Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

Page created by Eleanor Ayala
 
CONTINUE READING
ACT Research & Policy

     Policy Brief
                               Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little
                               from Mandating Extra Math and Science
      August 2014              Courses
                               Richard Buddin and Michelle Croft

                               Introduction                                                                        some districts had similar requirements in place
Evidence suggests that         For several decades, policymakers have embraced                                     already.4
changing course requirements   the goal of preparing students for college and                                      Using student-level data for nine Illinois high
alone may not be enough to     careers, particularly for careers in the area of                                    school graduation classes, this report examines
prepare students for college   mathematics and science. The recent emphasis                                        the relationship between high school graduation
and career.                    on these STEM (science, technology, engineering,                                    requirements and student outcomes and
                               and mathematics) subjects is due to the growth                                      assesses how changes in math and science
                               of STEM occupations and the perceived shortage                                      requirements affected student outcomes. In
                               of qualified workers to fill these positions.1 There                                August 2005, Illinois enacted Public Act 94-0676
                               is a concern that many students do not currently                                    aimed at increasing the rigor of high school by
                               have the level of STEM capabilities necessary for                                   mandating more stringent high school graduation
                               high-skill STEM professions such as engineering                                     requirements. Prior to the reform, most districts
                               or even for low-skill STEM positions in fields such                                 allowed high school students to graduate with
                               as manufacturing.2                                                                  only two years of math (60%) and fewer (15%)
                               To better prepare students for these STEM                                           required only one year of science.5 The law set a
                               careers, many states have increased the                                             state minimum graduation requirement of three
                               mandated minimum course requirements in math                                        years of math—including Algebra I and Geometry
                               and science over the past several years. Twenty-                                    content—and two years of science.6 The law
                               seven states required at least one more year of                                     was phased in over a four-year period. Each year
                               math instruction for the high school graduation                                     from 2005 to 2008, entering freshman were
                               class of 2013 than for the class of 2006.                      3                    responsible for completing more coursework,
                               Similarly, 19 states required an additional year of                                 with the full reform package applicable for
                               science for 2013 high school graduates compared                                     the graduating class of 2013. The mandatory
                               to 2006 graduates. In 2013, 42 states required                                      state math requirement rose from two years for
                               students to take at least three years of math, and                                  graduation classes through 2008 to three years
                               37 states required at least three years of science.                                 for the 2009 graduation class. Two years of
                               These policies aim to expose more students to                                       science were required by the state for the 2011
                               sophisticated math and science concepts, and                                        graduation compared to a one-year requirement
                               the extra rigor is intended to improve student                                      for earlier classes.
                               outcomes in college or the workforce. Although                                      This study used ACT,7 National Student
                               these state minimum requirements are binding on                                     Clearinghouse,8 and Illinois State Board of
                               all students, in practice they only affect a minority                               Education survey9 data to examine the effects
                               of students since most college-bound students                                       of the reform for public school students,10
                               have traditionally exceeded these minimums, and

                               www.act.org/research-policy
                               research.policy@act.org for more information.
                               © 2014­­­by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. ACT® is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., in the USA and other countries.                1762
ACT Research & Policy         Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

particularly students in the bottom half of          Figure 1. Trends in math course taking by district type, class rank, and high school
their graduating class. We compared trends           graduation year, 2005–2013
in course taking, achievement, and college
                                                                                                 100
enrollment for districts that were affected

                                                    Percent of Students Taking 3 Years of Math
                                                                                                                                                                        Top half, treated
by the new statewide requirements (treated
                                                                                                                                                                        Top half, untreated
districts) relative to other districts that                                                      90

already required the mandated levels of math
                                                                                                                                                                        Bottom half, treated
and science coursework prior to the law’s                                                        80
                                                                                                                                                                        Bottom half, untreated
enactment (untreated districts). The new
requirements should expose more students                                                          70
to an advanced curriculum often targeted
for college-motivated students. Specifically,                                                    60
the study addresses the following three
questions:                                                                                                                             Higher Math Requirement
                                                                                                 50
1. Have the new graduation requirements                                                                2005   2006   2007   2008   2009    2010    2011    2012     2013
   increased math and science course                                                                                          Graduation Year
   taking?
2. Has student achievement improved in
   math and science because of the policy            at Risk, which recommended that students                                              high-achieving graduates were already
   change?                                           graduating from high school should take                                               taking three or more years of math prior
3. Have college enrollment trends been               four years of English language arts; three                                            to the graduation requirement reform
   affected by the new law?                          years each of mathematics, science, and                                               (Figure 1). This was the same whether
                                                     social studies; and a half-year of computer                                           the student was in a treated or untreated
For each research question, we provide
                                                     science.11 A number of states increased their                                         district. Interestingly, neither the treated nor
a brief overview and examine the law’s
                                                     graduation requirements in response to A                                              untreated districts reached 100% compliance
effectiveness by comparing trends for treated
                                                     Nation at Risk, but few did so to the report’s                                        with the requirements. It is possible that the
districts (i.e., those affected by the new law)
                                                     recommended minimums.                                           12
                                                                                                                                           requirements are not enforced in practice
versus untreated districts (i.e., those that had
                                                                                                                                           or are satisfied with credits for repeating
met or exceeded the requirements of the              Past research examining the relationship
                                                                                                                                           courses or for foundational or business math
2005 statute prior to its enactment). In each        between graduation requirements and
                                                                                                                                           courses.
case, we compared trends for students in the         course taking has found that graduation
top and bottom halves of their graduation            requirements affect only a few students                                               Approximately two-thirds of low-ranking
classes. A priori, we expected that the              because most students would have taken                                                students in both the treated and untreated
law would have a larger effect on lower-             the courses regardless of the requirements.13                                         districts were taking at least three years of
performing students since these students             For those few students who would not                                                  math in 2005. By 2013, math course taking
typically took fewer math and science                voluntarily take the courses, some studies                                            increased to nearly 80% for the low-ranking
courses. If the law was effective at improving       found an increase in coursework associated                                            students. The increase in course taking is
student outcomes, then we should observe             with graduation requirements for certain                                              encouraging; however, the increase in course
that course taking, achievement, and college         subgroups of students such as low-achieving                                           taking occurred whether students were in
enrollments would improve at a faster pace in        students.14                                                                           the treated or untreated districts. Although
the treated than in the untreated districts.                                                                                               more students were taking at least three
                                                     Math                                                                                  more pure math courses than before, the
Course Taking                                        In Illinois the math requirement was raised                                           trend in districts affected by the higher math
Interest in student course taking dates back         to three years of math courses. Consistent                                            graduation requirement differed little, if at
thirty years with the publication of A Nation        with prior research, about 90% of the                                                 all, from the trend in unaffected districts. It

                                                                                                                 2
ACT Research & Policy           Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

is possible that the enactment of the state             Figure 2. Trends in science course taking by district type, class rank, and high school
law encouraged the untreated districts to               graduation year, 2005–2013
enforce their preexisting policy, particularly                                                        100

                                                      Percent of Students Taking 2 Years of Science
with low-ranking students, but we are unable                                                                                                                                  Top half, untreated
to attribute the rise in math course taking                                                           95                                                                      Top half, treated
                                                                                                                                                                              Bottom half, untreated
directly to the law.
                                                                                                      90
                                                                                                                                                                              Bottom half, treated
Science
                                                                                                      85
The law had little effect on science course
taking for high-ranking students, but it did
                                                                                                      80
seem to improve course taking for low-
ranking students. In the treated districts,                                                            75
78% of low-ranking students took two years
                                                                                                                                 Higher Science Requirement
of science in 2005 as compared with 88%                                                                70
in 2013. This 10-percentage-point increase                                                                  2005   2006   2007    2008    2009    2010    2011    2012     2013

compares favorably to a 5-percentage-point                                                                                           Graduation Year

increase for low-ranking students in the
untreated districts (Figure 2). The science
                                                        Figure 3. Trends in ACT Mathematics Test scores by district type, class rank, and high school
results suggest that the new law is closing             graduation year, 2005–2013
a portion of the science-course-taking gap
                                                                                                      24
between untreated and treated districts for
low-ranked students.                                                                                  23                                                                      Top half, treated
                                                      ACT Mathematics Test Score

                                                                                                      22
Achievement                                                                                                                                                                   Top half, untreated
Lawmakers hope that exposure to more                                                                   21

advanced coursework in math and science                                                               20
will result in higher student achievement.
                                                                                                       19
Generally, students who complete core
coursework have much higher achievement                                                                18                                                                     Bottom half, treated
scores than other students. However,
                              15                                                                                                                                              Bottom half, untreated
                                                                                                       17
students completing a core coursework                                                                                                         Higher Math Requirement
                                                                                                       16
voluntarily as preparation for college are                                                                  2005   2006   2007    2008    2009    2010    2011    2012     2013
likely different from students who are                                                                                               Graduation Year
mandated to take the courses. The mandated
students may be less motivated or prepared
for advanced coursework and may not                      districts for either high- or low-ranked                                                 the overall increased math course load that
perform as well as students enrolled in those            students (Figure 3). ACT math scores                                                     was the trend in all districts over this period.
courses on a voluntary basis.                            increased by 0.7 points for low-ranking                                                  The higher scores could also be related
                                                         students in untreated districts compared to                                              to other changes in education policy and
Math                                                     0.6 points for low-ranking students in treated                                           practices in the state or unmeasured changes
Math achievement was unaffected by the                   districts.                                                                               in the student composition over this period.
law. Mathematics Test scores on the ACT®
                                                         Since the gains were not significantly
college readiness assessment did rise                                                                                                             Science
                                                         different in treated and untreated districts,
by small fractions of a point for all four                                                                                                        Similar to math, the change in science
                                                         these test score gains may not be tied to the
groups from 2005 to 2013, but there was                                                                                                           requirements did not seem to have an effect
                                                         new mandated math course requirements.
not a statistically significant difference in                                                                                                     on science achievement. ACT Science Test
                                                         Instead, the slightly higher scores may reflect
the trends between treated and untreated                                                                                                          scores were comparable across treated

                                                                                                                      3
ACT Research & Policy        Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

and untreated districts in 2005, and they              Figure 4. Trends in ACT Science Test scores by district type, class rank, and high school
remained comparable over the period,                   graduation year, 2005–2013
increasing overall by about 0.7 points                                                                     23
(Figure 4). For low-ranking students, the                                                                                                                                          Top half, untreated
trend was statistically smaller for the treated                                                            22                                                                      Top half, treated
group than for the untreated group. Science

                                                    ACT Science Test Score
                                                                                                           21
scores still rose for both subgroups in the
treated districts, but treated districts’ science                                                          20
scores rose at a slower pace than untreated
                                                                                                           19
districts’.
                                                                                                           18                                                                      Bottom half, untreated
This evidence suggests that the two-year
                                                                                                                                                                                   Bottom half, treated
science requirement had little effect on                                                                   17
science achievement. If effective, the overall                                                                                        Higher Science Requirement
trend should have been steeper in districts                                                                16
                                                                                                                2005   2006    2007    2008    2009    2010     2011    2012   2013
affected by the requirement. Effective reform
                                                                                                                                          Graduation Year
should also have especially increased ACT
Science Test scores for the low-ranking
students who had traditionally taken fewer             Figure 5. Trends in immediate college enrollment related to math graduation requirements by
science courses. Achievement growth was                district type, class rank, and high school graduation year, 2005–2013
actually lower for low-ranking students in
                                                    Percent of Students Immediately Enrolling in College

the treated districts than in the untreated                                                                80
                                                                                                                                                                                   Top half, treated
districts.
                                                                                                           75
                                                                                                                                                                                   Top half, untreated
College Enrollment                                                                                         70

Research shows that students who                                                                           65
voluntarily take more rigorous high school
                                                                                                           60
coursework are more likely to enroll and
persist in college. Radunzel and Noble,                                                                    55

using data from 24,850 ACT-tested high                                                                     50                                                                      Bottom half, treated
school graduates, found that students who
                                                                                                           45                                                                      Bottom half, untreated
completed a core curriculum were more                                                                                                                  Higher Math Requirement
likely to enroll in college and ultimately be                                                              40
                                                                                                                2005    2006    2007      2008     2009       2010     2011    2012
successful in obtaining a college degree.   16
                                                                                                                                          Graduation Year
Similarly, Adelman found a relationship
between the highest level of high school
mathematics completed and bachelor’s
degree completion.17 These studies did not
take into account whether the course taking           Math                                                                                             the enrollment rate for low-ranking students
was voluntary or mandatory; thus, the findings        Although math course taking and                                                                  rose 2 percentage points in treated districts
may not translate to increased college                achievement scores did not appear to be                                                          (this trend is insignificantly different from
enrollment under the mandated requirement.            affected by the law, there seemed to be                                                          zero) and 1 percentage point in the untreated
New requirements effectively target students          an effect on college enrollment. College                                                         districts. For high-ranking students, the
that may have weaker preparation and                  enrollment rose faster in districts affected by                                                  enrollment rate rose 4 percentage points in
motivation for college rather than the group          the higher math requirement than in other                                                        treated districts and 2 percentage points in
currently choosing more advanced math and             districts (Figure 5). Between 2005 and 2012                                                      untreated districts.
science courses.                                      (2013 enrollment data is not yet available),

                                                                                                                          4
ACT Research & Policy       Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

Science                                             Figure 6. Trends in immediate college enrollment related to science graduation requirements
                                                    by district type, class rank, and high school graduation year, 2005–2013
Unlike in math, the science reform had no
positive effect on college enrollment

                                                    Percent of Students Immediately Enrolling in College
(Figure 6). For high-ranking students, college                                                             80
                                                                                                                                                                              Top half, untreated
enrollments rose 4 percentage points in                                                                    75                                                                 Top half, treated
treated districts over the eight-year period
                                                                                                           70
versus only 2 percentage points in untreated
                                                                                                           65
districts. For low-ranking students, enrollment
rates rose 2 percentage points in untreated                                                                60

districts and fell 1 percentage point in treated                                                           55
districts. The evidence shows that college                                                                 50
                                                                                                                                                                              Bottom half, untreated
enrollments grew at slower rates in districts
                                                                                                           45
                                                                                                                                                                              Bottom half, treated
affected by the higher science requirement
                                                                                                           40
than in other districts.                                                                                                               Higher Science Requirement
                                                                                                           35
                                                                                                                2005   2006   2007   2008     2009     2010      2011     2012
Discussion
                                                                                                                                     Graduation Year
State policymakers may be unrealistic in
expecting that raising math and science
graduation requirements alone through
state policy will improve student outcomes.
Despite the introduction of higher graduation      motivated students who often have weaker                                                      “the level of content mastery by the median
requirements in math and science, there            preparation for advanced coursework. For                                                      students receiving credit for a course with
was little effect on student course taking,        students to succeed in these courses, they                                                    a given title declines over time.”19 Thus, as
achievement, or college enrollment. From           must possess the necessary prerequisite                                                       more students are required to take Algebra II,
2005 to 2013, students took more math              skills to then take advantage of the advanced                                                 for example, the content covered becomes
courses, but the increase was the same for         material. Efforts should be focused on early                                                  lessened or easier so as to accommodate the
all students, regardless whether the students      preparation to ensure that students have                                                      various skill levels of incoming students in
were in districts newly subjected to higher        better skills by the time they reach high                                                     the course.
graduation requirements or were in districts       school. For students already in high school,
                                                                                                                                                 Overall, as states try to increase the
already requiring the courses. There was also      targeted remediation efforts are necessary,
                                                                                                                                                 preparedness of students for college and
no effect on math achievement scores, but          and the remediation efforts may need to be
                                                                                                                                                 career, course requirements alone may
there was an increase in college enrollment.       differentiated by ability level, distinguishing
                                                                                                                                                 not be a sufficient mechanism for change.
Science course taking did increase more for        students with very weak ability from those
                                                                                                                                                 Exposing students to advanced material
students in treated than in untreated districts,   only slightly behind.18
                                                                                                                                                 is an important first step, but we must
but this disproportionate increase did not
                                                   Another difficulty is ensuring that the courses                                               recognize that better preparation, better
translate into high science achievement
                                                   remain challenging and best prepare                                                           instruction, better student commitment, better
scores or an increase in college enrollment.
                                                   students for college and career. An                                                           parental support, and a host of other factors
The research related to high school                unintended side effect of increasing high                                                     are needed for students to master these
graduation requirements illustrates that           school graduation requirements through a                                                      advanced skills. New research is needed
requiring certain courses alone will do little     mandate is that students may be completing                                                    to identify what policies and practices will
to change student learning and behavior.           more coursework that is less advanced. As                                                     allow a broader cross section of students to
The shortcoming may reflect that the laws          schools expand course offerings, there may                                                    embrace and learn advanced concepts.
primarily affect lower-ability and less-           be “course credit inflation” which is where

                                                                                                                       5
ACT Research & Policy       Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

Notes                                                  Requirements: Classes 2006 through 2011               was omitted due to its size: there were 27,000
                                                       (Denver, CO: Education Commission of the              freshmen in CPS compared to 3,000 in the
1 Economics and Statistics Administration, STEM:
                                                       States, 2006). The requirements for the 2013          next largest district. The nine-year time span
  Good Jobs Now and for the Future (Washington,
                                                       graduation class are based on author review of        provides information on cohorts before the
  DC: US Department of Commerce, 2011),
                                                       state-by-state legislation.                           policy change, during the phase-in period, and
  http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/
                                                                                                             after the implementation of the law.
  reports/documents/stemfinalyjuly14_1.pdf;         4 Bradford Chaney, Kenneth Burgdorf, and Nadir
  National Science Board, Preparing the Next          Atash, “Influencing Achievement through High           ACT test data consists of 818,611 ACT
  Generation of STEM Innovators: Identifying and      School Graduation Requirements,” Educational           Mathematics Test and ACT Science Test scores
  Developing Our Nation’s Capital (Alexandria,        Evaluation and Policy Analysis 19, no. 3 (1997):       from the high school graduation classes of
  VA: National Science Foundation, 2010), http://     229–244. doi: 10.3102/01623737019003229                2005 through 2013. Of these, about 24%
  www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2010/nsb1033.                                                                 claimed they were in the lowest half of their
                                                    5 As mentioned previously, college-bound                 graduation class. About 10% of students did
  pdf.
                                                      students would complete more courses than              not report information on math or science
2 National Science Board, National Action             the district minimum.                                  courses taken.
  Plan for Addressing the Critical Needs of the
                                                    6 This study focuses on the math and science          8 Data on college enrollment was provided to
  U.S. Science, Technology, Engineering, and
                                                      aspects of the reform. The law also increased         ACT by the National Student Clearinghouse
  Mathematics Education System (Alexandria,
                                                      the language arts requirement from three              (NSC), which has enrollment information for
  VA: National Science Foundation, 2007);
                                                      to four years along with a two-year writing           over 96% of all students in public and private
  Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith, and
                                                      intensive course requirement that might               US postsecondary institutions. The college
  Michelle Melton, STEM (Washington, DC:
                                                      overlap with other coursework. Students were          enrollment sample is 643,935. This smaller
  Center on Education and the Workforce,
                                                      also required to complete two years of social         sample reflects enrollments through 2012
  Georgetown University, 2011). International
                                                      studies coursework that included United States        (2013 enrollments are not yet available from
  assessments of math and science scores are
                                                      history or American government as well as an          NSC). We were unable to match about 8% of
  revealing. The United States scores below
                                                      elective.                                             students with NSC records (primarily due to
  the international average in mathematics and
  close to the average in science on the PISA,      7 The primary data source for this analysis is          missing Social Security Numbers).
  an international assessment of 15-year-olds.        high school graduation information collected as     9 Information on public school district graduation
  OECD, Programme for International Student           part of ACT statewide testing. All public school      requirements was drawn from a 2005 Illinois
  Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2012:           students in Illinois participate in ACT testing       State Board of Education Survey which
  United States (Paris, France: OECD, 2013),          in the spring of their junior year. This includes     the authors received through a Freedom of
  http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/PISA-              subtests in English, math, reading, and science.      Information Act request. The survey asked
  2012-results-US.pdf. Likewise, on the National      Scores are on a scale from 1 to 36. As part           whether districts met the overall requirements,
  Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP),            of the test administration, students identify         the requirements in each subject area (English,
  only 35% of eighth-graders were proficient          college preparatory courses (i.e., Algebra I          math, and science), and if students in the
  or advanced in math in 2013 and only 32%            but not general math) that they either have           districts take specific math courses proposed
  demonstrated proficiency in science in 2011.        taken or plan to complete prior to graduating         as part of the math requirement. About 87% of
  National Center for Education Statistics,           from high school. Students also provide               districts responded to the survey. Based on the
  National Assessment of Educational Progress         detailed demographic and family background            survey results, districts were categorized into
  Data Explorer (accessed December 13,                information. Multiple imputation techniques           treated and untreated districts for each subject
  2013), http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/        were used to fill missing data on student             area (note that a district could be categorized
  naepdata/. The PISA and NAEP results are            demographics and background (see Roderick             as a treated district in science but not as a
  consistent with ACT test-takers. Forty-four         J. A. Little, and Donald B. Rubin, Statistical        treated district in math). Treated districts were
  percent of ACT-tested 2013 high school              Analysis with Missing Data. 2nd ed. [Hoboken,         those that were affected by the law. Untreated
  graduates met the ACT College Readiness             NJ: Wiley, 2002]). More detail can be found in        districts were those that had implemented the
  Benchmark in mathematics, and 36% met the           Richard Buddin and Michelle Croft, “Do Stricter       same or more rigorous graduation requirements
  science College Readiness Benchmark. ACT,           High School Graduation Requirements Improve           prior to the law’s enactment.
  The Condition of College & Career Readiness         College Readiness?” ACT Working Paper
  2013 (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2013).                    Series WP-2014-1 (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2014),        10 ACT test records include students enrolled
                                                      https://www.act.org/research/papers/pdf/wp-            in private schools, but these students are
3 The graduation requirements for the 2006
                                                      2014-1.pdf.                                            omitted from our analysis for two reasons. First,
  graduation class were drawn from two studies
                                                                                                             private school students in the state take the
  by Kyle Zinth, Mathematics Graduation                The analysis further relies on information for
                                                                                                             ACT on a voluntary basis. This group may be
  Requirements: Classes 2006 through 2011              the 2005 through 2013 public high school
                                                                                                             unrepresentative of private school students in
  (Denver, CO: Education Commission of                 graduation classes for all districts except for
                                                                                                             the state overall, as college enrollment is likely
  the States, 2006) and Science Graduation             the Chicago Public School (CPS) district. CPS

                                                                            6
ACT Research & Policy        Missing the Mark: Students Gain Little from Mandating Extra Math and Science Courses

   the primary motivation of private school test     14 For instance, Clune and White reviewed            15 Lyle E. Jones, Ernest C. Davenport, Jr., Aloha
   takers. Second, the state school board survey        student transcripts in four states (California,      Bryson, Tanja Bekhuis, and Rebecca Zwick,
   was restricted to public school districts, so        Florida, Missouri, and Pennsylvania) at              “Mathematics and Science Test Scores as
   we have no information about private school          three points of time (two before and one             Related to Courses Taken in High School
   graduation requirements in the baseline year of      after the implementation of new graduation           and Other Factors,” Journal of Educational
   2005.                                                requirements) to examine the effect of               Measurement 23, no. 1 (1986): 197–208, doi:
                                                        changing graduation requirements on student          10.3102/01623737014001002; ACT, Raising
11 David P. Gardner et al., A Nation at Risk: The
                                                        course taking. The study found a slight              the Bar: A Baseline for College and Career
   Imperative for Educational Reform (Washington,
                                                        increase in core course taking for schools           Readiness in Our Nation’s High School Core
   DC: National Commission on Excellence in
                                                        serving predominately low-achieving students.        Courses. (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2012).
   Education, 1983).
                                                        Likewise, Goodman found large increases
                                                                                                          16 Justine Randunzel and Julie Noble, Tracking
12 William H. Clune, Paula White, and Janice            in completed math coursework for African
                                                                                                             2003 ACT-Tested High School Graduates:
   Patterson, The Implementation and Effects of         Americans, particularly for African American
                                                                                                             College Readiness, Enrollment, and Long-Term
   High School Graduation Requirements: First           males, when using the High School and
                                                                                                             Success (Iowa City, IA: ACT, 2012).
   Steps Toward Curricular Reform, Research             Beyond Survey for the classes of 1982, 1987,
   Report Series RR-011 (New Brunswick, NJ:             1991, and 1994. William H. Clune and Paula        17 Clifford Adelman, The Toolbox Revisited:
   Center for Policy Research in Education,             White, “Education Reform in the Trenches:            Paths to Degree Completion from High
   1989); Elliott A. Medrich, Cynthia L. Brown,         Increased Academic Course Taking in High             School Through College (Washington, DC: US
   Robin R. Henke, and Lisa Ross, Overview and          Schools with Lower Achieving Students in             Department of Education, 2006).
   Inventory of State Requirements for School           States with Higher Graduation Requirements,”
                                                                                                          18 Takoko Nomi and Elaine Allenworth, “‘Double-
   Coursework and Attendance, Report No. NCES           Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 14,
                                                                                                             Dose’ Algebra as an Alternative Strategy to
   92-663, (Washington, DC: National Center for         no. 1 (1992): 2–20; Joshua Goodman (2009).
                                                                                                             Remediation: Effects on Students’ Academic
   Education Statistics, 1992).                         The Labor of Division: Returns to Compulsory
                                                                                                             Outcomes,” Journal of Research on Educational
                                                        Math Coursework (Cambridge, MA: HKS
13 For instance, a study using NAEP and 1990                                                                 Effectiveness 2, no. 2 (2009): 111–148.
                                                        Faculty Research Working Paper Series, 2009),
   high school transcript data found that the
                                                        http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/jgoodma1/           19 Chrys Dougherty, Lynn Mellor, and Shuling Jian,
   majority of students completed more courses
                                                        papers/mathcourses.pdf.                              Orange Juice or Orange Drink? Ensuring That
   than required. Chaney, Burgdorf, and Atash,
                                                                                                             “Advanced Courses” Live Up to Their Labels,
   “Influencing Achievement.”
                                                                                                             NCEA Policy Brief No. 1 (Austin, TX: National
                                                                                                             Center for Educational Accountability, 2006),
                                                                                                             http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED519415.pdf.

                                                                             7
You can also read