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College Readiness for All: The Challenge for Urban High SchoolsVanessa CocaCo-authors: Melissa Roderick and Jenny Nagaoka
Future of Children’s Reforming High Schools ConferenceApril 24, 2009
Meeting a new challenge: Chicago Public Schools’ Postsecondary Department and
the Consortium’s Research Project
• Nationwide we’ve seen dramatic increases in the proportion of students aspiring to college:
– In 1980, 41 percent of 10th graders aspired to attain a four-year degree.
– By 2002, nearly 80 percent of all 10th graders aspired to complete a four-year degree.
• In Chicago, over 83 percent of 2005 12th graders aspired to attain at least a four-year degree.
– Less than half enroll in a four-year college the fall after high school graduation.
– Only 45 percent of CPS graduates who enrolled full-time in a four-year college immediately after high school graduate within 6 years.
New expectation for high schools: Produce college-ready
graduates• What do we mean by college ready?
• What challenge does that pose for high school reform, particularly for urban schools and low-income students?
• Access to any college - “Walking through the door”– High school graduation
• Access to a four-year college with minimal admissions requirements– Completion of specific coursework– Chicago graduation requirements are aligned with
college admissions standards
• Access to credit-bearing coursework and reasonably high probability of success in a four-year college– Test scores and course performance (GPA)
What does ‘college-ready’ mean?
Source:Korbin, et al., (2008) Validity of the SAT in Predicting First-Year College Grade Point Average, New York: The College Board.
GPA also predicts performance in freshman year of college better than
SAT scores
Nearly 60 percent of CPS students graduate with a “C” or “D” average in their core
classes.Unweighted GPA in core classes for 2002
and 2003 graduates
35
2420
14
7
0
10
20
30
40
50
<2.0 2.1-2.5 2.6-3.0 3.1-3.5 3.6-4.0
Unweighted GPA in core classes
Per
cen
t
Qualifications alone are an incomplete story…
• Schools with similar achievement levels have differing college-going rates
• Even students with similar qualifications have differing college-going rates– Latinos are less likely to enroll in college than
African-American and White students with similar qualifications
Developing effective high school environments also means paying attention to
the social capital gap driving college access
-Constrained College Planning
What do we mean by “college ready” and what is the challenge
for high schools?• Given high aspirations, high school must raise
the standard to define college readiness by whether students are leaving high school capable of pursuing their aspirations
• This is an instructional challenge as well as a challenge of creating strong college going cultures that develop norms of performance and bridge the information and support gaps for youths.