Mis/Alignment Between High School and Community College Standards

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-7-2020

Publication Title

Educational Researcher

First page number:

1

Last page number:

4

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which “college-ready” students, by high school standards, are assigned to remedial courses in college. We used a unique longitudinal data set that links high school and community college transcript data. Focusing on math, we developed a naming device—inter-sector math misalignment (ISMM)—to measure mis/alignment between high school and college-level math standards. The results confirm that ISMM was prevalent and substantial with respect to high school grades, moderate to substantial based on different measures of math course-taking, and minor to moderate based on standardized test results. We see each of these cases as problematic—for equity, for efficiency, and for educational opportunity.

Keywords

Community colleges; Descriptive analysis; High schools; Mathematics education; Policy

Disciplines

Higher Education | Secondary Education

Language

English

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