Research Brief
Ensuring Students Are Ready for Life After High School By Rhonda Barton
Ask Sam Utley, a 14-year-old freshman, what he needs to learn by the time he graduates. He’ll tell you it’s “knowing how to take care of myself socially and academically.” For 16-year-old Miranda Campbell, “junior year is the year you really begin thinking about your future. [My high school] is doing a great job of preparing me to make deadlines, work hard, and be passionate about what I’m doing.” And 18-year-old Amelia Stier, whose graduation is a few short months away, believes “most of my classes, especially this year, are targeting to prepare me for college and so I feel ready to go off and do well.”
Students aren’t the only ones grappling with what it means to be prepared for whatever comes after high school. According to a national survey conducted by Achieve (Kraman, 2007), 13 states—up from just two in 2004—require high school students to complete a “college and work ready curriculum” to earn a diploma. The survey also found:
- A dozen states have aligned high school standards with college and workplace expectations and 32 more are either in the process or planning to do so
- Nine states use high school assessments that are also used by higher education to place students in credit-bearing courses; 21 other states plan to develop similar assessments
- Nine states now hold high schools accountable for the college readiness of their graduates and offer incentives for improving college-ready graduation rates, while eight more plan to follow their example
- Five states have longitudinal data systems that can track students from pre-K through college graduation; all but three states have plans to develop such systems
Despite the push toward aligning college and career expectations with high school standards, there’s still some confusion about what exactly readiness means. Achieve’s study (Kraman, 2007) found that state standards often don’t mesh with key areas identified by higher education and business leaders. For example, state academic-content standards tend to emphasize literature, while students will face more informational reading in college and careers. Likewise, math standards are often short on needed skills like data and statistical analysis.
According to some critics, academics isn’t the only area that’s been found wanting. As Education Week points out in its “Diplomas Count 2007” report (Olson & Bradley, 2007), “employers complain more about a lack of ‘soft’ or ‘applied’ skills among high school graduates than they do about inadequate academic skills” (p. 5). To be successful in the workplace (which ultimately applies to both college-going students and those headed for jobs immediately after high school), individuals need to be able to work well with diverse peers, solve problems creatively, have good communication skills, and evaluate material critically. However, such skills often aren’t part of the core mission of high schools.
The “Diplomas Count 2007” analysis also concludes that students need at least some college to secure a decent job at a family wage (Swanson, 2007). The Occupational Information Network (or O*NET) classifies occupations into five “job zones” that are defined by how much education, experience, and training are required. The lowest level—Job Zone 1—comprises occupations like cashier or waitress that call for a high school diploma or less, with little training or experience. The median income for these jobs is $12,638—considerably below the 2005 federal poverty rate of $19,971 for a family of four. Zone 2 jobs such as bank teller or sheet-metal worker generally require a high school diploma and perhaps some vocational training. They, too, yield a lower standard of living, with a median salary of $24,461. In contrast, jobs in Zones 3–5 demand more preparation, including vocational training or college. Such jobs typically pay $35–59,000 and analysts say these high-paying, high-level positions are what high schools should target. Thus, schools should prepare all students to go on to some education and training beyond high school.
Part of readying students for a postsecondary path is encouraging them to take more rigorous courses. More than two decades ago, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983) recommended a “New Basics” curriculum for all high school students. It called for four years of English and three years each of mathematics, science, and social studies. Today, however, school reformers argue that the New Basics curriculum is not enough.
ACT (2007), the college entrance testing service, studied how well high school seniors who followed the New Basics curriculum would do in first-year college courses in four subject areas (English, math, science, and reading). ACT used benchmark or cutoff scores for the ACT test that are highly predictive of college success. The study found that only a quarter of the students met all four of the ACT benchmarks; 19 percent met none of the benchmarks; and 55 percent met one to three benchmarks. ACT’s results further indicate that students who take more math and science courses at higher levels are much better prepared to succeed in entry-level college courses.
Many states and districts are moving beyond the New Basics and requiring four years each of mathematics and science. A recent analysis by the National Center for Educational Statistics (Planty, Provasnik, & Daniel, 2007) reveals just how much course-taking patterns have changed from 1982 to 2004. The study found that students earned an average of 25.8 high school credits in 2004 compared to 21.7 credits in 1982. Also, students took more college preparatory courses in math and science, with the average number of credits in algebra and more advanced mathematics increasing from 1.9 in 1982 to 3.1 in 2004. The number of students taking chemistry and physics courses increased as well during the same period. Another revealing statistic is that almost twice as many high school graduates completed at least one course classified as more challenging than algebra II in 2004 than in 1982.
While rigorous coursetaking has increased, disparities in who takes these courses exist along gender and ethnic lines. National data (Planty, Provasnik, & Daniel, 2007) reveal that female students take more rigorous courses than males. In 2004, for example, 39 percent of females took an advanced English course compared to 27 percent of males. Females also led the way in mathematics with 52 percent taking advanced courses (beyond algebra II) as opposed to 48 percent of males. Among ethnic groups, Asian/Pacific Islanders took more advanced courses than white, black, Hispanic, or American Indian students. For example, 69 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander students enrolled in advanced mathematics while the percentages for other groups were 54 for white, 42 for black, 34 for Hispanic, and 22 for American Indian.
In order to give all students a reasonable chance for success in college—and pave the way for a decent-paying career—ACT’s research (2007) recommends five action steps for states and schools:
- Specify the number and kinds of courses students need to be ready for college and work
- Align high school course outcomes with state standards that reflect postsecondary and workplace requirements
- Hire qualified teachers and train them to deliver high-quality courses
- Expand access for all students to high-quality, vertically aligned core courses
- Perform assessments at the course level
References
ACT. (2007). Rigor at risk: Reaffirming quality in the high school core curriculum. Iowa City, IA: Author. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from www.act.org/path/policy/pdf/rigor_report.pdf
Kraman, J. (2007). Closing the expectations gap 2007: An annual 50-state progress report on the alignment of high school policies with the demands of college and work. Washington, DC: Achieve. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from www.achieve.org/files/50-state-07-final.pdf
National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A nation at risk: The imperative for educational reform. A report to the nation and the Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education. Washington, DC: Author.
Olson, L., & Bradley, A. (2007, June 12). Executive Summary. Education Week [Special Rep., Diplomas Count 2007], 26(40), p. 5.
Planty, M., Provasnik, S., & Daniel, B. (2007). High school coursetaking: Findings from the conditions of education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Services, National Center for Education Statistics.
Swanson, C.B. (2007, June 12). Learning and earning. Education Week [Special Rep., Diplomas Count 2007], 26(40), pp. 15–20.