmets ito istructio. 4 essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013
Essetial Elemets of State Policy for College Completio: Trasitioal Courses SREB recommeds 12 essetial elemets of state policy that specifically address what is eeded to develop ad implemet high school trasitioal courses i literacy ad math. These policy elemets grouped ito three topical categories of stadards, assessmets ad course implemetatio are based o the orgaizatio s experiece ad practice i this area, vetted through groups of SREB state legislators, state agecy ad board members, practicig educators ad other experts. SREB recommeds that every state that is plaig implemetatio of trasitioal curricula cosider these elemets: Stadards 1. Esure that trasitioal courses or modules are based o the Commo Core College ad Career Readiess Achor Stadards that are i the CCSS. SREB s curret grat for developig model trasitioal courses bases its course costructio etirely o the Readiess Achor Stadards ad also ecompasses further stadards i literacy ad other dis ciplies i the CCSS. The College ad Career Readiess (CCR) Achor Stadards correspod to the K-12 achor stadards (grade-specific) by umber. The CCR ad grade-specific stadards correlate to each other, with the first providig broad stadards ad the secod providig additioal specificity that together defie the skills ad uderstadigs that all studets must demostrate. 2. Esure that all public postsecodary istitutios recogize ad apply the same stadards i their studet placemet processes statewide. Public istitutios of higher educatio, icludig techical ad commuity colleges, must icorporate the CCSS ito the processes for studet placemet after acceptace. States that have adopted these stadards must ot oly adopt them i K-12, but also i higher educatio, assessig studets o those stadards that alig with readiess for that istitutio. Without simulatio by all educatio levels, states will have o cosistecy i learig objectives for high school graduates. SREB believes that a supplemetal college-ready curriculum i the juior or seior year for studets who are assessed as uderprepared for etry-level, credit-bearig college courses ca lesse the readiess gap ad prevet studets from eedig remediatio i college. Readiess Assessmets 3. Esure that all studets (or a certai rage of studets based o achievemet) be assessed for college readiess o later tha the juior year. Oe or more methods of assessmet must be employed o later tha the juior year to properly commuicate with studets whether they are prepared for college-level work or ot, ad to give them at least oe year i high school to improve o weakesses i math ad literacy. States that do ot properly assess studets o the readiess stadards through the best testig methods available will be doig a disservice to studets ad parets by ot properly idetifyig studets who could beefit from the readiess curriculum. 4. Esure that the qualifyig scores o assessmet(s) used to idetify studets who eed the courses are strogly associated with success i first-year, credit-bearig courses i college. States may use oe test or multiple methods to determie studet preparedess levels. However, the assessmet must have a highly valued, data-drive essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013 5
cut score that accurately idicates whether studets are prepared for first-year, credit-bearig courses i literacy ad math. All educatio levels should be cosulted ad mutually agree o what it meas for studets to be labeled college-ready by the state high school readiess assessmet(s). 5. Esure that studets assessed as meetig the readiess stadards will ot have to take a placemet exam for etry-level courses oce admitted to postsecodary educatio, although additioal testig may be required to determie specific courses that are beyod basic, etry level. Studets who reach or surpass the appropriately placed qualifyig score o the readiess assessmet should ot be subject to further testig by the postsecodary istitutio to make sure they do ot eed developmetal educatio. The readiess gap is especially sigificat amog studets at public two-year commuity ad techical colleges with ope-access admissios requirig oly a high school diploma or its equivalet. Trasitioal Course Implemetatio 6. Esure that all public high schools statewide offer trasitioal courses ad that studets take the courses if they do ot perform at or above the cut scores. All studets who are uderprepared should have access to this curriculum; therefore, statewide implemetatio of trasitioal courses is ecessary. 7. Esure that the trasitioal courses carry high school credit ad are eligible to be fuded through the public school fudig formula. If these courses are ot for credit ad are ot properly fuded, success of implemetatio will vary across the state. 8. Esure that the math trasitioal course is creditable as a fourth-year math course i high school. This course is a stad-aloe, oe-semester course, which ca be taught after Algebra II ad covers essetial math practices from grades eight through 12 that must be mastered to be successful i college. 9. Esure that all public postsecodary istitutios ad agecies are parters with K-12 i developig, testig, evaluatig ad revisig trasitioal courses. Successful applicatio of the stadards ad the curricula greatly depeds o whether all levels of educatio participate i this effort. 10. Esure that public postsecodary istitutios statewide recogize that the successful completio of a trasitioal course meas readiess to begi credit-bearig, college-level courses without remediatio. After a state has collected data provig that studets completed a trasitioal course with a specified grade or ed-of-course test score, istitutios of higher educatio should ot put them ito developmetal educatio courses after acceptace. It may take two or three years for a state to retest its high school seiors after completio of the trasitioal course with the same juior-year assessmet i order to properly collect ad aalyze comparable data to determie what performace level proves studet success i the course. 11. Provide professioal developmet o the trasitioal courses to all high school teachers. New ad curret teachers must be properly traied to teach trasitioal courses i order to develop the iovative, motivatig ad coceptual teachig skills they eed to reach targeted studets ad to esure that trasitioal courses adhere to CCSS skills ad target academic gaps i studets college-readiess skills. Collaborative opportuities betwee postsecodary ad high school faculty ca be utilized as a cost-effective method of providig traiig for high school teachers. Without proper professioal developmet, teachers may ot be teachig trasitioal courses with the ew coceptual istructio methods, rigor or cotextual practices that the stadards require. 6 essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013
12. Develop a statewide system for evaluatio of the trasitioal courses ad professioal developmet activities to determie their effectiveess ad impact o icreasig the umbers of studets leavig high school college- ad career-ready. Without this evaluatio, states will ot be able to provide accurate data to validate the qualifyig cut scores that idicate college readiess. These data are also importat as states cotiue to make improvemets o the college-ready curriculum ad professioal developmet. The trasitioal courses beig developed with SREB s parter states throughout the regio will provide a tool that all states ca use as part of their college-readiess efforts. Fiscal Implicatios States will experiece some additioal cost i implemetig the trasitioal courses, primarily for professioal developmet, as curret math ad literacy teachers will eed additioal traiig to teach the ew courses. However, the state should see cost savigs to higher educatio budgets because of the potetial reductio i the umber of studets eedig ad takig remedial courses i postsecodary istitutios. Moreover, the trasitioal courses ca ad should be fuded through existig K-12 reveue, sice these courses will be creditable to the high school diploma. For the states participatig i the SREB project supported by the Gates Foudatio, a large part of the fudig has bee provided by the grat. The itet of SREB s state-appoited curricular teams is to develop two modular-based trasitioal courses, oe each i discipliary literacy ad math. The teams also will help develop teacher guidelies ad evaluatio criteria for each module. The states have made great progress i developig these trasitioal courses for high school juiors or seiors who test as uderprepared for college-level studies. Overlappig Policy Policy-makers eed to idetify ad revise or elimiate board policies or regulatios that coflict with ew state policy cocerig trasitioal courses. These could iclude, but are ot limited to: high school graduatio requiremets that prevet, or preset a barrier to, studets takig trasitioal courses or receivig readiess itervetios outdated or ieffective college-preparatory curricula assessmets or assessmet procedures that do ot successfully predict studets readiess for postsecodary educatio, ad teacher developmet rules that prevet professioal developmet for curret teachers teachig the ew trasitioal courses or that preset barriers to icorporatig updated stadards or curriculum to ew teacher preparatio programs. Coclusio For early a decade, SREB has egaged states i improvig college- ad career-readiess policy, curriculum ad implemetatio. This work has cetered o helpig them make sigificat progress through a cocrete, comprehesive model ageda with six key elemets. (See Page 1.) Trasitioal courses for high school studets who are ot o track to succeed i etry-level, credit-bearig postsecodary courses are a critical part of the statewide college-readiess ageda. This paper recommeds 12 essetial elemets of state policy that specifically address what is eeded to develop ad implemet high school trasitioal courses i literacy ad math. The trasitioal courses beig developed with SREB s parter states throughout the regio will provide a tool that all states ca use as part of their college-readiess efforts. Trasitioal course curricula ad teacher guidelies will be available for use by ay state i the atio, free of cost, i fall 2013. essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013 7
Refereces 2005 Skills Gap Report A Survey of the America Maufacturig Workforce. Natioal Maufacturig Istitute ad Deloitte Cosultig LLP, 2005. ACT Profile Report - Natioal. ACT Ic., 2012. Bailey, Thomas, Dog Wook Jeog ad Sug-Woo Cho. CCRC Brief: Studet Progressio Through Developmetal Sequeces i Commuity Colleges, Number 45. Commuity College Research Ceter, Teachers College, Columbia Uiversity, September 2010. Beyod the Rhetoric: Improvig College Readiess Through Coheret State Policy. The Natioal Ceter for Public Policy ad Higher Educatio ad the Souther Regioal Educatio Board, Jue 2010 http://publicatios.sreb. org/2010/beyod%20the%20rhetoric.pdf. Gettig Studets Ready for College ad Careers: Trasitioal Seior Mathematics. Souther Regioal Educatio Board, 2010 http://publicatios.sreb.org/2010/10v26 _Seior_Trasitioal_Math.pdf. Murray, Reee, ad Gee Bottoms. Gettig Studets Ready for College ad Careers: Trasitioal Seior Eglish. Souther Regioal Educatio Board, 2008 http:// publicatios.sreb.org/2008/08v04_eglishreadiess Idicators.pdf. Ready for College ad Ready for Work: Same or Differet? ACT Ic. News Release, 2006 http://www.act.org/ews/releases/2006/05-08-06.html. State College ad Career Readiess Iitiative: Statewide Trasitioal Courses for College Readiess. Souther Regioal Educatio Board, 2011 http://publicatios. sreb.org/2011/11e03_tras%20crs_sum.pdf. Symods, W.C., R.B. Schwartz ad R. Ferguso. Pathways to Prosperity: Meetig the Challege of Preparig Youg Americas for the 21st Cetury. Report issued by the Pathways to Prosperity Project, Harvard Graduate School of Educatio, February 2011. 8 essetial elemets Trasitioal Courses Jauary 2013