The Forgotten Middle: Ensuring That All Students Are on Target for College and Career Readiness Before High School - Executive Summary4da

Today, college readiness also means career readiness. Whilenot every high school graduate plans to attend college, themajority of the fastest-growing jobs that require a high schooldiploma, pay a salary above the poverty line for a family offour, and provide opportunities for career advancementrequire knowledge and skills comparable to those expected of the first-year college student. ACT data show that fewer than two in ten eighth gradersare on target to be ready for college-level work by thetime they graduate from high school.This means that morethan eight of ten eighth-grade students do not have theknowledge and skills they need to enter high school andsucceed there. And not surprisingly, our research shows thatstudents who are not prepared for high school are less likelythan other students to be prepared for college and career bythe time they graduate from high school. So although thegates of high school are technically open to all students, formore than 80 percent of them, the door to their futures mayalready be closed.In recent years, there has been heightened awareness of theimportance of early childhood education and high school asintervention points in the educational lives of America’schildren. Less attention, it seems, has been paid to theimportance of the upper elementary grades and middleschool and the role they must play in the preparation ofstudents for life after high school. The results of The ForgottenMiddlesuggest that, in the current educational environment,there is a critical defining point for students in the college andcareer readiness process—one so important that, if studentsare not on target for college and career readiness by the timethey reach this point, the impact may be nearly irreversible.We must therefore also focus on getting more students ontarget for college and career readiness by the end of eighthgrade, so that they are prepared to maximize the benefits ofhigh school.Moreover, this research shows that, under current conditions,the level of academic achievement that students attain byeighth grade has a larger impact on their college andcareer readiness by the time they graduate from highschool than anything that happens academically in highschool.This report also reveals that students’ academicreadiness for college and career can be improved whenstudents develop behaviors in the upper elementary gradesand in middle school that are known to contribute tosuccessful academic performance.The implication is clear: if we want not merely to improve but to maximize the college and career readiness of U.S.students, we need to intervene not only during high schoolbut beforehigh school, in the upper elementary grades and inmiddle school. researchreadinessresultsThe ForgottenMiddleEnsuring that All StudentsAre on Target for Collegeand Career Readinessbefore High SchoolExecutive Summary This study had four purposes. First, we wanted to examine ingreater depth the factors that influence college and careerreadiness. In doing so, we wanted to identify those factorsthat are the most effective predictors of college and careerreadiness from middle school to high school. Second, wewanted to examine the effect that certain steps to improvestudents’ level of academic preparation would have on theirdegree of readiness for college and career. Third, we wantedto examine the academic growth of these students duringhigh school. Fourth, we wanted to examine the influence ontheir readiness of student behaviors related to academicperformance. Our findings are summarized below.Eighth-Grade Academic Achievement Is the BestPredictor of College and Career Readiness by HighSchool GraduationWe constructed predictive models to examine the relativestrengths of six factors in influencing students’ collegereadiness, as defined by their performance on the ACT®test:nBackground characteristics—gender, race/ethnicity,parent educational level, annual family income, primarylanguage spoken at homenEighth-grade achievement—ACT EXPLORE®test scoresin relevant subject areasnStandard high school coursework—highest level of non-advanced, non-honors courses taken in relevant subjectareasnAdvanced/honors high school coursework—accelerated, honors, or Advanced Placement courses inrelevant subject areasnHigh school grade point average—self-reported gradeaverage for courses taken in relevant subject areasnStudent testing behaviors—whether students retook theACT, whether students provided updated coursework andgrade information if retesting, age and grade level at timeof testing. Because student testing behaviors are the resultof student decisions about whether, when, and how oftento take the ACT, these behaviors reflect traits such asmotivation and students’ self-perceptions about theiracademic abilities.The predictive models showed that eighth-grade achievement(as measured by the four EXPLORE scores in English,Mathematics, Reading, and Science) displays a strongerrelationship with college and career readiness than does anyothe