By Thomas O’Brien, Vice President of Success and Engagement, Winward Academy, and TJ Vari, Senior Director of Product Strategy, MaiaLearning
Reading time: Eight minutes
Equipping students with the right information as they make high school course-taking decisions is critical. There’s a balance between taking too many difficult courses and not performing well and taking too few advanced courses and potentially signaling
a lack of drive through the academic plan.
Advanced coursework takes many forms. Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment are three of the best known, but others include honors and pre-AP courses. All of these have important benefits for developing a quality
transcript.
Schools and districts offer advanced coursework because they know that having these courses on students’ transcripts makes a difference for college acceptance, especially at selective or highly selective programs. Advanced coursework sends a clear message
to colleges and universities about students’ postsecondary intentions, and passing the corresponding exam helps communicate academic readiness.
Schools and districts should be intentional about supporting students with their postsecondary goals and advising them on their course selection, ideally throughout high school. We’ve identified four indicators of successful postsecondary planning that high schools can use to set themselves apart and give students an advantage as they apply to college and prepare for next steps after high school. All of the examples herein are real and from the field.
Start Course Planning With the End in Mind
Students’ access to postsecondary options starts with their academic choices in high school. Schools must advise students with careful consideration about what will open doors to opportunities and what will prevent them from reaching their goals. For
example, for a student who wants to go to a selective college or university in a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related or business major, not having an advanced level mathematics course on their transcript will be a likely gatekeeper
to their acceptance.
This means students need a quality advising program and to sequence their courses early in high school to ensure that they can end up with the right courses that align with their plans by the time they graduate. With the example above, if a student opts
into a lower-level math class in 9th grade, that single decision could very well close the door to the necessary advanced-level mathematics course that gets them closer to their future goals.
Colleges and universities often compare students’ transcripts against the possible offerings at their high school. In other words, admission isn’t simply based on the number of AP courses that a particular student takes but instead on whether they chose
to take an AP course offered at their school. This means that a student from a high school with only a few AP offerings who takes most or all of those courses can be better off than a student with that same number of AP courses on their transcript
from a school where dozens of AP courses were available.
Schools and districts that provide students with a clear understanding of postsecondary access provide a real advantage. Because admission to college is not as simple as having the highest GPA or taking as many rigorous courses as possible, it’s important
to be strategic with the right courses and the right number of advanced courses to both stand out and be successful along the way.
Real-World Example: A high-achieving student with strong test scores applied to his dream engineering program at a highly selective institution. He had taken a heavy courseload in STEM courses, including AP calculus, and was a valued member of
his school community. Despite these qualifications, he was rejected from the program. His college counselor was so perplexed by this decision that they contacted the college for an explanation. The reason given was that he had taken AP Physics 1 (the
algebra-based version of AP Physics) instead of AP Physics C, which was also offered at his school. This highlights that colleges pay close attention not only to the courses students take but also to those they choose not to take when making admissions
decisions.
Strategy: A school-based advanced coursework tracking tool can play a critical role in supporting advising and course sequencing, helping to ensure that students are taking the right courses to achieve their postsecondary goals. By incorporating
metrics like GPA, pre-requisite class grades, AP course history, and other indicators, the tool can provide leaders with a clear vision for who is enrolling in which type of course. The tool can also identify students who have the potential to add
more advanced coursework to their schedule. School leaders have visions and goals for enrollment targets, e.g., all 10th grade students will take an AP class, but they also have more nuanced goals such as identifying the students who are most likely
to succeed in an advanced course like AP Calculus BC or Physics C. This data-driven approach can help to identify students who are ready for advanced coursework and ensure schools are on track to expand offerings to all qualified students.
The use of such a tool can have a profound impact on student outcomes, particularly in terms of advanced coursework participation. By centralizing the process of managing student enrollment in advanced courses and basing it on data, the tool can help
to eliminate dated practices such as teacher-vetted enrollment, which can lead to bias and uneven access to opportunities. This can result in more inclusive and equitable enrollment policies, where students are given equal access to advanced coursework
regardless of their background or circumstances. By using data to inform enrollment decisions, schools can create a more level playing field and give all students the opportunity to succeed in advanced coursework.
Reevaluate Potential Gatekeepers to Advanced Coursework
Schools and districts with a strong commitment to postsecondary success for students adopt evidence-based policies and practices, like offering rigorous coursework and providing targeted advising, that measurably improve college and career readiness.
They also regularly review policies and practices that may hinder a student from achieving success. For example, high schools with policies that prevent underclassmen from taking advanced courses are diminishing their students’ ability to fully demonstrate
their academic prowess.
Such policies and practices are often also gatekeepers and preventative measures for students with disabilities and other marginalized groups from accessing more advanced coursework. By monitoring and measuring outcomes in advanced coursework, committed
educators can confront and alter institutional biases that prevent students from reaching levels of achievement that are consistent with districts’ college and career readiness priorities. By using tracking tools, as discussed above, schools can ensure
that they’re challenging students without putting them in courses that they can’t handle.
Real-World Example: One example of a practice that we’ve seen used in a school is “looping.” In this scenario, a teacher “looped” with students from a general education freshman course to a honors-level sophomore course to an AP course in the junior
year. The teacher would champion students by encouraging them to take his course at the next level up, and due to the relationship, the students agreed even when they would not have done so without the familiarity of their instructor and the “safety”
in doing so. The practice resulted in more typically marginalized students taking AP courses in their junior and senior years than prior
to implementing the looping schedule. One caveat we observe from our experience: the teacher has to be highly effective and influential.
Strategy: School leaders can combat the impact of poorly-developed policies with new practices that tip the scale in the direction of more students taking advanced coursework. For example, it’s possible to set a benchmark in a prerequisite class
that automatically places any student above it in the more advanced next course. Any student who earns an A or B in chemistry is automatically scheduled into AP chemistry the next year as their science course. There can be a pathway for students to
opt-out, but if they start off being placed in the more challenging version, it sends a clear statement to the student that they belong in that course. Plus, studies support the fact
that students are less likely to opt-out versus choosing a path to opt-in. It also ensures that all capable students know that they have the option.
That’s it for part one. Look out for the second part of our two-part series where we’ll discuss two additional strategies, “Linking K-12 with Higher Education for Access to College Credits” and “Strategically Following the Data on Students’ Success.”
Thanks for reading!
About the Authors
Thomas O’Brien is the Vice President of Success and Engagement at Winward Academy where he supports hundreds of schools, districts, and after school programs across the country in reaching their college
and career readiness goals. Winward Academy® is one of the world’s leading innovators in the online education space, providing web-based academic support that enhances students’ knowledge, confidence, and competitiveness in middle and high school
academics and in college applications. Winward Academy provides personalized, comprehensive ACT and SAT test preparation and extensive math curriculum support with its learning platform that honors
over 40 years of education and cognitive psychology research, incorporating proven techniques that promote effective learning.
Dr. TJ Vari is the Senior Director of Product Strategy at MaiaLearning, with a focus on postsecondary planning for students worldwide. Dr. Vari is a former deputy superintendent, middle school assistant
principal and principal, and high school English teacher. MaiaLearning® helps students worldwide to plan their futures: taking assessments and exploring recommended careers; building academic, college, and career plans; creating portfolios that tell
their stories; managing essays, preparing for SAT and ACT tests; and tracking commitments. Counselors use MaiaLearning to handle assignments, manage college applications, submit documents through Common
App and Parchment, coordinate college visits, communicate with students and families, and track results.
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