Crisis at the Core: Preparing All Students for College and Work

Crisis at the CoreCOLLEGE READINESSPreparing All Students for College and Work Crisis at the Core Preparing All Students for College and Work Founded in 1959, ACT is an independent, not-for-profit organizationthat provides more than a hundred assessment, research,information, and program management services in the broad areas of education planning, career planning, and workforce development.Each year, we serve millions of people in high schools, colleges,professional associations, businesses, and government agencies—nationally and internationally. Though designed to meet a wide array of needs, all ACT programs and services have one guidingpurpose—to help people achieve education and career goals by providing information for life’s transitions.© 2005 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.IC 0508052707416 ContentsA Letter from the CEO of ACT ............................................... iPreface—What Is College Readiness? .................................. iii1 Our Students Are Not Ready ........................................... 12 The Core Curriculum—No Longer a Ticket to College Success ............................................. 7 3 It’s Time to Refine the Core Curriculum ...................... 22Appendix .............................................................................. 31 References ............................................................................. 41 iA Letter from the CEO of ACTFar too many of the seniors in the class of 2004—both male andfemale and in all racial/ethnic groups—aren’t ready for college or the workplace. And it seems unlikely that students already in thepipeline will be doing much better. Given the demands of today’sglobal economy, this situation is nothing short of a crisis. Fortunately, we can start addressing the problem right now. Resultsfrom the programs in ACT’s Educational Planning and AssessmentSystem show the clear relationship between the rigor of the highschool coursework students take and their readiness for college and the workplace.Simply put, the more rigorous and challenging those courses, themore likely it is students will be ready for college and will earn theirdegrees. Our research also confirms that taking and doing well inspecific courses—such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and upper-level mathematics (beyond Algebra II)—has a startling effect onstudent performance and college readiness.In view of the strong relationship between course-taking patterns and college readiness, we are recommending that every student take specific courses in high school. We’re confident that, afterreading this report, you will agree with us that we urgently need a more well-defined core curriculum. As a nation, we can’t afford the costs of continuing to graduate high school students who areunprepared for postsecondary education and work.To advance this goal, we will be partnering with a number of states in Ready to Succeed,a demonstration project that focuses on,among other things, course rigor. Selected school districts in each of our partner states will work with a team of specialists to evaluatethe rigor of their courses, to identify the important rigorous skills thatshould be taught in these courses, and to measure improvements in student achievement. And we will soon unveil a number of otherinitiatives designed to enhance college readiness. Ultimately, wewant to ensure that all students graduate from high school ready toenter college or work with a high probability of success. iiBut we can’t do it alone. Educational leaders, policymakers, business and community leaders, and students themselves all have critical roles to play. We look forward to assisting in the importantwork of implementing these changes. Our nation’s students deservenothing less.Sincerely,Richard L. FergusonACT Chief Executive Officer iiiPrefaceWhat Is College Readiness?College readiness should be an expectation not only for traditionalcollege-bound high school students, but for all students at the highschool level. It is important to ensure that all students are collegeready—and especially important to address the substantial inequalitiesin college readiness between male and female students and amongstudents from various racial and ethnic backgrounds, geographicallocales, types of schools, and family income levels (ACT, 2004).What is college readiness? In this report we use the phrase to refer in a general sense to the level of preparation a student needs to be readyto enroll and succeed—without remediation—in a credit-bearingcourse at a two-year or four-year institution, trade school, or technicalschool. Increasingly, however, college readiness also means workplacereadiness. While not every student plans toattend college after high school, many of thejobs now being created in a highly technology-based economy require abilities equivalent to those expected of the first-year collegestudent. As Somerville and Yi (2002) point out: “Studies of the skill and knowledge thatemployers nee