A 21^st Century Education for All Students

All Students College & Work Ready

In Today's and Tomorrow's Economy,

Ready for Work and Ready for College

Mean the Same Thing: Ready for Life.

• Education Trust-West Reports on Rigorous High School Curriculum
• Ready for Work Does Mean Ready for College, Examples of Workforce Skills
• In California, Most of Our Students Never Successfully Complete A College and Work Prep Curriculum
• A-G and Career Technical Course Sequence Requirements
• A-G and Career Tech Class Scheduling

Concern over the lack of rigor in the high school curriculum is gaining serious momentum.  Momentum is building because the demands of marketplace are making the new mandate for California’s high-schools abundantly clear.  They must prepare our students to succeed in the workforce and in college by the end of high school. 

What does this mean?  Research uniformly shows that preparing young people for work and for college in today’s high-level economy demands exactly the same preparation.  The same skills, the same courses, taught with the same rigor. 

The Benefits of the Rigorous College/Work Preparatory Sequence in California

Too many assume that a rigorous college and work prep curriculum for all means that more students need to be forced into courses using instructional methods that have failed to reach many kids.  It doesn’t.  Some think it means everyone will be channeled into a four year university path.  It doesn’t.  The truth is all students will do better, fail less, learn more and have postsecondary choices with a rigorous curriculum that prepares students for both work and college. 

Many say our students can't complete a highly rigorous curriculum.  But concerns that all students – especially low-performing ones – cannot cut it in a rigorous course sequence like are misplaced.  Research is clear that, regardless of their skill levels at entry into high school, students' skills grow more when they are placed in more rigorous courses.  Even students who start out far behind the pack are at least as likely to pass the more difficult college-preparatory classes as they are the mind-numbing courses into which they are typically placed.  

Indeed, a high-rigor curriculum can close achievement gaps.  The few districts in California that have blazed trails by enrolling all students in a rigorous course sequence such as A-G in high-school have illustrated this fact, to a staggering degree.  They have also shown that students rise to the challenge and meet the heightened requirements just as they did under the minimum state mandated graduation requirements.  They don’t drop out because they are held to higher standards!

The benefits of a high-rigor sequence  accrue beyond high school.  Research shows that the quality and intensity of high school curriculum is the single best predictor of college success.  This is especially true for African American college students nationwide: 75% of African American college freshmen who received a strong high school curriculum go on to graduate, compared to a 45% graduation rate for African Americans overall. The differences are almost as large for Latinos.  

                                                                                                                                                                       

Reports on A-G from the Education Trust-West

·        "Students Speak Out: Why the A-G Curriculum is Important to Students"

·        "Preparing LAUSD High School Students for the 21st Century Economy: We Have the Way, But Do We Have the Will?"

·         "Understanding and Implementing the A-G Rigorous Curriculum in Oakland High Schools"

·        "Understanding and Implementing the A-G Rigorous Curriculum in Los Angeles High Schools "

·        "In Their Own Words: Why Students and Parents Want and Need Rigorous Coursework in California High Schools"

·        "The A-G Curriculum, College-Prep? Work-Prep? Life-Prep."

Ready for Work Really Does Mean Ready for College

With high rigor, all students will be prepared for the workplace.  A few examples drawn from the website of National Association of Manufacturers and Automotive Technicians Educational Foundation illustrate what labor economists Anthony Carnevale and Donna Desrochers have called the “upskilling” of jobs: 

Requirements for Construction Workers:

·         Four or five years of apprenticeship;

·         Algebra, plane geometry;

·         Critical thinking skills, problem solving;

·         Reading and writing skills

Requirements for Plumbers:

·         Apprenticeship and/or postsecondary training;

·         High Level Mathematics;

·         Physics

Requirements for Sheet Metal Workers:

·         Four or five years of apprenticeship;

·         Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and technical reading

Requirements for Auto Technicians:

·         A solid grounding in physics is necessary to understand force, hydraulics, friction and electrical circuits. 

Requirements for Tool and Die Makers:

·         Four or five years of apprenticeship and/or postsecondary training;

·         Algebra, geometry, trigonometry and statistics;

·         Average earnings:  $40,000 per year.

Taking rigorous academic coursework leaves students with enough time to pursue vocational electives, or even an extended Regional Occupational Program.  If a student enters high-school at grade level, that student can easily and simultaneously graduate ready for college and a specific vocational path.  Even for underperforming students, with the right supports, completing a rigorous coursework sequence is doable.  

In California, Most of Our Students Never Successfully Complete A College and Work Prep Curriculum

Not only are too few students taking a rigorous curriculum such as A_G, the rates for African American and Latino students are particularly low.  Only 40% of white and 58% of our Asian high school graduates complete A-G.  African American and Latino high school graduates far fare worse, with only 25% of 22% of them, respectively, successfully complete the curriculum.

Even this data overstates the readiness of our students, because it focuses on high-school graduates and therefore doesn’t account for the many students who drop out each year.

A-G and Career-Technical Course Sequence Requirements

Subject Area	Recommended Career-Technical Education	UC/CSU “a-g” Subject Area Requirements
History / Social Science	3 years Including US history & geography, world history/culture/geography, American gov’t/economics	2 years 1 yr world history/cultures/ geography, plus 1 yr US history/gov’t
English	4 years	4 years College preparatory English
Mathematics	2-3 years At least algebra & geometry; intermediate algebra for many paths	3 years Elementary algebra, geometry, intermediate algebra
Laboratory Science	2-4 years Specific courses depend on CTE area of focus	2 years From biology, chemistry and physics
Foreign Language	2 years	2 years Same language
Visual / Performing Arts	1 year	1 year
Elective	Various Depends on CTE focus area	1 year
Phys. Ed.	2 years	0 years
TOTAL	16-19 courses (units), plus electives	15 courses (units)

A-G and Career Tech Class Scheduling

Here is a sample schedule that shows how students can fulfill the 15 A-G course sequence as well as have time for other courses.  Courses listed in blue fulfill the A-G requirements; electives listed in green demonstrate the space available for a career and technical or other elective sequence.