Pilot Aims to Ready High Schoolers for Community College in 2 Years

By passing a series of tests, students can move on or stay put

Twenty-one high schools in four states are working this fall to restructure their academic programs into “lower division” and “upper division” courses that are aimed at readying all students for community college by the end of their sophomore year.

Students who pass a series of exams, at that point, could leave high school and enroll—without remedial courses—in a two-year college, or stay in high school to take additional technical coursework, or pursue studies that prepare them for a university.

The approach, modeled after “board-examination systems” in use in such countries as England, is part of a pilot program announced last week by the National Center on Education and the Economy, a Washington-based advocacy group.

Schools in Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Mississippi have agreed to choose from specified packages of curricula and exams. For the lower division, in a student’s first two years, schools may use the ACT’s QualityCore program or the University of Cambridge’s International general-level program. For the upper division, schools may choose junior- and senior-level courses from ACT QualityCore, the Cambridge International A and AS level programs, the International Baccalaureate program, or the College Board’s Advanced Placement International Diploma Program. The programs include English/language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts.

Marc S. Tucker, the NCEE’s president, said the idea is to ensure that every student acquires, at a minimum, the skills needed to succeed in community college, opening the possibility of proceeding smoothly into a variety of pathways offering good wages or more training.

He acknowledged that some view such a system, with its midway-point decisions, as tracking students with lesser skills into less-ambitious pathways. But he contended it’s the opposite.

“Tracking happens when educators provide kids with different curriculums with different challenge levels based on assumptions about their capacity,” he said. “This denies them opportunities. We are finding out what it takes to be successful in community college and making sure every child can reach that standard before they leave high school, so they can choose from all available options. That doesn’t close down opportunities; it expands them.”

Students can pass lower-division exams when they are ready, Mr. Tucker added. Those who don’t pass the first time will be given additional support to retake them. Likewise, schools will provide ...

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