On Course for Success: A Close Look at Selected High Schools That Prepare All Students for College and Work- Implications for Policymakers

In a new report entitled On Course for Success, ACT and TheEducation Trust examine ten high schools with challengingstudent populations that have overcome the odds by fosteringgreater access to college. What we have found is that whenstudents are provided with high-level courses, qualified andexperienced teachers, teaching that is flexible and responsiveto students, and extra support when they need it, all studentscan be prepared to succeed.A New High School AgendaThe need to improve high school education has taken ongreat urgency among educators and policymakers. Among allthe competing ideas on the table, one significant area ofconsensus is emerging: that all students should be adequatelyprepared for the challenges of higher education and high-performing jobs when they graduate from high school. Butwhile the goal for all students may be clear, the way to getthere is just coming into view. Research shows, for example,that taking a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum in highschool is the single biggest predictor that one will eventuallyearn a college degree. But what are the courses in thiscurriculum? What does “rigor” look like? What are thecomponents that put students “on course for success?” It’sthese questions that ACT and The Education Trust sought toanswer.The StudyOur study focused on “successful” high schools where thestudent population was at least 40 percent minority and/or atleast 50 percent low-income. “Success” was defined asproducing a significant proportion of graduates who had metor exceeded ACT College Readiness Benchmark scores thatpredict at least a C grade in first-year college courses. Welimited our study to English, mathematics, and science. We selected ten qualifying schools to participate. With thehelp of the schools, we were able to identify the courses thatthe high-scoring students took and the teachers who taughtthem. We surveyed these teachers about their experience,teaching philosophy, and instructional practices. We thenvisited all ten schools, observed a total of 41 classrooms, andinterviewed the teachers. What we found is that students in these courses wereprovided key academic resources that previous researchsupports as having a positive impact on student learning: nhigh-level college-oriented content,nqualified and experienced teachers, nteaching that is flexible and responsive to students, andnextra support for students when they need it. The added value of this study is that it begins to fill in thedetails about what these resources look like in practice. Forexample, we found a high incidence of teaching that madecontent meaningful to students through connections to thereal world, other topics and subjects, and popular culture. Wealso observed teachers directing instruction while constantlytaking and asking questions, heading off the possibility that astudent will not understand. researchreadinessresultsOn Course for SuccessA Close Look at Selected High SchoolsThat Prepare All Studentsfor College and WorkImplications for Policymakers Perhaps the major contribution made by this study comes outof the hundreds of instructional materials that we collectedand analyzed. The artifacts provided the basis for the ModelCourse Syllabi and Course Descriptions that form the bulk of On Course for Success. These rich curricular models begin toprovide real answers to the questions: What does rigor looklike? How can it best be taught?What Can Policymakers Do?On Course for Successsuggests several policies to improvehigh schools’ ability to adequately prepare all students for asmooth transition to college, should they choose to go. Thesepolicies extend from the federal level to the classroom. At the Federal LevelnProvide additional funding to allow all students to haveaccess to rigorous courses, highly qualified teachers,and additional in and out of classroom support.At the State LevelnReexamine high school standards and courserequirements.The content in the courses examined in thisstudy exceeded the standards most states haveestablished for high school graduation. States shouldreexamine their high school standards and graduationrequirements in English, math, and science to see if theyalign to the courses featured in this study. This examinationshould include state assessments.nEnsure an adequate supply of qualified andexperienced teachers. The highly qualified teacherprovisions of the No Child Left Behind Act are a startingpoint to making sure all students have the benefit ofcapable teachers who are experts in their subjects.Certification policies for secondary teachers should beevaluated for what they certify about teacher knowledgeand pedagogical skills. States should pay special attentionto making sure that high-poverty high schools havesufficient access to experienced teachers. nSupport school-based programs to provide extra helpfor students.High schools should be responsible forproviding extra help before, after, and during school hoursand, if needed, on Saturdays and in summer pr