Learn About: 21st Century | Charter Schools | Homework
Home / Edifier


The EDifier

May 2, 2013

Improve college attainment rates: Invest in high school guidance counselors

A recent study by Caroline Hoxby and Christopher Avery hasn’t gotten a lot of media attention but is a must read. In fact, I just became aware of the study myself even though it was issued as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research back in December. Policymakers, educators, parents, and the general public should be made aware of this study because it has broad implications for narrowing gaps between low and higher income students.

What did the study find that was so important? It found that low-income high achieving students were less likely to not just attend a selective college but even apply to one as similar achieving higher income students. Instead, low-income high achieving students tend to attend non-selective two- or four-year colleges that have significantly lower instructional resources and graduation rates.

Why is this so important?  Too few low-income students go on to obtain a college degree. If more low-income students applied to more selective colleges that have greater instructional resources and higher graduations rates the college degree attainment gap between low- and high-income students would narrow. In the long-term the U.S. would likely climb up the international college graduation rate rankings as well.

You might be thinking low-income students may not attend more selective colleges because they cost more. This may be true if you compared sticker prices but the study found that if you take into account the difference in financial aid packages, many selective colleges would cost low-income students less than the non-selective colleges they wound up attending.

However, this isn’t likely to be common knowledge for many low –income students as many are the first in their families to attend college. This is why adults in their high schools need to help educate these students and their families about the college going process, particularly for those qualified to attend a selective college. Yet, when the national student to guidance counselor average is 350 to 1—likely much higher in many high poverty urban districts—it is nearly impossible for guidance counselors to find the time to ensure low-income high achieving students apply to selective schools.

This study provides more evidence of the importance of high school guidance counselors. As CPE found in our High School Rigor and Good Advice report last year, those students who meet regularly with counselors about college are more likely to succeed in college. The same report also found that those students who took more rigorous courses in high school were more likely to succeed in college as well. So, guidance counselors not only help low-income high achieving students by educating them about the college going process but by ensuring students take the rigorous courses they need to succeed in college.

Yes, getting more low-income students to complete a rigorous high school curriculum will increase the chances those students will attend and succeed in college. But this study shows that academic preparation can only go so far. If schools invest more in educating low-income students on the college going process by hiring more guidance counselors that will ensure students take rigorous courses and apply to higher quality colleges. Then the U.S. will likely see the college degree gap between low- and high-income students narrow and see the U.S. rise in the international college attainment rankings. – Jim Hull

Filed under: Achievement Gaps,college,Course taking,Demographics,High school,International Comparisons — Tags: , , — Jim Hull @ 11:32 am




March 14, 2013

Study examines links between the rigor of Algebra I and Geometry course content and test scores

The National Center for Education Statistics recently released a study examining the relationship between the rigor in Algebra I and Geometry courses high school students take and student test performance in those areas on the 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  This study was spurred by positive findings from the 2005 NAEP  High School Transcript study, which found that in 2005 high school students earned more math credits, took higher level math courses, and obtained higher math course grades than in 1990. 

While it is certainly good news that more students are taking more math courses at higher levels and earning higher grades, it’s not clear whether students are taking courses that are truly rigorous or whether or not this uptick in math course enrollment is resulting in more student math achievement.  This study aims to answer that question.  The study was unable to actually observe classroom instruction in order to measure rigor; however, the researchers gained access to math textbooks used in 550 public schools, analyzing the rigor of the problems in the textbooks to determine how demanding classes are.  Previous studies have shown that math textbooks are closely related to math classroom instruction and serve as a good proxy for actual course rigor.  After coding the textbooks to determine whether or not they represented basic, intermediate, or advanced levels of rigor, the study matched those rigor levels to math NAEP scores to see if there’s a relationship. 

The overwhelming finding is there is a clear relationship between classroom rigor and NAEP scores.  Students in rigorous Algebra I courses and Geometry courses scored higher on NAEP than students in basic or intermediate courses.  On the other hand, the study also finds that the labeling of a course (i.e.-whether a course is regular or honors) often has little relationship to the true rigor offered in a course.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the findings:

  • Graduates in rigorous Algebra I courses and Geometry courses score higher on NAEP.
    • Algebra I rigor level with corresponding NAEP scores (10 points is roughly equivalent to a year’s worth of learning):
      • Beginner: 137 points
      • Intermediate: 143
      • Rigorous: 146
    • Geometry rigor level with corresponding NAEP scores:
      • Beginner: 148
      • Intermediate: 152
      • Rigorous: 159
  • School course titles often do not truly represent the level of rigor a course offers.
    • 73% of students who took an honors Algebra I course actually received an intermediate Algebra I course.
    • In fact, a higher percentage of students in a regular class received a rigorous course than those in courses labeled “honors”
      • Regular title, but curriculum was rigorous: 34%
      • Honors title, but curriculum was rigorous: 18%
    • In Geometry classes, only 33% of courses title honors were actually rigorous, while 62% were intermediate, and the rest were basic.
  • Generally, about two-thirds of an Algebra I or Geometry course covers core content; the rest is a review of lower level material or a preview of higher level material.
  • Most students, regardless of race or course title, took an intermediate level Algebra I course.
    • 54% of high school students took an intermediate Algebra I course, while 14% had a beginner course, and 32% had a rigorous course.
  • Most students, regardless of course title, took an intermediate level Geometry course.
    • Classes titled “Informal”: 54% had an intermediate course (30% basic, 14% rigorous)
    • Classes titled “Regular: 68% had an intermediate course (11% basic, 19% rigorous)
    • Classes titled “Honors”: 62% had an intermediate course (4% basic, 33% rigorous)
  • While racial differences weren’t present in differences in rigor level for all other courses, racial differences were present for Honors Geometry rigor levels.
    • 37% of white students had a rigorous Honors Geometry course, while 21% of Black graduates and 17% of Hispanic graduates had a rigorous Honors Geometry course.
  • While a higher level of rigor in a Algebra I or Geometry course resulted in higher NAEP scores, white graduates still scored higher than Black or Hispanic graduates on the Algebra I and Geometry portion of NAEP, regardless of the rigor level of their math test:
    • White students rigor level of Algebra I and Geometry course and corresponding NAEP scores:
      • Algebra I
        • Basic: 142
        • Intermediate: 148
        • Rigorous: 151
      • Geometry
        • Basic: 155
        • Intermediate: 159
        • Rigorous: 165
    • Black students rigor level of Geometry course and corresponding NAEP scores:  
      • Algebra I
        • Basic: 128
        • Intermediate: 129
        • Rigorous: 134
      • Geometry
        • Basic: 120
        • Intermediate: 129
        • Rigorous: 133
    • Hispanic students rigor level of Geometry course and corresponding NAEP scores:
      • Algebra I
        • Basic: 127
        • Intermediate: 132
        • Rigorous: 132
      • Geometry
        • Basic: 140
        • Intermediate: 138
        • Rigorous: 138

 

Filed under: Achievement Gaps,Course taking,instruction,NAEP,Report Summary,research — Jim Hull @ 3:06 pm




January 29, 2013

Some colleges putting the brakes on accelerated learning programs

There’s an interesting development occurring in the push to prepare high school graduates for college— and it doesn’t bode well, despite the very best intentions.

I read with a great deal of interest that a handful of Washington state lawmakers  are eager to expand a pilot program that automatically identifies high-achieving middle and high school students and enrolls them in advanced courses.

Federal Way Public Schools launched its Academic Acceleration Program in the fall of 2010 and has experienced overwhelmingly positive results. Since its inception, the number of juniors and seniors who have enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge Program class has increased by 72 percent, with the number of minority students taking advanced courses rising by 76 percent. What’s more, less than three percent of students who were tapped for this program opted out, while 94 percent of those who stayed in the advanced course received a C or better in their first semester.

This all sounds well and good, so, what’s the problem, you ask? Well, the potential problem lies in how colleges and universities will treat these accelerated learning credits.

A few weeks ago, Dartmouth University announced that beginning with the class of 2018, it would no longer be providing college credit for AP courses, declaring that the classes just weren’t up to the university’s high standards.

Just how rigorous advanced courses are — and how rigorous high schools are, for that matter— is a subject the Center for Public Education explored last year in its report, Is High School Tough Enough?  The study found that AP courses do seem to have a benefit for those students who take them, while the impact of IB is too small to measure reliably. Ultimately, the study determined more research is needed in this arena, particularly since accelerated learning programs have become a widely popular strategy to boost the college-going rate, as it can reduce the cost of post-secondary education, a major obstacle for many students.

Yet, it would seem all for naught, if just as many colleges began refusing to accept the Advanced Placement scores, whether out of legitimate concern that is not an adequate substitute for a real college curriculum … or, more nefariously, out of concern for their own bottomline.

Filed under: college,Course taking,CPE,High school — Tags: , , , , , , , — NDillon @ 12:55 pm




January 16, 2013

CA Gov. pushes higher ed to reform model, offer more online courses

California’s economy has suffered a lot in the last five years, as its property values plummeted, unemployment rates soared, and chronic public debt threatened to take down venerable institutions and municipalities. More than any other system, public education has borne the brunt of these massive fiscal corrections. It’s not sustainable and returning Gov. Jerry Brown understands this, as his successful push for Proposition 30, a tax increase on the wealthiest that could pump as much as $6 billion annually into public education, shows.

But even as he worked to secure more funds for public education, Brown has been cognizant and vocal about the fact that schools, particularly at the university level, must gird themselves for the reality that they will have to do more with less and thus make some structural changes.

“The rising cost of higher education not only threatens affordability, it also threatens the quality of California’s system of higher education as it relies on a model that is not sustainable,” Brown during a news conference last Thursday, where he released his annual budget plan.

The University of California system alone has raised tuition and fees by about $5600 since 2007, bringing its annual cost to just over $12,000 for 2013-2014. Brown has offered a number of ways that the state’s higher education system can move into the 21st century, including by beefing up its online course offerings.

While online college courses have gotten a lot of media attention lately— even garnering this ranking list by U.S. News & World Report— not everyone is happy with this move en masse.

Online education is not a cure-all, to be sure, as the Center for Public Education discovered in its report, “Searching for the Reality of Virtual Schools,” although that study focused on the expansion of online education at the K-12 level. But the bottomline is while there are many caveats regarding online courses, it’s clear they are here to stay. As a current graduate student, who has taken many such classes, I have two things to say about the success or failure of online education: it depends largely on what the instructor and student are bringing to the table. Gee, where have we heard that before?

Filed under: college,Course taking,CPE,funding,technology — Tags: , , , , , , — NDillon @ 12:06 pm




October 26, 2012

One school’s open-enrollment AP experiement

In our recent report High school rigor and good advice: Setting up students to succeed, we found that one way to give high school students the tools necessary to succeed and persist in college is to have them enroll in rigorous Advanced Placement (AP) classes, no matter their level of achievement. Now one school is putting the theory to test. Woodside High, an arts magnet school about an hour outside of Richmond, VA, is trying out open-enrollment AP classes. Any student, regardless of their class year or GPA, is allowed to enroll in an AP class.

A report released earlier this year by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found that only 29% of schools with a high number of minority students offered classes as advanced as Calculus. For Woodside High, which is about 70% minority, an effort to get students into AP classes will help it compete with schools in neighboring and more affluent areas.

Some common criticisms of open-enrollment AP courses are that lower-achieving students will get completely overwhelmed, or that it’s unfair to higher-achieving students to have to cater to those who might not be able to handle advanced courses. The teachers and administrators at Woodside understand that, but as Meg Wiggins, an AP Biology teacher, says, “People need to strive to do things that are meaningful and good and hard. The more kids you can convince to do tougher things, the better off your society will be.” As is common at many schools, some students at Woodside believed that only cream-of-the-crop students could do well in AP classes, and thus completely dismissed them. As part of the effort to get more students into AP courses, Principal Sean Callendar pushed the issue with parents, and the school offered tutoring sessions to students who were struggling to keep up in the AP courses.

The results? Since starting open enrollment, Woodside has seen a 75% increase in the number of students taking advanced math and science courses. Though many students end up getting only a 1 or 2 (and thus no college credit) on the end-of-course AP exams, as our study showed what really matters is that students simply get use to rigorous coursework and the kind of conceptual thinking taught in AP courses that will help them succeed should they go on to college. Hopefully many more schools will follow Woodside in the future.  — Ashwini Yelamanchili

Filed under: Achievement Gaps,Course taking,High school — Ashwini @ 12:16 pm




Older Posts »
RSS Feed