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EQUIP (Ensuring Quality and Unleashing Improved Performance) – # 1

Answers in the Tool box

A recent study, Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor’s Degree Attainment, conducted by Clifford Adelman for the U. S. Department of Education examined factors that contribute to bachelor’s degree completion. The study concluded that academic intensity and the quality of one’s high school curriculum counts most in preparation for bachelor’s degree completion.

Some key findings are:

• the correlation of high school curriculum with bachelor's degree attainment is higher than correlation with test scores or class rank/GPA
• the impact of a high school curriculum of high academic intensity and quality on degree completion is more pronounced for African American and Latino student than any other pre-college indicator of academic success; the impact for African American and Latino students is greater than it is for white students
• the highest level of mathematics a student studies in high school has the strongest influence of all pre-college curricula on bachelor's degree completion
• finishing a course beyond the level of Algebra 2 more than doubles the odds that a student who enters postsecondary education will complete a bachelor's degree
• advanced placement course taking is more strongly correlated with bachelor's degree attainment than it is with college access

Answers in the Tool Box: Academic Intensity, Attendance Patterns, and Bachelor's Degree Attainment
Clifford Adelman, June 1999
Complete report available at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/Toolbox/toolbox.html

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