WSJ: Report Raises QuestionsAbout High-School Courses

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WALL STREET JOURNAL

February 23, 2007

Report Raises QuestionsAbout High-School Courses
By ROBERT TOMSHOFebruary 23, 2007; Page B1
American educators have complained about grade inflation for years. But new findings suggest that U.S. high schools may also suffer from another type of inflation -- in the labeling of courses.
Under pressure to produce graduates better prepared for college and the workplace, dozens of states have stiffened high-school graduation requirements in recent years, pushing a broader array of students to take more years of core subjects and eliminating less rigorous lower-tier courses altogether.
Reflecting these efforts, a review of high-school transcripts by the staff of the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that high-school students are taking, and receiving higher grades in, more college-prep courses than ever.

Yet just-released test results for 12th graders on the NAEP, a widely respected barometer of educational achievement known as the "nation's report card," indicated that students are graduating with mediocre math skills and reading abilities that have tumbled to their lowest level since the early 1990s. The 12th-grade tests are designed to measure the sorts of high-level thinking demanded in college work.
The findings raise questions about whether college-prep courses are as tough as their titles indicate, and, if so, whether high schools and their instructors are adequately prepared to teach such courses to a rapidly changing mix of students.
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings expressed disappointment with the findings, saying: "If, in fact, our high-school students are taking more challenging courses and earning higher grades, we should be seeing greater gains in test scores."
Other observers said the results suggest that some school districts are teaching watered-down versions of everything from history to trigonometry. "A course title alone does not make rigor," said David Conley, a University of Oregon professor who studies high-school course content.
The NAEP results are likely to fuel calls for reform measures as the federal No Child Left Behind act approaches a reauthorization debate. The Bush administration has proposed requiring states to conduct additional reading and math achievement tests at the high-school level.
In December, the Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a private group that includes former governors and cabinet secretaries from both political parties, called for such radical measures as ending high school after 10th grade for some students and denying entry to public colleges and universities to any who can't pass so-called board exams in core subjects.
The NAEP review of high school transcripts, released yesterday, found that 51% of the graduating class of 2005 completed at least a midlevel college-prep curriculum that included four years of English; three years of math, including geometry and algebra; and three years of science including at least two of biology, chemistry and physics. In 1990, only about 31% of seniors completed a similar curriculum.
The NAEP review also found that the class of 2005 received about 360 more hours of instruction in high school than their 1990 counterparts and earned higher grades. On a zero-to-four point scale, the 2005 seniors had a cumulative grade point average of 2.98 points, or about a B, up from 2.68 points in 1990. But the benefits of such changes weren't evident in the results of NAEP reading and math achievement tests for the class of 2005.
On a zero-to-500 point scale, their average reading score was 286 points. That was down a point from 2002, the last time the test was given, and was the lowest average score since 1992, when the average was 292 points. About 40% of the test takers scored at or above the proficient range, down from 44% in 1992.
On the math side, the average score was 150 on a zero-to-300 point scale and only 23% of the seniors were scored at or above the proficient range. NAEP officials said results of the 2005 math test aren't comparable with those from previous years because of recent changes in the exam's structure and content.
Reflecting demographic changes in society, the sorts of students taking the NAEP test have changed significantly in recent years. Hispanics accounted for 14% of all 12th graders in 2005, up from 7% in 1992. The scoring gap between them and white students has changed little since 1992.
Since 1998, when NAEP began allowing accommodations such as longer testing times, more English-language learners are also taking the NAEP. In 2005, they accounted for about 4% of all seniors taking the NAEP reading test and posted an average score of 247. The effect was to lower the overall average score by two points, to 286, which NAEP officials said was statistically significant.
The decline in reading abilities was not a complete surprise. A recent study by ACT Inc., the nonprofit testing concern based in Iowa City, Iowa, found that only about 51% of high school graduates who took the ACT test in 2005 were prepared to tackle college-level reading, down from 55% in 1999. ACT also found a decline in reading skills through the high-school years, with more eighth- and 10th-graders on track for college reading than seniors. "Reading just drops off the radar in high school," said Jon Erickson, ACT's vice president for educational services.
And the NAEP results aren't the only signs that college-prep courses may not be delivering all that they promise.
The College Board, the New York nonprofit that gives the SAT admissions test, is in the midst of a nationwide audit of its high-school Advanced Placement Program courses, amid concerns that some districts aren't offering college-level content.
Meanwhile, a recent study by the state of Maryland found that 30% of its 2005 high-school graduates who completed a college-prep curriculum needed remedial math in college, up from 26% for the class of 2000.
States may require students to take more upper-level courses, but content is still largely left up to local school boards and varies widely. And few states have instituted mandatory end-of-course tests to measure what is actually being taught in high-school classrooms or taken concrete action to ensure that high-school graduation standards are aligned with what colleges and universities expect incoming freshmen to know.
Hodan Janay, of Boston says she earned B's during four years of high-school English, took a college-prep literature course her senior year and passed the state English exams required to graduate. "But I wasn't as ready as I thought," says the 21-year-old, who is now enrolled in a remedial English course at Boston's Bunker Hill Community College.
Write to Robert Tomsho at rob.tomsho@wsj.com3