The Illinois Board of Higher Education voted Tuesday to develop legislation that would require all high school students to complete a college preparatory curriculum, a move that could require a major overhaul in some schools’ course offerings.
Fewer than half of students now take the full college prep requirement–defined as four years of English and three years each of science, math and social studies–the board estimates.
The initiative is the most far-reaching of steps the board has been taking to increase the number of Illinois students who go on to college, especially among minority groups. Other moves include targeted financial aid and urging public universities to use flexible admissions policies to promote diversity.
Staff research indicated that once the financial hurdles were addressed, “the biggest barrier was high school education,” said Douglass Day, the board’s deputy director for policy studies.
Officials with the Illinois State Board of Education, which oversees high schools, offered cautious support.
“We agree with the Board of Higher Education’s goal of ensuring that every student is adequately prepared for higher education or the workplace,” said spokesman Lee Milner. “And we encourage every student to take core courses to enable them to meet the Illinois learning standards. But we would need to see the specifics of a bill before we take a formal position on it.”
The Higher Education Board intends to come up with a bill by next spring after consulting with the Board of Education, major public school districts, business organizations and other interest groups, Day said.
The proposed core curriculum is much tougher than the current requirements.
Under state law, every high school student must pass at least three years of English; two years of math, one of which can be a computer technology course; one year of science; two years of social studies; and one elective, such as music or art.
But those are only minimum requirements. Many high schools, especially those in the Chicago suburbs, require more.
The State Board of Education does not track how many Illinois high school students are enrolled in college core curricula. But the higher education agency said that among students in the state who took the ACT college-entrance test last year, only 52 percent were taking the college core courses.
The ACT data show that only about 40 percent of Illinois’ black students who took the college entrance test were taking the prep courses, compared with about 56 percent of white students.
Those numbers have been especially troubling for state education officials who decided last year to require every Illinois junior to take the ACT as part of a battery of tests. Students who enroll in a college prep program post significantly higher scores on standardized tests than those who don’t.
Day acknowledged that the proposed change could lead to cutbacks in vocational education as teachers and students switch to other courses. “It has implications for vocational education,” he said.
In addition, some districts may not have enough science and math teachers to offer the required courses to everyone. The higher education agency has discussed the possibility of using on-line teaching to remedy that problem.
