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?

HOW DO QUALIFICATIONS MATTER?

GPA matters more than test scores and coursework for four-year

college graduation

Gra

duat

ion

rate

College graduation rates by unweighted high school GPA for popular Illinois colleges

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

Highly qualified students are more likely to be accepted.

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.

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