QualityCore™: Every Student Deserves to Be Ready for College

Nearly three-fourths of new graduates pursue postsecondary education within two years of leaving high school and more follow throughout the course of their working lives. Yet, over the past five years, nearly four out of five ACT-tested high school graduates were not prepared to succeed in credit-bearing, college-entry coursework. In fact, nearly a quarter of students who start at four-year colleges—and nearly half of those who start at two-year colleges—do not even make it to their second year because of academic difficulties.

Preparing more students for success in college is the premise behind ACT’s new high school instructional improvement program, QualityCore. Designed to evaluate and improve the quality of high school core courses, QualityCore consists of benchmark course assessment item pools, end-of-course examinations, and professional development training.

“This is a groundbreaking national effort to better define rigor in the core courses and help policymakers continue to improve college readiness standards,” said Jon Erickson, vice president, ACT educational services.

Although high schools have worked hard to ensure more students are ready for college, the challenge is to determine what can be done to improve students’ chances of postsecondary success. Research shows that one of the most important predictors of college success is the quality and intensity—the rigor—of the high school curriculum. Students who take a complete college-preparatory sequence of courses not only do better on college entrance examinations, but also are more likely to succeed once they are admitted.

“A rigorous core curriculum is important for all students. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to succeed in college or in the workforce,” said Erickson. “QualityCore is intended to decrease the number of students who are limited in their options for college and work because they took either the wrong courses or courses that lacked rigor.”

QualityCore focuses on high school core courses students typically take instead of college-level courses. Ten courses will be available in fall 2007: English 10, English 11, English 12, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Biology, Chemistry, Government, and Economics. Six more courses now under development have a target release date of fall 2008: English 9, Pre-Calculus, Physics, Speech and Communications, U.S. History, and Statistics.

The Basics of the Program

Many high schools use end-of-course examinations to measure course quality. Such examinations are intended to evaluate a high school’s course offerings by assessing how well students have mastered the content considered essential to the courses.

But an end-of-course examination is only as good as the assumptions used in designing it. What is a course’s “essential” content? And what does it mean to master it? ACT’s QualityCore program and end-of-course examinations in English, mathematics, and science are rooted in course objectives that are rigorous, empirically based, and derived from the syllabi of course offerings at high-performing high schools. Among the goals of the end-of-course examinations are to:

• Improve student achievement in high school core courses
• Ensure that course content is focused on college and workforce training readiness standards as well as state standards
• Provide schools and districts with course-level data about student progress to improve teaching and learning

Studies have revealed the minimum coursework essential for college success. More difficult to define is the quality of these courses. During the 2003–04 academic year, ACT teamed up with The Education Trust on a study, On Course for Success, to determine the courses, the level of rigor, and the instructional practices that are most likely to lead to student success. In the study, success was defined as meeting ACT’s College Readiness Benchmarks for English, mathematics, and science. These benchmark scores predict a grade of B or higher in first-year college course in English composition, algebra, and biology, respectively.

On Course for Success focused on ten high schools that are producing graduates who are meeting or exceeding ACT benchmarks in proportions greater than those seen nationally.

It addressed this question: What components of high school courses prepare students for successful entry into postsecondary education without the need for remediation?

Researchers sent each of the participating schools a list of students who were college ready—defined as meeting or exceeding one or more of the ACT benchmarks in two consecutive years. The schools identified the courses each student took and the teachers who taught them. The study team eventually focused on 69 sets of courses and teachers with the highest percentages of students meeting the benchmarks. They then surveyed the teachers about their educational experience, teaching philosophy, and instructional practices, and also examined three weeks’ worth of their lesson plans and instructional materials. They interviewed the teachers and observed in their classrooms.

The study team’s analyses of course syllabi, course descriptions, course content, pacing charts, and instructional materials for these courses served as the foundation for the development of model syllabi for key high school courses in English, mathematics, and science. School districts can use the course syllabi, course descriptions, and course objectives to evaluate the rigor of their own core course offerings and make changes where necessary.

Wider Sample Collected

As a next step, the team went beyond the 69 sets of courses and teachers to collect validity data from a wider sample of high-performing high schools nationwide. They sent a list of course objectives to a nationwide sample of English, mathematics, and science teachers chosen from a file of the 300 highest-performing high schools. They also surveyed the teachers about the importance and relevance of the objectives to college readiness.

From the results of the survey, ACT staff refined the course objectives to reflect those deemed essential by a majority of the responding teachers. These final lists of course objectives provide the foundation for the test specifications of the assessments developed as part of QualityCore.

“These objectives represent the first empirically based high school core course frameworks that prepare students for college and that have been linked directly to their success in college,” said Doug Becker, vice president, ACT development.

ACT is also engaged in field studies and research efforts to investigate the professional development resources and activities needed to help make the implementation of QualityCore a success. Support for teachers implementing QualityCore will include resource materials that will assist teachers in making effective use of the interim and end-of-course assessment information as well as guide teachers in curriculum development. We also are considering offering face-to-face professional development training by master teachers. These workshops, designed by subject area and course, would provide teachers with practical examples, detailed insights, effective models of instruction, classroom materials, and teaching strategies focused on the skills and knowledge related to QualityCore.

In addition, we are conducting research into the unique applications of QualityCore in order to support state efforts in aligning secondary and postsecondary education. QualityCore will represent another important resource for districts and states as they address the college and workplace readiness of students.

“Our goal is to help educators, administrators, and policymakers significantly improve student achievement in high school core courses as well as improve the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction, and assessment in each course,” said Erickson.