### Archived Information

### Mississippi's Work to Increase Curriculum Standards

**Dr. Henry L. Johnson**

**Mississippi State Superintendent of Education**

About a year and a half ago, the three education chiefs in Mississippi,
David Potter, the Commissioner for the Institutions of Higher Learning;
Wayne Stonecypher, the Executive Director of the State Board for
Community and Junior Colleges, and myself; agreed that it was essential
that our three entities work together to strengthen education across the
state. An outgrowth of that agreement was a taskforce assigned to look
at ways to look at accomplishing that. Each of the three of us appointed
top leadership from our respective agencies to form the taskforce, which
became known as the P-20 Taskforce, signifying pre-kindergarten through
graduate school.

The P-20 Taskforce, after several meetings, discussion and research,
defined nine goals that all three educational entities in Mississippi
could work toward together to accomplish the overall goal of
strengthening education in Mississippi and creating a better future for
its citizens. These nine goals became known as the P-20 Initiative.

One of the nine goals of the P-20 Initiative included the concept of
increasing rigor in the high school curriculum. A subcommittee task
force from P‑20 researched the concept and made recommendations to the
P‑20 committee.

Discussions were held with the Mississippi Board of Education in October
and November and the members have formally endorsed the idea of the
Department exploring this issue further, discussing with stakeholder
groups and coming up with a formal plan.

Research indicates kids can handle a more rigorous curriculum. Kati
Haycock, executive director of The Education Trust, has conducted
extensive research on what works in the classroom and has come to the
conclusion that students who are challenged with a more rigorous
curriculum achieve more and fail less. This past fall, the Mississippi
Economic Council invited Kati to share her findings in meetings with
business and community leaders across the state, so this has helped to
extend the conservation about increasing rigor beyond the education
community.

The economic implications of giving more students a more rigorous
curriculum are compelling in terms of earning power upon graduation.
Studies have shown that those who earn a bachelor's degree earn
approximately \$1 million more than those who obtain a high school
diploma. Additionally, those with only a high school diploma were more
than twice as likely to be unemployed as those with a bachelor's degree.

Mississippi is 30 percent behind other states in the percentage of
citizens with bachelor's degrees and 25 of Mississippi's population do
not have a high school diploma or GED. These factors together make
Mississippi one of the most undereducated states in the country.

Using national data, up to 80% of students say they want to go to
college; about 70% of parents say they want their children to go to
college but only about half of students take the coursework necessary to
go to college.

We want to address the issue of what is the knowledge base and what are
the skills sets that students must have upon graduation from high
school, so that they have a legitimate chance of being successful in
2-year institutions of higher learning, 4-year institutions of higher
learning, the military, or the world of work.

To produce graduates with this necessary knowledge and skill level, we
believe it is necessary to require all students to participate in a more
rigorous high school curriculum unless it is declined by the student's
parents. A more rigorous curriculum would necessitate more courses in
each content area at an advanced level for all students. Research
suggests that a student that is placed in advanced classes, even if they
don't make an "A," is more prepared when they exit high school than
those that are enrolled and receive high marks in lower level courses.

In considering some of the factors that predict success in college, a
large body of research has focused on variables such as socioeconomic
status, grade point average, class rank, test scores, gender and
ethinicity, but the single best predictor may be the academic rigor of
the curriculum taken by the student in high school. The correlation of a
rigorous curriculum with college completion was stronger than that
associated with either test scores or high school achievement.

Studies have shown that even students who do not plan to pursue a
bachelor's degree can benefit greatly from increased rigor in the
curriculum. Increased rigor works well with programs, such as High
Schools that Work and Tech Prep, that place an emphasis on
career/technical preparation. The High Schools that Work recommended
curriculum calls for at least three credits each in mathematics and
science, with at least two of each at the college preparatory level. A
study that summarized of HSTW evaluations from 1996 to 1998 found that
integration of academic and career/technical courses was a particularly
effective strategy.

Too many kids who go to college have to take remedial courses;
strengthening the high school curriculum will help to reverse this
trend. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics
(NCES) more than one quarter of the students admitted to college in 1995
were required to take remediation courses. The percentage of freshmen in
Mississippi taking remedial courses has increased from 14.2% in 2000 to
18.0% in 2002. Even in the highest-ranking states, 17% of freshmen at
4-year colleges do not return for their sophomore year.

We must have the prerequisite coursework and instruction at intermediate
and early grades to support the more rigorous high school experience.

Input was gathered from participants at the recent Regional
Administrators meetings and the comments received from administrators
were mixed. Many feel like just raising the AYP bar is not enough and
that we need to add more rigor now. Most feel like it is a good idea in
concept but feel that lack of teachers and funds to implement this
system is a cause for concern. Timing and budget constraints are the
concerns for most administrators in the state.

We will consider all of these concerns as we explore this issue further,
keeping in mind that the expected outcome is that we will have more
students prepared for post high school and a more skilled workforce. We
must also engage the business community as we proceed. In Texas, the
Texas Business and Education Coalition has been very effective in
promoting this idea of increased rigor. Largely as a result of the
efforts of this business organization, in partnership with education
leaders in the state, the percent of Texas students completing the more
rigorous curriculum increased from 15% in 1999 to 51% in 2001.

We will have a task force to further study the concept and build a time
line for implementation.

As the bar continues to rise for meeting Adequate Yearly Progress
requirements of No Child Left Behind, we must continue to raise the bar
on what we are teaching and learning in the classroom.