Clifford Adelman Considers Role of Curriculum in
Postsecondary Degree Completion
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| Clifford Adelman, a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy, addressed forum attendees Thursday afternoon. |
Clifford Adelman, a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy and a longtime veteran of the U.S. Department of Education, spoke on the final day of the 2009 Middle States Regional Forum. Addressing the forum attendees at Thursday’s luncheon, Adelman discussed his 2006 study “Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College,” which was a follow-up to his 1999 DOE study, “Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment.” The latter work considered factors that contribute most to long-term bachelor’s degree completion by students who attend
four-year colleges.
The 2006 study looked at students who were 12th-graders in 1992 and who subsequently attended a four-year college at any time through December 2000, to determine what contributes to earning a bachelor’s degree by age 26. Adelman found that only 68 percent of all who were in the eighth grade in 1988 both graduated from high school on time and attended a four-year college at some point. By December 2000, 35 percent had earned either a bachelor’s or associate degree.
Of all 12th-graders in 1992, 40 percent earned a bachelor’s or associate degree by December 2000; 4 percent earned a certificate; 6 percent were still enrolled, but without a degree; 31 percent had enrolled at some time, but did not earn a
degree and were no longer enrolled; and 18 percent never enrolled in a postsecondary institution.
Some of the basic postsecondary markers show that of those who earned a bachelor’s degree, 15 percent were community college transfers and another 20 percent earned the degree from a different four-year college than the one in which they started. Other markers show that 64 percent attended more than one school and 25 percent attended more than two; 13 percent of those based in four-year colleges attended community college in summer terms; and another 14 percent moved back and forth between community colleges and four-year institutions.
Other interesting findings for the group studied indicate that academic momentum is critical and curriculum intensity counts — both in high school and in college — perhaps more than grades and test scores. The curriculum intensity index is a package: You can’t separate one element out as more important than the others. But if you had to do that, it would be a combination of highest level of math and number of Carnegie units in core lab science. At the highest level of academic intensity (out of 31 levels), on average, high school graduates completed:
- 4.3 units of English;
- 4.3 units of math (and 94 percent at precalculus or calculus);
- 3.6 units of core laboratory science;
- 3.8 units of foreign languages;
- 3.8 units of history and social studies; and
- 3 Advanced Placement® courses
Ninety-five percent of those who completed this level of curriculum earned a
bachelor’s degree.
The take-away message was that theoretically, everybody can be successful; that’s what academic momentum is all about. But if students aren’t reading at or near grade level when they enter high school, the chances of getting there are low.
And of the on-time high school graduates in this group, 37 percent were reading below the level of simple inference in the 12th grade.
A new longitudinal study that looks at the high school class of 2004 is still in progress, and the “Tool Box” created from the new study will be available in 2014.
