October2008ResearchBrief: Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Theresearchisclearontheconnectionbetweenhighschoolcourseworkandsuccessincollege.Themore academicallyadvancedandrigorousastudent scourseworkisinhighschool,themorelikelyshewillenrollin andcompletecollege.ina1996study,thecollegeboardfoundthatthemorescienceclasses,mathclasses, foreignlanguageclassesandapclassesastudenttakesinhighschool,thegreatertheprobabilityoffour"year collegeattendance. 1 Tenyearslater,U.S.DepartmentofEducationresearcherCliffordAdelmanfoundthatthe academicintensity ofastudent shighschoolcurriculum(i.e.,thenumberandtypeofchallengingcourses taken,suchascalculus,trigonometry,apclasses,etc.)isakeyindicatorofbachelor sdegreecompletion. AdelmanpaidparticularattentiontomathcoursesandfoundthatstudentswhotakeCalculusinhighschool aretwiceaslikelytoattainabachelor sdegreeasstudentswhoonlymadeittoalgebraiiinhighschool(see Figure1).Adelmanalsopointsoutthatminorityandlow"incomestudentsarelesslikelytoattendschoolsthat offerthemostrigorousclasses.forexample,adelmanfindsthat studentsfromthelowestsocioeconomic status(ses)quintileattendhighschoolsthataremuchlesslikelytoofferanymathabovealgebraiithan studentsintheuppersesquintiles. 2 However,whenlow"incomeandminoritystudentsdotakemore rigorouscourses,theirchancesofcompletingabachelor sdegreeincreasesignificantly(seefigure2). Adelmanestablishestheimportanceoftakingthe rightclasses, butinmanyschoolsitisimportanttolook beyondcoursetitlesandexaminewhat sactuallyhappeninginsideoftheclassroom,intermsofcourse content,student"teacherinteractionsandexpectationsforstudents.in2005,actandtheeducationtrust conductedresearchtodeterminethecommonattributesofhighschoolcoursesthatsuccessfullyprepare studentsforcollege.theactandeducationtrustresearchersfoundthatintrulyrigorouscollegeprepclasses, thecoursecontentwasalignedwithcollegeexpectationsandexceededstateanddistrictstandards;teachers werepassionateabouttheirsubject;studentsandteachersengagedinconstantquestioning;studentswere expectedtothinkandactlikescholars;andstudentswereexpectedtodosignificantamountsofreading, writing,analyzingandinterpreting. However,many collegeprep highschoolclassesare collegeprep innameonlyanddonotalignwith collegeexpectations.consequently,thesesupposedly collegeprep classesfailtopreparestudentsfor college.accordingtoa2006nationalcenterforeducationalaccountability(ncea)report, troublingevidence hasaccumulatedthatasstudentenrollmentinadvancedcourseshasexpanded,increasingpercentagesof 1 King,J.(1996).Improvingtheodds:Factorsthatincreasefour"yearcollegeattendanceamonghighschoolseniors.NY,NY:College Board. 2 Adelman,C.(2006).Thetoolboxrevisited:Pathstodegreecompletionfromhighschoolthroughcollege.Washington,DC:U.S. DepartmentofEducation. BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page1
studentswhoarereceivingcreditforthosecoursesarenotlearningthecontentimpliedbythecoursetitles. 3 Intheirstudy,RigoratRisk,ACTfoundtakingarecommendedcorecurriculumconsistingoffouryearsof Englishandthreeyearseachofmath,scienceandsocialstudies,didnotguaranteethatstudentswouldbe preparedforcollegecoursework.accordingtothisreport, onlyonequarterofact"tested2006highschool graduateswhotookacorecurriculumwerepreparedtotakecredit"bearingentry"levelcollegecoursesinall foursubjectareaswithareasonablechanceofsucceedinginthosecourses. 4 TheauthorsofRigoratRisk concludethatthesefindingsindicatealackofrigorinmanyhighschoolcoursesandamismatchbetween expectationsatthesecondaryandpostsecondarylevels. AccordingtoACT srigoratrisk, onereasonthatimprovingcollegereadinessissuchachallengeforhigh schoolsisbecausemanyeighth"gradersenterhighschoolwithouthavinglearnedtheskillsneededtoperform well. 5 Researchshowsthatmiddleschoolsmustpreparestudentsforrigorous9 th gradeclassesbecause studentswhocompletecollege"preparatorycoursesin9thgradebeginacleartrajectorythatcontinues throughouthighschool. 6 Notsurprisinglythen,6 th,7 th and8 th gradesarecriticalyearsinstudents academic lives.inordertomakesurestudentsaresetupforsuccessin9 th gradeandarecollege"readybytheendof highschool,studentsmustmasterkeyfoundationalknowledge(forexample,algebra)inmiddleschool. Whilemuchoftheresearchoncollegereadinessfocusesoncoursesandcurriculum,someresearcherstakea broaderapproachwhendefiningtheskillsandknowledgenecessarytobe collegeready. DavidConleyofthe EducationalPolicyImprovementCenteroutlinesfourdomainsofcollegereadinessinhispaperTowardaMore ComprehensiveConceptionofCollegeReadiness.Conleydefinesthesefourdomainsas:1)keycontent knowledge(e.g.,writing,research,algebraicconcepts,keyfoundationalconceptsfromcoresubjects);2)key cognitivestrategies(e.g.,analysis,reasoning,interpretation,problemsolving,intellectualopenness);3) academicbehaviors(e.g.,self"monitoring,studyskills,timemanagement);and4)contextualskillsand awarenessor collegeknowledge (e.g.,knowledgeaboutcollegeadmissionsrequirements,costsofcollege andfinancialaid,collegecultureandexpectationsofprofessorsandlevelofchallengeofcollegecourses). Conleyarguesthatthisexpandedframeworkofcollegereadinesswillprovidemoreaccurateinformationto studentsabouttheircollegereadinessandcouldhelptoassesswhethercollegepreparatoryprogramsare developingalltheskills,knowledgeandbehaviorsthatstudentswillneedtosucceedincollege. 3 Dougherty,C.,Mellor,L.&Jian,S.(2006)Orangejuiceororangedrink:Ensuringthat AdvancedCourses liveuptotheirlabels. Austin,TX:NationalCenterforEducationalAccountability. 4 ACT.(2007).Rigoratrisk:Reaffirmingqualityinthehighschoolcurriculum.IowaCity,IA:ACT 5 ACT.(2007).Rigoratrisk:Reaffirmingqualityinthehighschoolcurriculum.IowaCity,IA:ACT 6 Finkelstein,N&Fong,A.(2008)Course"takingpatternsandpreparationforpostsecondaryeducationinCalifornia spublicuniversity systemsamongminorityyouth.sanfrancisco:ca:wested. BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page2
ImplicationsforCollegeAccessPrograms QuestionstoAsk: Areourstudentstakingthe rightclasses? Areallourstudentstaking,ataminimum,Algebrain8 th gradeandgeometry,trigonometry,pre" CalculusandCalculusinhighschool?AreourstudentstakingfouryearsofEnglishclasses?Areour studentstakingbiology,chemistryandphysicslabclasses? In7"12 th grades,areourstudentstakingthreetofouryearsofthesameforeignlanguage?areour studentssucceedingintheseclasses(i.e.,gettinga sorb sanddoingwellonend"of"courseexams)? AreourstudentstakingthreeormoreAPclasses?AreourstudentstakingtheAPexamsforallAP coursesinwhichthey reenrolled?areourstudentsreceivinga 3 orhigherontheirapexams? Aretheclassesrigorousenough? AretheAlgebraclassesourstudentsaretakinginmiddleschoolrigorousenoughandcoveringallthe contentwewouldexpecttoseeinanalgebraiclass?ifnot,doweprovidetutoringorextraacademic assistancetoensurestudentsarepreparedforanacceleratedmathcoursesequenceinhighschool? Inhighschool,dothecollegeprepclassesbuildupononeanotherinacoherentandsequentialway? Doesthecoursecontentofcollegeprepclassesexceedstateanddistrictstandards?Arekeytopics exploredin"depth? Arestudentsexpectedtothinkandbehavelikemathematiciansintheirmathclasses,scientistsintheir scienceclasses,etc.? Arestudentsrequiredtodoasignificantamountofanalysis,problem"solving,readingandwritinginall classes? Dooursupportstrategiesforstudentsencompassallaspectsof collegereadiness? Howdowesupportourstudentsinlearningtheacademiccontenttheywillneedtobereadyfor college? Howdowesupportourstudents developmentoftheirproblem"solvingabilities,theiranalytical abilities,theirabilitytointerpretandcritique? Howdowesupportourstudents developmentofstudyskills,timemanagement,andabilitytoassess theirownknowledge,skills,strengthsandweaknesses? Howdowebuildourstudents knowledgeandawarenessofthebenefitsofcollege,collegeadmission requirements,financialaid,theexpectations,valuesandnormsofcollege? BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page3
Charts&Graphs: Figure1 TheHighestLevelofMathReachedinHighSchoolisa StrongPredictorofBAAttainment 100 Percent Attaining a Bachelor's 80 20 83 75 39 17 7 0 Calculus Precalculus Trigonometry Algebra 2 Geometry Algebra 1 Source:CliffordAdelman,U.S.DepartmentofEducation,TheToolboxRevisited,2006. Figure2 Percent Earning a BA ARigorousHighSchoolCurriculum*Greatly IncreasesBachelor sdegreecompletion,especiallyforlow" SESStudents 100 80 20 81 59 89 Low SES High SES 0 All College Entrants College Entrants with a Strong High School Curriculum *RigorousCurriculumisdefinedasthetoppercentofhighschoolcurriculumandthehighesthighschool mathematicsabovealgebra2. Note:Thesenumbersreflectoutcomesforhighschoolgraduateswhoenterfour"yearinstitutionswithnodelay. Source:CliffordAdelman,U.S.DepartmentofEducation,TheToolboxRevisited,2006. BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page4
Figure3 HavingtheOpportunitytoStudyHigh"LevelMathinHighSchool GreatlyIncreasesChancesofBACompletion,Particularlyfor LowIncomeStudents Source:NCES,TheConditionofEducation,2003,Table22"2 Figure4 53 HighSchoolCurriculumIntensityisaStrongPredictor ofbachelor sdegreecompletion Percent of Students Completing a Bachelor's Degree 100 80 20 0 82 Most Intense Curriculum 9 Least Intense Curriculum CurriculumquartilesarecompositesofEnglish,math,science,foreignlanguage,socialstudies,computerscience, AdvancedPlacement,thehighestlevelofmath,remedialmathandremedialEnglishclassestakenduringhigh school. Source:CliffordAdelman,U.S.DepartmentofEducation,TheToolboxRevisited,2006. BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page5
References: ACT&TheEducationTrust(2005).Oncourseforsuccess:Acloselookatthehighschoolclassesthatprepare allstudentsforcollegeandwork.iowacity,ia:act. ACT(2005).Collegereadinessbeginsinmiddleschool.IowaCity,IA:ACT. ACT(2007).Rigoratrisk:Reaffirmingqualityinthehighschoolcurriculum.IowaCity,IA:ACT. Adelman,C.(2006).Thetoolboxrevisited:Pathstodegreecompletionfromhighschoolthroughcollege. Washington,DC:U.S.DepartmentofEducation. Conley,D.(2007).Towardamorecomprehensiveconceptionofcollegereadiness.Eugene,OR:Educational PolicyImprovementCenter. Dougherty,C.,Mellor,L.&Jian,S.(2006)Orangejuiceororangedrink:Ensuringthat AdvancedCourses live uptotheirlabels.austin,tx:nationalcenterforeducationalaccountability. Finkelstein,N&Fong,A.(2008).Course"takingpatternsandpreparationforpostsecondaryeducationin California spublicuniversitysystemsamongminorityyouth.sanfrancisco,ca:wested. King,J.(1996).Improvingtheodds:Factorsthatincreasefour"yearcollegeattendanceamonghighschool seniors.ny,ny:collegeboard. BreakthroughResearchBrief:Whatdoesittaketopreparestudentsacademicallyforcollege? Page6