Connecting High School and College Through Transition Standards

1
Connecting High School and College Through
Transition Standards

• Issues and State of the Art

David T. Conley, Ph.D. Director, Standards for
Success Professor, University of
Oregon david_conley_at_s4s.org
2
Why Isnt the American Educational System Well
Aligned?

• American educational system was designed not to
  be well aligned
• No national education authority
• Local control of schools
• Full public funding of K-12, tuition-based
  funding component of postsecondary
• Fragmented governance of postsecondary education

3
Why Do We Need Better Alignment Now Between High
School and Postsecondary Education?

• Over two-thirds of h.s. grads go directly to
  postsecondary education, three-fourths within 5
  years
• College remediation rates have held steady or
  increased over the past decade
• Students who need to take remedial courses
  graduate at about half the rate of those who
  dont need to
• High school GPAs increase each decade while
  admissions-test scores remain relatively flat
• Some improvement in math scores over the past
  decade
• State standards-based education reforms
  (particularly state high school exams) are not
  necessarily well aligned with college success

4
Where Is the State of the Art with Transition
Standards?

• Tremendous amount of activity within the last 3
  years developing standards that connect high
  school and college
• Various groups at the state and national level
  have organized these projects
• Results are beginning to have effects in a number
  of areas, including admissions testing
• However, coordination on standards and
  assessments between secondary and postsecondary
  systems is still uneven

5
National/State Efforts to Align Standards Between
K-12 and Higher Ed.

• State curriculum frameworks or h.s. exam
  alignment
• e.g., California, Oregon, Texas
• National Assessment of Educational Progress
• American Diploma Project
• ACT Standards for Transition
• College Board Standards for College Success
• Association of American Universities Standards
  for Success

6
State Efforts

• Oregons Proficiency-based Admission Standards
  System and Certificates of Initial and Advanced
  Mastery
• Linkage via corresponding standards, CIM
  assessments, including collections of student
  work
• California Curriculum Frameworks
• Linked with state standards-based exam that will
  be connected with CSU system
• UC-Berkeley math standards developed independently

7
National Efforts

• National Assessment of Educational Progress
  (NAEP)
• Initial efforts are underway to redesign 12th
  grade NAEP so that it provides information about
  high school student readiness for post-high
  school endeavors, including higher ed

8
National Efforts

• American Diploma Project
• Assembled teams in 5 states to develop standards
  for all levels of postsecondary ed and work world
• Produced report Ready or Not
• Analyzed state tests against the standards
• Concluded state standards are not well aligned
  with tests and not necessarily challenging enough
  for postsecondary education needs

9
National Efforts

• ACT Standards for Transition
• Analyzed student performance on ACT in relation
  to courses taken, then analyzed content of those
  courses
• Developed a prediction about the skills lacking
  based on score ranges on ACT
• Expressed those skills in terms of courses where
  those skills could be mastered

10
National Efforts

• College Board Standards for College Success
• Incorporate Standards for Success and additional
  sources
• 6 levels spanning middle school through high
  school
• Oriented toward success in first year of college
• Reading, writing, math, eventually science

11
Characteristics of National/State Transition
Standards

• Defining frame of reference
• Entry-level courses?
• Types of postsecondary institutions?
• Level of implied mastery?
• Foundational vs. keystone skills?
• All college-bound students or math/science/enginee
  ring students?
• Tied to an assessment or not?

12
Knowing What It Takes to Succeed in Entry-Level
University Courses A Starting Point

• The first step in achieving better high
  school-college alignment is clearer understanding
  of knowledge and skills for university success
• Standards for Success developed a thoroughly
  validated, comprehensive set of standards derived
  from content of entry-level university courses
  and their instructors expectations
• These standards have been licensed by the College
  Board for use in development of the College Board
  Standards for College Success

13
What Was the Goal of Standards for Success?

• To identify the knowledge and skills necessary
  for success in entry-level university courses and
  to state these findings in a way that would allow
  high school instruction and testing to be aligned
  better with college success
• To analyze state high school assessments to
  determine how well they align with the knowledge
  and skill necessary for college success

14
Structure of Standards for Success

• Three-year national study sponsored by the
  Association of American Universities
• Conducted by Center for Educational Policy
  Research, University of Oregon with assistance
  from the Stanford Institute for Higher Education
  Research
• First such undertaking sponsored by a consortium
  of American universities
• Sponsored and funded by the Association of
  American Universities, 17 member institutions,
  and The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Endorsed by an additional 11 AAU institutions

15
Characteristics of S4S Standards

• S4S Standards represent a post-high school level
  of performance
• Knowledge and skills required for success in
  entry-level courses
• Not all entry-level courses taken first term in
  college
• Although S4S Standards reference national and
  state content standards, they are not a synthesis
  of such standards
• Influence of various national standards can be
  seen, but the reference point was university
  coursework
• S4S Standards are not developmental
• They do not span a number of grade levels

16
Methodology for Development of Knowledge and
Skills for University Success

• Modified Delphi method
• Repeated reviews by comparable groups combined
  with expert analyses at key points
• Nine campus-based National Conversation meetings,
  over 400 participants
• Findings from each meeting synthesized and
  reviewed by meeting participants
• Analyze course outlines, assignments, student
  work samples to triangulate National Conversation
  results
• Review by Mid-Continent Research for Education
  and Learning (McREL)
• Final review by Content Review Panel composed of
  professors with disciplinary expertise and
  experience with standards
• Subsequent comments by state high school
  assessment raters on utility, clarity of KSUS
  standards

17
Course Materials Analyzed

• Materials from entry-level courses were analyzed
  to determine topics emphasized, skills taught in
  those courses
• Readings, assignments, tests, evaluation criteria

18
Sponsoring Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley
• Harvard University
• Indiana University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Illinois
• University of Iowa
• University of Michigan
• University of Minnesota

• University of Missouri
• University of Nebraska
• University of Oregon
• University of Southern California
• New York University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Rice University
• Rutgers University
• University of Wisconsin

19
Endorsing Institutions

• Carnegie Mellon University
• Case Western Reserve University
• Duke University
• Iowa State University
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Los Angeles

• University of North Carolina
• University of Maryland
• Stanford University
• University of Virginia
• Washington University in St. Louis

20
Key Project Activities

• Develop the first university-sponsored
  comprehensive statement of Knowledge and Skills
  for University Success
• Send the booklet, Understanding University
  Success, to every U.S. high school
• Create a databank of actual examples of course
  requirements and student work from entry-level
  courses at AAU universities
• Analyze 100 state high school assessments for
  their alignment with the Knowledge and Skills for
  University Success
• Goal To determine if state tests are providing
  useful information to students, teachers, and
  others regarding college readiness

21
What Are The Standards?

• Six content areas
• English
• Math
• Natural Sciences
• Social Sciences
• Second Languages
• The Arts
• Each area has two types of standards
• Foundational Skills
• Academic Content Standards

22
Foundational Skills

• Habits of mind that enable students to succeed in
  college and to get more out of their college
  education
• Demonstrate inquisitiveness and love of learning
• Take risks, accept feedback, learn from mistakes
• Persevere with a difficult or ambiguous task
• Think critically and analytically
• Draw inferences, reach conclusions based on an
  evaluation of sources and their assumptions
• Support an opinion with a logical argument

23
Knowledge Standards

• Each standard has three levels of detail
• I. Standard
• A. Objective
• A.1. Criteria
• Example Math
• II. Algebra
• B. Successful students use various appropriate
  techniques to solve basic equations and
  inequalities. They
• B.1. solve linear equations and absolute value
  equations.
• B.2. solve linear inequalities and absolute
  value inequalities.
• B.3. solve systems of linear equations and
  inequalities using algebraic and graphical
  methods (e.g., substitution, elimination,
  addition and graphing).
• B.4. solve quadratic equations using various
  appropriate methods while recognizing real
  solutions. This includes
• B.4a. factoring
• B.4b. completing the square
• B.4c. the quadratic formula

24
Mathematics Standards Objectives

• Standards
• Computation
• Algebra
• Trigonometry
• Geometry
• Mathematical Reasoning
• Statistics

25
What Are Some Of The Key Findings?

• Faculty expressed near-universal agreement that
  most students enter research universities
  unprepared for the intellectual demands and
  expectations present in such environments
• Students often lack specific content knowledge
• They more frequently suffer from a form of
  intellectual immaturity, which makes it difficult
  for them to benefit fully from the education
  provided at an AAU university
• Shortcomings of entering students were remarkably
  similar regardless of the selectivity of the
  university
• Writing skills may be one of the single most
  important and most underdeveloped of all skills
• Understanding of algebraic concepts underpins
  math success

26
Ongoing S4S Research to Improve High
School-College Alignment

• Conduct more in-depth validation studies of
  knowledge and skills for postsecondary success at
  a wide range of institutions
• Survey faculty and analyze content of 2,100 math
  and science courses at 150 colleges
  universities
• Survey high school math and science teachers
  regarding course content expectations
• Develop tools to provide high schools more
  systematic feedback on how well aligned their
  instructional program is with college success
• Alignment and Challenge Audit

27
National vs. International Math Standards

• By almost all measures, American high school
  students lag behind comparator nations in math
  knowledge
• U.S. postsecondary closes the gap, but at a price
  in terms of the number of students who require
  remediation or cease math instruction altogether
• Using a purely national frame of reference
  overlooks these discrepancies

28
Issues in Constructing Aligned Math Standards

• Mathematics knowledge is needed in a number of
  subject areas in college, not just math
• Should h.s. math produce students who can become
  mathematicians or who can utilize math in a range
  of disciplines?
• Is the purpose of college math to produce math
  majors or students who are proficient in math?
• Science, social sciences such as economics
  require solid math knowledge
• Creates a potential conflict between perceptions
  of mathematicians and those of instructors in
  other disciplines regarding what is essential
  mathematical knowledge and why students are
  learning math

29
Issues in Constructing Aligned Math Standards

• Probability and Statistics
• What level of knowledge do high school students
  need in this area? Is it best introduced in
  college for the first time? How does it fit in
  the math sequence, since it doesnt connect to
  other math courses?
• The Calculus Dilemma
• Different types of college calculus in different
  subject areas make it difficult to define what
  high school calculus should contain
• Should calculus be the keystone h.s. math course
  or is a more in-depth math reasoning course
  needed?

30
Issues in Constructing Aligned Standards

• Publishing standards does not equal change in
  instruction or better alignment
• Research on CA curriculum framework
  implementation indicates extensive professional
  development and curriculum resources are
  necessary
• Progress is measured incrementally

31
Conclusions from S4S Analysis of State H.S. Exams

• Most tests neglect or address at a low cognitive
  level many areas considered necessary for college
  success, particularly critical thinking, research
  skills, higher mathematics, and quantitative
  reasoning
• State testing programs were never designed to
  align well with college admissions standards
• High school students and teachers are expending
  considerable time and energy preparing for tests
  that may or may not be consistent with the skills
  needed to succeed at the university level

32
For More Information or for a Copy of this
Presentation

• Contact
• Standards for Success877-766-2279contact_at_s4s.org
  
• http//www.s4s.org
• http//cepr.uoregon.edu