A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Taking the Right Courses Makes a Difference

At the same time, we know that some young people who may have the capacity to do college-level work are not even thinking about going to college. Research tells us that some young people start thinking about college too late, take the wrong sequence of courses, and sometimes shy away from taking the tough college prep courses. We also know that expectations can be set too low for some students, and in the process these students are steered away from thinking about themselves as college material.

Gene Bottom's Six-Year Plan One of the most promising efforts to encourage young people to take the right courses to prepare for college is one initiated by Gene Bottoms at the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Working with over 500 high schools across the South that are part of SREB's High Schools That Work program, Bottoms encourages high school freshmen to sit down with their parents and a high school advisor and chart out a six-year plan. In doing so, young people get the message that they have a new and higher goal and that going to high school has a larger purpose.

The good news, as this report suggests, is that an increasing number of young people are getting the message that they must take rigorous college prep courses to lay a foundation for doing college-level work. A growing percentage of high school students?males and females?are taking higher-level math and science courses. One of the most encouraging signs of progress, for example, is the growing number of females and minority students who are now taking chemistry and algebra II.

Another indication that students are up to the challenge of increased academic rigor is the marked increase in the number of young people taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Between 1984 and 1996, the number of students who took AP courses increased markedly, rising from 50 to 131 per 1,000 12^th graders. Young women led the way. In 1996, 144 female 12^th graders compared to 117 male 12^th graders took AP exams.

Adlai Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Illinois The curriculum at Adlai Stevenson High School is a model of challenge for its 3,300 plus students. In 1998, Newsweek magazine rated Adlai Stevenson as the number one high school in Illinois, and among the top 20 schools in the United States for giving as many students as possible the opportunity to take AP tests. The result has been remarkable. The College Board (1997) ranked Stevenson first in the Midwest and among the top 10 schools in the world in the AP program. Stevenson is one of a select group of high schools that are part of the U.S. Department of Education's New American High Schools project, which seeks to support high schools that are at the leading edge of reform.

One of the most important research findings about the value of taking a rigorous academic program comes from a recent U.S. Department of Education study entitled Answers in the Tool Box. This report notes that the "impact of a high school curriculum of high academic intensity and quality on degree completion is far more pronounced?and positively?for African-American and Latino students than any other pre-college indicator of academic resources. The impact for African-American and Latino students is also much greater than it is for white students."

What does this mean in real terms? About 45 percent of African-American students who finished high school on time and went directly to college graduated with a bachelor's degree. However, this rates rises to 73 percent for those African-American students who completed a high-level mathematics course, such as trigonometry or pre-calculus.

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Highlights

Creating Pathways to College