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Raising the graduation bar for the schools: expectations vs outcomes
1School of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309-0249, USA.
Psychological Reports
|January 11, 2002
Summary
This study evaluated educational reforms from the 1970s, including minimum competency testing and increased graduation requirements. The reforms did not meet expectations for improving student achievement or reducing failure rates.
Area of Science:
- Education Policy
- Educational Measurement
- Curriculum Development
Background:
- Educational reform is a persistent focus for stakeholders including parents, educators, and policymakers.
- Recent decades have seen significant reform efforts aimed at enhancing student performance through standardized testing and revised graduation criteria.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine a specific educational reform movement initiated in the late 1970s.
- To assess the impact of minimum competency testing standards and increased course requirements on public high school graduation.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of an educational reform model implemented in public high schools.
- Evaluation of student outcomes related to achievement and failure rates under the new standards.
Main Results:
- The implemented reform, featuring minimum competency tests and stricter graduation requirements, did not yield the anticipated improvements in student performance.
- Student achievement levels did not meet the expectations set by the reform, and failure rates were not significantly reduced.
Conclusions:
- The educational reform model studied, despite its objectives, failed to achieve its intended outcomes.
- The findings suggest a need to re-evaluate the effectiveness of standardized testing and increased course demands as primary drivers of educational improvement.
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