Many high schools still not offering rigorous enough curriculum, report says

Crystal Bonvillian:

Though high school students benefit from a rigorous high school curriculum, equal access to advanced programs still plague many schools across the country, a report released Wednesday shows.

The report, "Is High School Tough Enough," was released by the National School Boards Association's Center for Public Education. The center is a national resource for information about public schools, providing research, data and analysis on current education issues.

The report indicates that more than 3,000 high schools in the United States fail to offer classes in Algebra II, a basic component of rigorous curriculum, a news release from the center said.

It also found that two-fifths of high school graduates "are not adequately prepared" by their high school education for entry-level jobs or college-level courses, according to a survey of college instructors and employers.

A report excerpt: Is high school tough enough: Full report:

A closer look at "a rigorous curriculum"

While many decry the lack of rigor in the high school curriculum, it is difficult to find consensus about what rigor is. Dictionary definitions of the word refer to strictness and severity, but when referring to academic rigor, many educators use phrases such as "challenging content" and "competitive curriculum." Educators, researchers and organizations have defined academic rigor in a number of ways:

• Rigor is "the need for high school core courses to focus on the essential knowledge and skills needed for success in postsecondary education." (ACT, 2007)
• Rigor is "a demanding yet accessible curriculum that engenders critical-thinking skills as well as content knowledge." (social research group MDRC as quoted in Hechinger Institute, 2009)
• Rigor means that students should "raise questions, think, reason, solve problems and reflect." (former Atlanta Superintendent Beverly L. Hall as quoted in Hechinger Institute, 2009)
• A rigorous curriculum is "focused, coherent, and appropriately challenging." (Michigan State Professor William Schmidt as quoted in Hechinger Institute, 2009)

State and local education agencies also worked to define rigor, most notably through the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). After a lengthy development process, a set of standards were released in June 2010, and the vast majority of states have now adopted the standards, which "provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn" in grades kindergarten through 12. According to the Common Core Standards Web site, the standards are aligned with "college and work expectations," and "include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills." At this writing, 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted the common core standards (For more information, see http://www.corestandards.org).

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 13, 2012 2:44 AM
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