NewsUpper SchoolAcademics
Rigorous Academics in Pre-College Years the Key to College Success
Aug 1, 1999 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
According to a new, seminal study by the U.S. Department of Education, the rigorousness of one’s high school curriculum is a more important indicator of college success than standardized test scores, class rank, and grade point average. What the study says about curriculum has implications for Darlington parents and students at every grade level.
The study, authored by Clifford Adelman, a senior research analyst at the Education Department, says that no matter what a student’s socio-economic status or race may be, taking a pre-college curriculum marked by high academic intensity and quality results in a higher likelihood of earning a bachelor’s degree than achieving high test scores or a high class rank and grade point average.
Taking a rigorous course load does not necessarily mean taking all honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses; it does mean doing one’s best work in the most challenging courses one is capable of taking. Adelman emphasized that every student can take a full load in English, mathematics, science, history, and foreign language: “Unlike the case of test scores or class rank/academic GPA, everybody can reach the top rung of the ladder.”
Upper School: Taking Rigorous Classes an Imperative
For Darlington Upper School students, a curriculum of high academic intensity and quality is equivalent to taking as rigorous a course load as one can handle—every year of high school. Students should not take it easy in the junior and senior years, after required courses in language, science, and history have been completed and options open up for elective courses. For those who are capable, taking advantage of Darlington’s 15 AP and 18 honors courses is imperative.
“Students can handle a difficult curriculum, as long as parents are supportive,” Headmaster David Rhodes said. “When students waver, they need someone to say, ‘Don’t give up. You can do the work.’
“If athletes lift only five pounds of weight each time they work out, they won’t get stronger. The same principle holds true for academics. If students don’t push themselves academically, they won’t develop intellectually.”
“All students can make choices on what they take; all should take as rigorous a load as they can handle,” Dean of Studies and College Guidance Sam Moss ’63 said. “A student who may not be able to handle an AP course can certainly opt to take a third or fourth year of language or a fourth math course or a challenging history course like Government-Economics.”
“We encourage students to take three or more years of a language, although only two are required,” Academic Dean Sally Rudert ’66T said. “In science, we require students to take three years, but we encourage them to take four.
“We especially encourage all seniors to take upper levels of math. In fact, starting next year, all students must take four years of math in high school,” Rudert said.
Taking higher level courses in mathematics is especially critical towards college success, Adelman’s report found: “Finishing a course beyond the level of Algebra 2 (for example, trigonometry or pre-calculus) more than doubles the odds that a student who enters postsecondary education will complete a bachelor’s degree.”
Rudert stresses the role a student’s academic adviser plays: “The adviser with the input of his or her student’s teachers, can help determine how much students can handle.”
Once a student’s schedule is set, it is his or her attitude that matters. “Courses where you are active, mentally engaged, thinking, reading, writing—that’s what you have to be doing to be successful in academics,” Craig Schmidt, history department chairman, said.
“Students can’t just be sitting in the back of the classroom approaching classes passively, like a TV show. Whether you’re in honors or regular courses, the top 10 percent or the bottom third, if you want to do well in school and college, you’ve got to be actively involved in what goes on in that class.
“Ultimately,” Schmidt added, “students need to be proud of intellectual achievement.”
Middle School: Developing Study Skills and a Love of Learning
Middle School is a time when students learn how to learn, experiment with new courses and activities, develop good study skills and work habits, learn their strengths, and expand their horizons, Middle School Assistant Principal Sally MacLeod said. The last point in school where transcripts are not used toward college admission, Middle School is a time when parents must be willing to let their children “get into difficulties and get experience solving their problems,” MacLeod said.
“Set parameters for your children. Ensure they are in school every day, are on time, are prepared every day, take the most challenging curriculum they can handle. Help them establish a time and place to study. Be interested in what they’re doing. Read the books their kids are reading. Support them, help them become more and more self-directed. Help them take responsibility for their own actions.
“The better students,” MacLeod explained, “are the ones whose parents allow them to make a 50 on that quiz or test and then sit down with them and help them discover what they can do differently next time. Support kids, don’t do it for them. Value what they’re doing.”
Lower School: Establishing a Balanced Framework
The Lower School sets the stage for the whole Darlington experience. There are more demands on children’s time than ever before, Lower School Principal Mark Tayloe said.
“During the elementary school years, parents need to decide what is most important for their children’s well-being and find the right balance among schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and family time,” Tayloe said. “Parents should push their children academically to do their very best, rather than assist them in cutting corners so that they can do everything outside of school they want to do.
“Next to instilling strong moral values in our children, assisting them in pursuing academic excellence is the highest priority.”
College Admissions: Quality High School Curriculum Essential
Adelman’s study has particular relevance for college admissions: “College admissions formulas that emphasize test scores and (especially) high school grade point average or class rank are likely to result in lower degree completion rates,” Adelman reported.
Highly selective colleges, which examine much more closely their applicants’ curricular backgrounds, have a much higher rate of retaining and graduating their students than larger schools which are more likely to choose students primarily on the basis of test scores and grade point average. More than 90 percent of those who attend highly selective colleges graduate by age 30, while only 63 percent of all students attending four-year colleges finish their bachelor’s degree by age 30.
“If a highly selective college sees high grades without a competitive curriculum, it means little to them,” Moss says. “Competitive colleges assume qualified applicants will have a strong curriculum.”
The extent to which highly selective colleges evaluate the quality and rigor of one’s high school curriculum can be seen in admission materials produced by Emory University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Emory University’s Admission Committee “gives special attention to the individual’s academic record, especially weighing the difficulty of the curriculum,” according to Emory’s application for admission.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill warns prospective applicants that the average curriculum of upcoming freshmen at the University will include three to four AP courses, as well as such courses as calculus and a fourth or fifth year of a foreign language.
But highly selective colleges are not the only ones judging applicants on the basis of their courses: “More and more colleges are putting emphasis on course selection because of grade inflation, because of the recentered SAT, and because some schools are calling every student who makes a 4.0 valedictorian,” Moss said.
“Most college admission people will tell you that it’s the course load that matters most, on the assumption that a student who pushes and challenges himself to the max will continue to do so in college and will be successful there,” added Moss.
That college admission in America is more competitive than ever before makes it all the more important that parents and students plan to take a rigorous curriculum in high school. The class of 1999’s college application season “was the most competitive in the nation’s history,” the New York Times reported June 12. And the number of children in kindergarten through twelfth grade, already at a record high, will grow through 2008, the Times said.
The study, authored by Clifford Adelman, a senior research analyst at the Education Department, says that no matter what a student’s socio-economic status or race may be, taking a pre-college curriculum marked by high academic intensity and quality results in a higher likelihood of earning a bachelor’s degree than achieving high test scores or a high class rank and grade point average.
Taking a rigorous course load does not necessarily mean taking all honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses; it does mean doing one’s best work in the most challenging courses one is capable of taking. Adelman emphasized that every student can take a full load in English, mathematics, science, history, and foreign language: “Unlike the case of test scores or class rank/academic GPA, everybody can reach the top rung of the ladder.”
Upper School: Taking Rigorous Classes an Imperative
For Darlington Upper School students, a curriculum of high academic intensity and quality is equivalent to taking as rigorous a course load as one can handle—every year of high school. Students should not take it easy in the junior and senior years, after required courses in language, science, and history have been completed and options open up for elective courses. For those who are capable, taking advantage of Darlington’s 15 AP and 18 honors courses is imperative.
“Students can handle a difficult curriculum, as long as parents are supportive,” Headmaster David Rhodes said. “When students waver, they need someone to say, ‘Don’t give up. You can do the work.’
“If athletes lift only five pounds of weight each time they work out, they won’t get stronger. The same principle holds true for academics. If students don’t push themselves academically, they won’t develop intellectually.”
“All students can make choices on what they take; all should take as rigorous a load as they can handle,” Dean of Studies and College Guidance Sam Moss ’63 said. “A student who may not be able to handle an AP course can certainly opt to take a third or fourth year of language or a fourth math course or a challenging history course like Government-Economics.”
“We encourage students to take three or more years of a language, although only two are required,” Academic Dean Sally Rudert ’66T said. “In science, we require students to take three years, but we encourage them to take four.
“We especially encourage all seniors to take upper levels of math. In fact, starting next year, all students must take four years of math in high school,” Rudert said.
Taking higher level courses in mathematics is especially critical towards college success, Adelman’s report found: “Finishing a course beyond the level of Algebra 2 (for example, trigonometry or pre-calculus) more than doubles the odds that a student who enters postsecondary education will complete a bachelor’s degree.”
Rudert stresses the role a student’s academic adviser plays: “The adviser with the input of his or her student’s teachers, can help determine how much students can handle.”
Once a student’s schedule is set, it is his or her attitude that matters. “Courses where you are active, mentally engaged, thinking, reading, writing—that’s what you have to be doing to be successful in academics,” Craig Schmidt, history department chairman, said.
“Students can’t just be sitting in the back of the classroom approaching classes passively, like a TV show. Whether you’re in honors or regular courses, the top 10 percent or the bottom third, if you want to do well in school and college, you’ve got to be actively involved in what goes on in that class.
“Ultimately,” Schmidt added, “students need to be proud of intellectual achievement.”
Middle School: Developing Study Skills and a Love of Learning
Middle School is a time when students learn how to learn, experiment with new courses and activities, develop good study skills and work habits, learn their strengths, and expand their horizons, Middle School Assistant Principal Sally MacLeod said. The last point in school where transcripts are not used toward college admission, Middle School is a time when parents must be willing to let their children “get into difficulties and get experience solving their problems,” MacLeod said.
“Set parameters for your children. Ensure they are in school every day, are on time, are prepared every day, take the most challenging curriculum they can handle. Help them establish a time and place to study. Be interested in what they’re doing. Read the books their kids are reading. Support them, help them become more and more self-directed. Help them take responsibility for their own actions.
“The better students,” MacLeod explained, “are the ones whose parents allow them to make a 50 on that quiz or test and then sit down with them and help them discover what they can do differently next time. Support kids, don’t do it for them. Value what they’re doing.”
Lower School: Establishing a Balanced Framework
The Lower School sets the stage for the whole Darlington experience. There are more demands on children’s time than ever before, Lower School Principal Mark Tayloe said.
“During the elementary school years, parents need to decide what is most important for their children’s well-being and find the right balance among schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and family time,” Tayloe said. “Parents should push their children academically to do their very best, rather than assist them in cutting corners so that they can do everything outside of school they want to do.
“Next to instilling strong moral values in our children, assisting them in pursuing academic excellence is the highest priority.”
College Admissions: Quality High School Curriculum Essential
Adelman’s study has particular relevance for college admissions: “College admissions formulas that emphasize test scores and (especially) high school grade point average or class rank are likely to result in lower degree completion rates,” Adelman reported.
Highly selective colleges, which examine much more closely their applicants’ curricular backgrounds, have a much higher rate of retaining and graduating their students than larger schools which are more likely to choose students primarily on the basis of test scores and grade point average. More than 90 percent of those who attend highly selective colleges graduate by age 30, while only 63 percent of all students attending four-year colleges finish their bachelor’s degree by age 30.
“If a highly selective college sees high grades without a competitive curriculum, it means little to them,” Moss says. “Competitive colleges assume qualified applicants will have a strong curriculum.”
The extent to which highly selective colleges evaluate the quality and rigor of one’s high school curriculum can be seen in admission materials produced by Emory University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Emory University’s Admission Committee “gives special attention to the individual’s academic record, especially weighing the difficulty of the curriculum,” according to Emory’s application for admission.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill warns prospective applicants that the average curriculum of upcoming freshmen at the University will include three to four AP courses, as well as such courses as calculus and a fourth or fifth year of a foreign language.
But highly selective colleges are not the only ones judging applicants on the basis of their courses: “More and more colleges are putting emphasis on course selection because of grade inflation, because of the recentered SAT, and because some schools are calling every student who makes a 4.0 valedictorian,” Moss said.
“Most college admission people will tell you that it’s the course load that matters most, on the assumption that a student who pushes and challenges himself to the max will continue to do so in college and will be successful there,” added Moss.
That college admission in America is more competitive than ever before makes it all the more important that parents and students plan to take a rigorous curriculum in high school. The class of 1999’s college application season “was the most competitive in the nation’s history,” the New York Times reported June 12. And the number of children in kindergarten through twelfth grade, already at a record high, will grow through 2008, the Times said.
