Constrained Curriculum in High Schools: The Changing Math Standards and Student Achievement, High School Graduation and College Continuation (original) (raw)
Related papers
Educational Researcher, 2014
Mathematics and science course graduation requirement (CGR) increases in the 1980s and 1990s might have had both intended and unintended consequences. Using logistic regression with Census and American Community Survey (ACS) data ( n = 2,892,444), we modeled CGR exposure on (a) high school dropout, (b) beginning college, and (c) obtaining any college degree. Possible between-groups differences were also assessed. We found that higher CGRs were associated with higher odds to drop out of high school, but results for the college-level outcomes varied by group. Some were less likely to enroll, whereas others who began college were more likely to obtain a degree. Increased high school dropout was consistent across the population, but some potential benefit was also observed, primarily for those reporting Hispanic ethnicity.
Raising the Bar for College Admission: North Carolina’s Increase in Minimum Math Course Requirements
2016
We explore the effects of a statewide policy change that increased the number of high school math courses required for admission to any of North Carolina's 15 public four-year institutions. Using administrative data on cohorts of 8th grade students from 1999 to 2006, we document and exploit variation by district over time in the math course-taking environment encountered by students. Within an instrumental variables setup, we examine effects of the policy change on students grouped into deciles defined by their 8th grade math test scores. First, we find that students took more math courses in high school following the state's announcement, with relatively larger increases in the middle and bottom deciles of students. Second, we conclude that increased math course-taking in high school led to increases in college enrollment rates that were not uniform across the 15 branch campuses. In particular, we observe the largest increases in the deciles of student achievement from which universities were already drawing the bulk of their enrollees. Finally, for upper-middle decile students, we find limited and noisy evidence that increased math course-taking in high school boosts post-enrollment college performance as measured by a student's GPA or the likelihood of majoring in a STEM field.
Higher standards, more dropouts? Evidence within and across time
Economics of Education Review, 2001
This study investigates whether state course graduation requirements (CGRs) affect high school dropout decisions. It uses aggregate data on dropout rates, individual data on dropout decisions from two time periods, and aggregate data on high school (attrition) completion rates over fifteen years. The results strongly suggest that state mandated minimum course requirements cause students to drop out of high school. The estimated effects imply that a standard deviation increase in CGRs would cause between 26,000 and 65,000 more individuals to drop out of school. These figures constitute an increase in the population of dropouts in 1990 of 3.0 to 7.4 percent.
2012
Success or failure in freshman algebra has long been thought to have a strong impact on subsequent high school outcomes. We study a remedial algebra policy implemented by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) for cohorts entering high school in 2003 and 2004. Students scoring below the national median on an eighth grade exam were assigned in ninth grade to a double-dose algebra course, which doubled instructional time and increased tracking by ability. This assignment rule allows difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity estimates of average and local average treatments effects. Using longitudinal data that tracks students from eight grade to college enrollment, we confirm prior work showing positive short-run impacts on freshman GPA, passing rates and math scores. We show long run positive and substantial impacts of remediation on college entrance exam scores, high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates. This is the first evidence we know of to demonstrate long...
Left Behind ? The Effect of No Child Left Behind on Academic Achievement Gaps
2013
One of the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB; 20 U.S.C. § 6301) was to close racial and socioeconomic achievement gaps. Over a decade has passed since NCLB went into effect. In this paper we investigate whether the Act has been successful at narrowing racial achievement gaps. Overall, our analyses provide no support for the hypothesis that No Child Left Behind has led, on average, to a narrowing of racial achievement gaps. We find that within-state achievement gaps were closing slowly, on average, prior to the passage of the NCLB legislation, and that this trend did not change significantly after the introduction of NCLB. However, we do find evidence indicating that the policy’s impact varies systematically across states in ways that are consistent with NCLB’s subgroup-specific accountability features. In states facing more subgroupspecific accountability pressure, more between-school segregation, and larger gaps prior to the implementation of the policy, NCLB appe...
The Relationship of High School Graduation Exams to Graduation Rates and SAT Scores
2000
The current study examined the effect of high school graduation exams on states' graduation rates, states' aggregated SAT scores, and individual students' SAT scores. Three data sources were used: One source identified states requiring a standardized test for graduation; the NCES provided state aggregated data on graduation rates for the class of 2002; and the College Board provided its 2001 SAT database for all test-takers. After controlling for students' demographic characteristics (e.g., race, family education and income, GPA and class rank), regression analyses revealed that states requiring graduation exams had lower graduation rates and lower SAT scores. Individually, students from states requiring a graduation exam performed more poorly on the SAT than did students from states not requiring an exam. The impact of high stakes tests' on students' motivation to stay in school and on the teaching of critical thinking skills (tested by the SAT) are discussed.
Society For Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2009
Background/context: The increasing use of state-mandated public high school exit exams-tests each student must pass before he or she is awarded a high school diploma-is one manifestation of the current movement in U.S. public schooling toward more explicit standards of instruction and accountability. Unlike some aspects of accountability systems, the accountability consequences of failing an exit exam fall partly (or even primarily) on students, as opposed to the schools or districts. The number of states requiring students to pass an exam to graduate has increased from 18 in 2002 to 22 in 2007, with an additional four states intending to implement exit exams by 2015. Soon, over 70 percent of U.S. students will soon be subject to such exam requirements (see, e.g., Center on Education Policy, 2004, 2005; Dee & Jacob, 2006; Warren, Jenkins, & Kulick, 2006). The effects of exit exam policies, however, remain somewhat unclear, despite a number of recent studies. Competing notions of how such exams might influence student and school behaviors lead to divergent predictions of how students will be affected. Some argue, for example, that a high school exit exam requirement will create incentives both for schools to provide better instruction to struggling students and for these students to work harder to learn more before graduation. On the other hand, others have argued that creating additional barriers to graduation discourages students-particularly academically and socially disadvantaged students-from persisting in school and hence leads to increased dropout rates and greater inequality (for discussion, see Dee & Jacob, 2006; Reardon & Galindo, 2002; Warren et al., 2006). Several recent papers have estimated the effect of failing an exit exam, given that an exit exam requirement is in place (Martorell, 2005; Papay, Murnane, & WIllet, 2008; Reardon et al., 2008). Each of these papers uses a regression discontinuity design to estimate the effect of failing an exit exam, which yield valid causal estimates of the effect of failing for students near the margin of passing. Generally, each of the papers finds some evidence that failing an exit exam in 10 th grade increases the probability that a student will not graduate from high school, but because these papers rely on regression discontinuity, their estimates are informative only for students who are near the margin of passing. They do not tell us what the effect of failing the exam is for students with skill levels far below the passing score. Research that estimates the effect of exit exam policies (rather than the effect of failing an exam) has typically focused on estimating the average effect of the policy on all students, regardless of skill level, and has generally estimated the effect of a high school exit exam requirement on high school dropout or completion rates. The best of these studies find that high school dropout rates tend to increase by roughly 1 to 2 percentage points, on average, when states implement rigorous exit exams (Dee & Jacob, 2006; Warren et al., 2006). Dee and Jacob (2006) find that these effects are concentrated among black students and students in high-poverty schools. Nonetheless, none of the existing studies are able to provide estimates of the effects of high school exit exam policies on the students for whom they are likely to have the largest effects-students who enter high school with achievement levels in the bottom quartile of the income distribution
The Revenge of K-12: How Common Core and the new SAT lower college standards in the U.S.
Pioneer Institute, 2014
It is now clear that the original promise to anchor K-12 education to higher education and backmap the Common Core Mathematics Standards (CCMS) from the upper grades down to the primary grades was empty rhetoric. Higher education has scarcely been involved at all, with the exception of the institutions that agreed to place high school students who pass a Common Core-based high school examination directly into credit-bearing freshman coursework (without remediation) in return for their states receiving “Race to the Top” grant funds. Because the CCMS are standards for all public school students in this country, regardless of achievement level, they are low standards, topping out at about the level of a weak Algebra II course. And because this level is to determine “college readiness” as they define it (which is not remotely what our public four year college and universities currently assume it to be), it is apt to mean fewer high school students taking advanced mathematics and science coursework before they go to college, more college freshmen with even less knowledge of mathematics than currently, and more college credit-bearing courses set at an international level of seventh or eighth grade. However, the greatest harm to higher education may accrue from the alignment of the SAT to Common Core’s high school standards, converting the SAT from an adaptable test predictive of college work to an inflexible retrospective test aligned to and locking in a low level of mathematics. This means that future SAT scores will be less informative to college admission counselors than they now are, and that the SAT will lose its role in locating students with high STEM potential in high schools with weak mathematics and science instruction.
2008
Does state policy influence how well students are prepared to attend college? For the past 25 years, state and federal policies have focused attention on the high school curriculum with concern about whether or not students would be adequately prepared to pursue postsecondary education by the time they finish high school. Increasingly, states have adopted high school graduation requirement policies and exit exam requirements and a range of strategies to improve student outcomes but few studies have assessed whether those policies have operated in anticipated ways. This study examines the relationship between high school graduation requirements, exit exams, average school funding per student and the cost of college and two student outcomes important to college access-high school completion and the number of courses completed in the core subjects-among public school students. I utilize the Education Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002) first follow up and transcript survey in combination with state policy indicators to examine these relationships. In an effort to xi account for the complex sampling design and to recognize that students are nested within schools, which operate within unique state policy environments, I employ a three-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The findings demonstrate that policy matters in both anticipated and unexpected ways. Students in local control states are more likely to finish high school in four years than those in graduation requirement states and those in exit exam states are less likely to finish than in non-exam states. African American students in local control states are less likely to finish high school than their White and Asian peers; a gap that does not exist in other states. In terms of course taking, students complete more courses in the core subjects in states with graduation requirement policies. State adopted graduation requirements increase the number of core courses taken but a gap exists between those attend high and low SES schools. On balance, there appear to be greater benefits to adopting state graduation requirements, but greater attention must be paid to mediate the possible influence on high school completion.