# Archived Information

High Schools with High Expectations for All

Issue Papers

Preparing America's Future: The High School Initiative

Despite a great deal of effort over the past 20 years, academic
achievement among high school students continues to lag. To ensure that
no high school student is left behind, schools need:

1\. High expectations for all high school students; and

2\. A rigorous core curriculum to match those expectations.

The American education system made strides in the 1990s in adopting
academic standards for high schools in at least some subjects: all
states (and, in Iowa, districts) have adopted standards in at least some
subjects, including mathematics, English, science and social studies.
Twenty-two have standards in all four subjects. \[endnote 1\] Now states
need to translate those standards into expectations that ensure high
schools actually adopt the standards, teachers are held to them, and
students master them. The *No Child Left Behind Act* offers a rare
opportunity for states and educators to address the issues of high
expectations and academic rigor for all American high school students. A
number of organizations have taken the lead and may offer promising
approaches for states and schools.

**The Challenge**

American high school students are not adequately prepared for their
futures. Increasingly the economy demands workers with postsecondary
education and training. Students seem to understand this, but there is a
serious disconnect between aspirations and preparation. More than 97
percent of youth say they aspire to participate in some sort of
postsecondary education, and 63 percent enroll.\[endnote 2\] Yet, little
more than half actually take a mix of academic classes in high school
that will prepare them for success either in college or today's
workplace. The courses they do take often fail to maintain their
interest in school at all.

The results are high dropout rates and "drift-outs"---college students
who do not return for a second year of college. A large number of these
students stumble at the starting line, requiring remediation in math,
reading and writing, and other basic subjects before they can enroll in
college-level courses. More than one-quarter of the freshmen at
four-year colleges---and nearly half of those at two-year colleges---do
not advance to their second year.

In the meantime, employers continue to bemoan the lack of needed
academic skills among workers and the shortage of qualified applicants
for jobs that require advanced education and training. Skills shortages
accompany high unemployment in part because high school students have
not been prepared to meet the academic challenges of the 21st Century.

**Content Counts**

Twenty years ago the report *A Nation at Risk* called for more academic
course-taking among high school students. In it, the National Commission
on Excellence in Education defined the "New Basics": four years of
English, three years math, three years science and, in the language of
the time, one-half credit of computer science (plus two years of foreign
language for the "college-bound"). In response, most states upgraded
their graduation requirements to more closely match the Commission's
recommendations. But national data indicate that academic achievement in
high school reading, math and science has been mostly stagnant for
decades. \[endnote 3\] Why might this be so?

We now know that the issue is not solely how many credits of a subject
with a fixed title (e.g., one-half credit "computer science") a student
takes, but the content and rigor of courses students take as well. A
rigorous core academic curriculum built on high standards is key to
increasing expectations for all students.

Applications Versus Course Taking.

Graphic: This is a bar chart showing a national sample of 12^th^ graders
who aspire to postsecondary education, who enroll in postsecondary
education immediately after high school, and who take the minimum
coursework recommended for postsecondary education. Ninety seven percent
of 12^th^ graders aspire to postsecondary education. Sixty three percent
of 12^th^ graders enroll in postsecondary education immediately after
high school. Sixty percent of 12^th^ graders take the minimum coursework
recommended for postsecondary education.

Source: NELS: 88; The Condition of Education 2003, Table 18-1,
web-version, www.nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/; and Levesque, K. (2003).
Trends in High School

Vocational/ Technical Course-taking: 1982-1998. US Department of
Education, NCES. Washington, DC.

**Students of all abilities learn more in academically rigorous
courses.** There are several documented benefits for students who take
challenging academic classes in high school, especially for those
students considered "at risk" of failing: \[endnote 4\]

-   Those who enter high school with test scores in the lowest quartile
    learn more in academically rigorous courses than they do in either
    the low-level vocational or general courses in which they are
    traditionally enrolled. \[endnote 5\]

-   Students are more likely to pass high-level courses than low-level
    courses. Thus, the research suggests that increasing access by all
    students to advanced academic course work will improve student
    academic achievement. \[endnote 6\]

-   Students expected to master more demanding curricula are more likely
    to persist in school, achieve at higher levels, and be better
    prepared for the workforce after their formal education ends.
    \[endnote 7\]

Yet the progress of the last 20 years has not been sufficient to that
end.

**Too few students are taking rigorous courses.**

Too few students are taking the kind of courses they need to succeed
in---or even be admitted to---college. Students from low-income
families, those whose parents did not earn a postsecondary credential,
and those who attended high schools in which a large proportion of the
students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, are less likely
to have completed a rigorous high school academic curriculum than their
more advantaged counterparts. \[endnote 8\]

Students take less demanding academic courses for a number of reasons:

1\. Their high school does not offer a sufficient number of rigorous
academic courses.

2\. They do not receive clear guidance from counselors or teachers about
the courses they need to complete to prepare for postsecondary
education.

3\. They are not aware that they are compromising their future success
in life by taking low-level courses.

4\. In many states, high school graduation requirements are not aligned
with the minimum requirements public four-year and "open enrollment"
community colleges and universities set for placement in college-level
courses. \[endnote 9\]

**Postsecondary education or training is for virtually everyone.**

Certainly not every youth need attend a traditional four-year college.
But virtually every youth will need some sort of postsecondary education
and training. The economic and moral challenge we face is to make sure
each student is adequately prepared with an academic foundation to take
advantage of whatever future education and training he or she chooses. A
strong set of academic skills and the habits and attitudes that
accompany success in school also will help students entering meaningful
employment immediately after high school.

**Strategies**

Implementation of the *No Child Left Behind Act* provides an excellent
opportunity for states and educators everywhere to prepare strategies to
address the expectations issue. Each state is required to establish
minimum levels of high school proficiency in reading and mathematics
that every high school student is expected to reach by 2013-2014, create
definitions of "proficiency," and, along with the school districts
themselves, report annual yearly progress.

The Act will cause educators and policymakers to rethink expectations,
organization, administration, curriculum, instruction, and support
services needed to meet required levels of proficiency. These
definitions of proficiency certainly should indicate a readiness for the
world of further education and meaningful employment.

**Steps to success**

Of course it is easier to argue for a more demanding curriculum than it
is to implement one. Given the mismatch between state graduation
requirements, state assessments, and college admission and placement
test specifications, states need to bring both college and K-12
educators together with policymakers and the business community to iron
out these differences. Since most advanced courses require successful
completion of certain prerequisites, policymakers, school districts, and
schools need to work to create opportunities for all students to take
and succeed in these prerequisites.

Students may need extra support in order to prepare themselves for
advanced study. Schools can offer summer school courses to help students
get back "in step" with certain course prerequisites. And, to ensure
that students will not decline to take Advanced Placement (AP) classes
because of the cost, the U.S. Department of Education, some states and
many districts are subsidizing AP exam fees for all AP students.

Teachers\' attitudes and instructional skills are also important. Once
students are taking high-level courses, they need knowledgeable teachers
who can provide instruction equal to the quality of the content. Given
the lack of highly qualified teachers in many core academic fields and
the limited experiences of others teaching advanced courses, states,
districts and schools need to implement teacher preparation and
in-service professional development strategies that are aimed squarely
at this challenge.

Students may need incentives to encourage them to enroll in advanced
courses. Part of the answer here is making students aware of the time
and increased ease of college transition that can accrue to students who
get high scores on AP exams.

By carefully charting student course-enrollment data, disaggregating it
by race/ethnicity, first language and socioeconomic status, schools will
be able to ensure that not only are they providing the courses for
students to complete the recommended curriculum but also that all
students are taking advantage of the courses available in the school.

**A rich and deep curriculum**

A rich and deep curriculum is at least as important as the *number* of
academic courses students encounter. This requires more than assigning
all students to "college prep" courses. Existing advanced courses
generally demand greater effort and pose greater intellectual challenges
for students; however, even advanced courses must be marked by
innovation that keeps the curriculum relevant to an ever-changing world.
And requiring more rigor does not mean that all students need approach
such subject matter in exactly the same way.

The choice is not between rigor and innovation, or avoiding rigor
altogether but---a better option---creating multiple pathways that
correspond to *differences* in student interests, aspirations, and
talents to meet the *common* goal of proficiency needed to advance in
the worlds of education and employment.

**Promising Models for Increasing Access to Rigorous Core Academic
Curriculum**

There are a number of specific programs currently attempting to increase
the rigor of high school academic offerings for all students. These may
serve as models, in whole or part, for policymakers and educators in
developing and promoting their own strategies:

**The State Scholars Initiative** is a federally-funded program that
funds business and education partnerships to promote to students the
benefits of following a core academic curriculum: four years of English;
three years of math including Algebra 1 and 2 and geometry; biology,
chemistry and physics; three and one-half years of social studies
including economics; and two years of a foreign language.
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hs/factsh/ssi.html

**High Schools That Work** is a network of over 1,000 high schools
throughout the eastern

United States that helps schools develop, among other components, a
curriculum similar to the State Scholars Initiative as well as four
courses in a planned career/technical concentration for most students.
www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/hstwindex.asp

**First Things First** and **Talent Development High Schools** are two
reform networks designed to promote specific interventions in reading,
mathematics and other subjects within 9th-grade academies,
schools-within-schools, career academies and other environments to
encourage development of higher expectations. www.irre.org/ftf
www.csos.jhu.edu/tdhs

**The International Baccalaureate (IB) program** is an advanced,
internationally recognized curriculum that offers 11th and 12th grade
students an opportunity to earn the IB Diploma. Students complete and
test in six IB subjects; write an extended essay based on independent
research; complete 150 hours of creative and service activity (for
example, arts, sports, community service); and participate in a critical
thinking course. The program is offered in over 1,425 public and private
secondary schools in more than 115 countries around the world.
http://www.ibo.org/

**Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID)** works to ensure that
all students complete a rigorous college-preparatory path and increase
enrollment in four-year colleges. Students typically enter the program
in middle school and take an elective AVID class that focuses on writing
and inquiry. Other activities focus on motivation, study skills and
preparation for college entrance and placement examinations. AVID, which
began in California, now reaches over 70,000 middle and high school
students in more than 1,500 schools in 21 states and 15 countries.
http://www.avidonline.org

**Conclusion**

High schools must let go of long-held myths and perceptions about who
can learn and who cannot so that all youth can reach high academic
standards. Unfortunately, some of the biggest skeptics are those whose
job it is to believe in students; secondary educators who believe that
certain social groups or students are slower to learn and react by
lowering the bar for performance, robbing those groups of opportunities
to grow intellectually and achieve their dreams. Yet the fact that there
are thousands of teachers who are producing promising results offers
hope that not only can high schools raise expectations, but that they
also *can* help all students meet them. The urgency is for the
**majority** of schools to learn from their example.

**Endnotes**

1 "Quality Counts 2003." *Education Week.* February 5, 2003. Available
www.edweek. org/sreports/qc03.

2 Ingels, S.J., Curtin, T.R., Kaufman, P., Alt, M.N., and Chen, X.
*Coming of Age in the 1990s: The Eighth-Grade Class of 1988, 12 Years*

*Later*. (NCES 2002--321). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
NCES. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/nels88/.

3 U.S. Department of Education, NCES. 2000. *NAEP Trends in Academic
Progress: Three Decades of Student Performance (NCES 2000-*

*469).* Washington, DC.

4 Adelman, Clifford. *Answers in the Toolbox: Academic Intensity,
Attendance Patterns and Bachelor's Degree Attainment*. (Washington: U.S.

Department of Education, 1999). Available
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/index.html.

5 Levesque, K. et al. *Vocational Education in the United States: Toward
the Year 2000*. NCES 2000--029. U.S. Department of Education,

NCES, 2000. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2000/2000029.pdf.

6 Hallinan, Maureen T. "Ability Grouping and Student Learning," Prepared
for Brookings Papers on Education Policy Conference: *The*

*American High School Today, The Brookings Institution.* Washington, DC,
May 14-15, 2002.

7 Adelman, Clifford. "Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity,
Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment," Web-Based

Version, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC, 1999.

8 Lee, Valerie*. Restructuring High Schools for Equity and Excellence.*
(New York: Teachers College Press, 2001). Available for a fee from

Teachers College Press: www.store.tcpress.com/0807740543.shtml.

9 Kirst, Michael. *Betraying the College Dream.* (Berkeley: Hoover
Institute, 2003). Available

www.stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/embargoed/embargoed_policybrief.pdf

This paper was produced under U.S. Department of Education Contract No.
ED-99 CO-0163 with DTI Associates, Inc. No official endorsement by the
U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or
enterprise mentioned in this paper is intended or should be inferred.

Reprinting of this publication is authorized with the following
citation: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult
Education, Washington, DC, 2003. For more information about the U.S.
Department of Education\'s work on high schools, visit
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/hsinit/index.html.