Rigorous Curriculum 

Research has shown that a rigorous curriculum is the best preparation for postsecondary success for all students, and it is consistently rated the most important factor in admission decisions by NACAC members. Low income and minority students are less likely to complete a rigorous curriculum than their affluent and non-minority peers, leaving many under-prepared for both college and the workforce. NACAC has collected these resources for counseling and admission professionals interested in the benefits and availability of rigorous curricula.

Key Resource: NACAC's Rigorous Curriculum policy brief 

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NACAC Resources

• NACAC’s Rigorous Curriculum policy brief summarizes relevant research and provides federal policy recommendations.
• NACAC’s briefing room on the Common Core State Standards initiative provides information and podcasts on the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers’ effort to identify core curricular standards necessary for college and career readiness, and to encourage their adoption nationwide.
• In 2007, NACAC summarized the America COMPETES (Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science) Act, which funds grant programs to improve instruction in science and math. The Act was reauthorized in 2010 with some changes but the same primary purpose.

Federal Resources

• Two influential reports prepared by Clifford Adelman for the Department of Education, Answers in the Tool Box and The Toolbox Revisited, found  that “the academic intensity of the student’s high school curriculum…counts more than anything else in precollegiate history in providing momentum toward completing a bachelor’s degree.”
• In 2011, U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah reintroduced the Student Bill of Rights (HR 1295 in the 112th Congress) which would require states to provide all public schools with "ideal or adequate" levels of access to college preparatory curricula and provide comprable educational services to Title I and Non-Title I local educational agencies.
• The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) published the results of the 2009 NAEP High School Transcript Study in their report on America's High School Graduates. The data show an increase in the number of students taking a rigorous curriculum between 1990 and 2009, but widening racial gaps in both course difficulty and standardized test performance.
• NCES also collects nationwide data on the Availability of Advanced Courses in High Schools (last updated in 2005).

Other Resources

• According to a survey by Achieve, Inc. (the results of which are reported in Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?), recent high school graduates, college instructors and employers, all believe there is a need for more rigorous courses and higher expectations at the secondary level.
• Achieve, Inc. evaluated all fifty states and the District of Columbia on “the alignment of high school policies with the demands of colleges and careers” in their 2011 report, Closing the Expectations Gap.
• ACT’s 2010 report, Mind the Gaps: How College Readiness Narrows Achievement Gaps in College Success, examines which academic achievements in high school predict college success, particularly among underrepresented minorities.
• The AP Report to the Nation tracks changes in the number and type of public school students who take and pass Advanced Placement exams.
• Issue 12.2 of The Progress of Education Reform, produced by the Education Commission of the States, describes inequities produced by the current formula used to distribute Title I funds to states under ESEA.
• In 2011, the Center for American Progress published a report titled Measuring Inequity in School Funding, which describes various methods for measuring school funding equity and compares states on those measures.
• The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights periodically conducts and publishes the results of the Civil Rights Data Collection. A variety of information is provided regarding individual schools and school districts, including data on the availability of and participation in Advanced Placement and advanced math and science courses, the number of first- and second-year teachers, and the percentage of students with identified with limited English proficiency and disabilities.

Alliance for Excellent Education State Cards

Measuring Up National Report Card on Higher Education

Quality Counts State Report Cards