Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Increasing Student Success in Rigorous Courses 163
Overstating the importance of the achievement gap is not easy. The difference in
educational achievement between White students, on the one hand, and African and
Hispanic students, on the other, is large and persistent. In the last decade, it’s gotten
worse. (p. 1)
The differences in enrollment in courses in high school that would prepare the students for
college success are significant among the various income levels of students’ families. Only 28
% of low income students are enrolled in a college-preparatory program in high school
compared to 48% of middle income students and 65% of high income students (Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, 2003). Equity audits by educational leaders for a particular
campus can help to illuminate the data supporting needs of the local campus to overcome the
achievement gap. The findings of the equity audit can be used to assist in communicating the
need for change (Scheurich & Skrla, 2003). As stated in a report of the Pathways to College
Network (2004), “In a nation where equal opportunity for all is a bedrock democratic value,
getting a college degree still depends far too much on one’s economic circumstances or ethnic
heritage” (p. 5).
Conyers and Ewy (2004) emphasized, “The challenge of teaching all students and
closing the gap in student achievement will not go away” (p. 2). Leadership is needed to meet
this challenge. In Texas, an initiative of the Texas Education Higher Education Coordinating
Board titled Closing the Gaps was designed to increase the number of students who are
prepared for postsecondary education. As part of this initiative, P-16 councils of university,
community college, and district partners have been formed as part of a state-wide emphasis on
developing a college going culture (Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2010).
Expanding Advanced Placement programs and expanding dual credit programs have been
advocated as ways to increase the rigor of secondary schools and better prepare students for
postsecondary education (National Governors Association, 2003). As stated in the executive
summary of the ACT Report (2005) titled Courses Count: Preparing Students for
Postsecondary Success:
Rigorous college preparatory course sequences—particularly in English, mathematics,
and science—are critical to preparing students for postsecondary education and work.
Yet, large numbers of students still do not participate in the most beneficial courses,
and there is little evidence that the high school curriculum is rigorous enough to
ensure that most students are adequately prepared for postsecondary success. (p. v)
For example, in 2003, the National Center for Education Statistics supported that 28% of
entering freshmen in postsecondary education enroll in one or more developmental courses.
On a national and state level, the issue of preparing more students for success in
postsecondary education has been a focus of the last decade. In 2005, a National Education
Summit on High Schools was held to explore needed reforms for high schools in response to
the issue of preparing more students for success in postsecondary education (American
Diploma Project Network, 2005). In a report of the American Youth Policy Forum and
Pathways to College Network titled The Link between High School Reform and College
Access and Success for Low-Income and Minority Youth, Martinez and Kiopott (2005)
reported:
Although greater numbers of students are enrolling in college today than they were 20
years ago, the rates of college enrollment for African American and Latino students