Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments High School Classes May Be Advanced in Name Only

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/education/26inflate.html
High School Classes May Be Advanced in Name Only
By SAM DILLON
New York Times
April 25, 2011

More students are taking ambitious courses. According to a recent Department of Education study, the percentage of high school graduates who signed up for rigorous-sounding classes nearly tripled over the past two decades.

But other studies point to a disconnect: Even though students are getting more credits in more advanced courses, they are not scoring any higher on standardized tests.

The reason, according to a growing body of research, is that the content of these courses is not as high-achieving as their names � the course-title equivalent of grade inflation. Algebra II is sometimes just Algebra I. And College Preparatory Biology can be just Biology.

Lynn T. Mellor, a researcher in Austin, Tex., who has studied the phenomenon in the state, compares it to a food marketer labeling an orange soda as healthier orange juice.

�Like the misleading drink labels, course titles may bear little relationship to what students have actually learned,� said Dr. Mellor, who has analyzed course completion, test records and other student data in Texas �We see students taking more and more advanced courses, but still not performing well on end-of-course exams.�

The 2009 results � the most recent available � of the federal test that measures change in achievement levels over decades showed that the nation�s 17-year-olds were scoring no higher in reading and math than in 1973. SAT scores have dropped or flat-lined, too, since 2000.

But a federal study released this month of 38,000 high school transcripts showed that the proportion of graduates completing a rigorous curriculum rose to 13 percent in 2009 from 5 percent in 1990. Arnold A. Goldstein, a director at the department�s National Center for Education Statistics, which administered both the federal test and the transcripts study, suggested possible causes for this apparent contradiction.

�There may be a �watering down� of courses,� he said. Also, high school seniors may not try hard when they take the federal tests, since there are no consequences based on how they perform, he said.

Schools apply vaunted names to courses in part, researchers said, because administrators want to help students satisfy tougher requirements for high school graduation in many states. They point to parents� interest in rigorous-sounding coursework for their children, and to administrators� vanity in offering ambitious coursework.

Some educators also argue that students benefit from being exposed to more difficult coursework, even if they do not perform well.

Mark Schneider, a vice president of the American Institutes of Research who headed the Education Department�s research wing under President George W. Bush, said the disconnect became apparent a decade ago, after two nationwide surveys showed that the proportion of high school seniors taking trigonometry, precalculus or calculus more than doubled from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

�Students were taking more rigorous-sounding courses, but there was no evidence they had mastered the content,� Dr. Schneider said. Researchers at Michigan State University began studying the issue for a 2001 paper that drew on the test scores of 13,000 American eighth-grade students who participated in an international math and science exam known as Timss.

They compared the schools� math courses � ranging from remedial through �enriched� to algebra I � with the content of the textbooks used in them. In about 15 percent of the cases, the textbook covered less advanced areas of math than the course name suggested, said William H. Schmidt, who led the Michigan research.

In 2008, Dr. Schmidt surveyed 30 high schools in Ohio and Michigan, finding 270 distinctly labeled math courses. In science, one district offered Basic Biology, BioScience, General Biology A and B � 10 biology courses in all.

�The titles didn�t reveal much at all about how advanced the course was,� he said.

Course-title inflation is easier to document in math and science, researchers said, but they suspect it is happening in English and other subjects, too.

<rest of article at link>

I think the basic problem is that only a minority of the population is smart enough to study at the college level, whether the subject is calculus or history (if such a course is rigorous and entails a lot of writing). In the book "Real Education" Charles Murray estimated that an IQ of 115 is needed to get a "real" B.A. Only about 1/6 of the population is this smart. When high schools are pressured to do the impossible, they start fudging.

That is why colleges are still using SAT, ACT or AP scores for admissions after year's of debate. You may argue that these tests are not true measurement of either achievement or intellegnce. I agree with that. But at least, this is one thing that can't be easily fudged by schools or brought by rich parents.

Our local high schools aim to have all students taking AP courses or to do dual enrollment (hs and college credit courses) in high school. I've long thought this makes no sense. Not everyone can take advanced placement coursework and do well so it either winds up with the work being not what is claims to be or kids getting poor grades. I suspect that the former happens as often, or more often, than the later.

I'm sorry to digress a little already but really 1/6th has a > 115 iq?

That should be about 16-17% of people. Since about 68% of people fall within 1 SD of the mean, that would put 32% of people more than 1 SD outside of the mean (on both the low and high end) or 16% more than 1 SD above the mean and 16% more than one SD below the mean. 115 falls right at the 1 SD point so that # should work.

IQ tests are typically normed to have mean of 100 and standard deviation of about 15. About 68% of the observations in a normal distribution are within 1 SD of the mean. Therefore only (1 - 0.68)/2 = 16% are at 1 SD or more to the right of the mean. One-sixth is between 16% and 17%.

Thank you for the stats refresher. For some reason I was a little stunned by how small that number is. I guess I've been hanging around this forum for too long

I would think that the proportion of students with a measured IQ over 115 varies greatly by school and district, though. In some areas, I would guess that at least a third to a half of the students would score over 115.

A recent article describing how A.P. courses are being pushed on unqualified students is

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/e...4/25/a_lesson_in_advanced_mis_placement/
A lesson in Advanced mis-Placement
By Junia Yearwood
Boston Globe
April 25, 2011

...

For the four years I taught the AP English and composition course at English High, many of my students were victims of the AP mania that had invaded the system. Suddenly, officials had recognized the dearth of faces of color in AP classes and the drive to augment the AP minority population went into high gear. The College Board and sympathetic philanthropic rescuers rushed in to solve the problem by dangling the carrot of grant money, and the feeding frenzy was on. AP classes sprouted and multiplied across all disciplines. AP scouts scoured students� report cards hunting for qualifying scores; teacher recommendations were solicited for students with the �potential�� to do AP work, and the nominees were summarily conscripted.

Even though students had marked deficiencies in basic reading and writing skills, and little desire to work hard, and even though they made repeated requests for transfers, the dragooning of students into my AP course persisted.

My frequent reminders to school officials that students� reading and writing levels and willingness to work hard were more important indicators of AP success than their perceived academic potential were berated and ignored. Administrators and some teachers countered with the �data-driven�� argument that, not only does more exposure to AP courses and tests benefit students by preparing them for the rigors of college, but it signaled our high expectations of them.

...

Yes, this is all part and parcel of our national delusion that everyone should go to college. This philosophy is a failure and is particularly cruel to the students it's forced on. How many young people end up studying something they aren't interested in and spend four years learning little, after which many are deep in debt? To make matters worse, it's been increasingly difficult to find work since 2008, and many of them end up in low-wage jobs they could have done straight out of high school, minus the devt (e.g. Starbucks, security guards after short training courses). Just as bad, many that actually find jobs in "business" or "communications" or whatever they majored in end up being unhappy and unsatisfied. But no one told them any of this when they were 17. These poor kids all get spoonfed the idea that a B.A. is a golden ticket to a bright and shiny future.

Does anyone else see the madness here?

These days, the edumacational dogma is to push people into college as though suggesting anything else is some kind of major insult. Somehow this means we're being "equitable" or "fair." It's as though there's this perception that anything that doesn't involve a B.A. is somehow less than worthy. This entire train of thought is utter rubbish. And it homogenizes everyone even more.

I'd prefer a return to the olden days of about 20 years ago and before when schools helped kids find things they were good at and enjoyed doing, and encouraged them to go in those directions, regardless of whether or not a B.A. was involved.

Val