There is a great deal of attention today on improving our nation's high schools. High school core courses, for example, are not the same everywhere in the country.
For example, only 16 percent of students who complete three years of mathematics (typically Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II) are ready for a credit-bearing, first-year college algebra course. This means that the vast majority of students who complete a core mathematics curriculum through Algebra II are not ready for college-level mathematics.
ACT College Mathematics Benchmark Attainment by Mathematics Course Sequence (2006 High School Graduates)*
* Based on 872,949 high school students who took the ACT and indicated that they would graduate from high school in 2006.
- Why are some students ready for college-level coursework when they complete a sequence of core courses in high school while others are not?
- Why are many high school core courses focusing on lower-level content?
- What can we learn from high schools that are teaching rigorous content in their core courses?
Algebra II is not Algebra II at every school. By using QualityCore™, high school educators can help ensure that courses of the same name are focused on the right content and skills to enable students to be ready for college and work when they graduate from high school.