Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Curriculum Levels Reflect Different Standards
Middle schools and high schools usually offered courses with varying levels of dif-
ficulty for core academic subjects, such as math and science. Curriculum content
in these courses reflected different achievement expectations and, as a result, also
reflected the diversity of a school’s academic standards. Schools with the most
highly stratified course offerings typically provided a very rigorous curriculum in
their advanced-level courses.
Most of the middle schools we visited offered at least two levels of math/algebra,
and some offered more than one level of science and language arts classes. Other
schools offered three or more levels. Central Middle School in Metro City offered
four levels of courses. According to one parent, ‘‘level three and four classes
cover the same material as the lower levels but at a faster pace and with more
demanding forms of assessment.’’ Parents were eager for their children to take
either level three or four classes so that they could continue into advanced-level
math and science classes when they reached high school. In contrast, Metropoli-
tan School offered courses at only two levels; those students who performed at
or above grade level on standardized exams were offered the opportunity to par-
ticipate in an advanced math and science track.
Courses selected at the middle school (or junior high) level affected students’
choices of courses at the high school level, although teacher recommendations,
parental requests, and standardized score results also influenced course options in
high school. Most of the high schools offered courses at three levels of difficulty
in math, science, and language arts (usually determined by the depth of material
presented and the pace at which it was covered): advanced placement, honors
courses, and general-level courses.
However, the availability of advanced placement and honors courses varied con-
siderably from school to school. High schools such as Hamilton, Springdale, and
East offered more advanced placement and honors courses than did the other
schools. In contrast to this were the offerings at South Central Vocational High
School and Uptown High School. At South Central, students had the choice be-
tween regular or vocational courses, a choice determined by an aptitude test,
which each student took upon entry into the school. Two students we spoke to
at South Central said they would like their school to offer honors courses because
‘‘in some classes people know everything, class becomes boring, and grades get
worse since students stop listening.’’ The course offerings at Uptown were better
than at South Central, but were considerably restricted compared to the options
at Hamilton and Springdale.

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Availability of high-level courses revealed only part of the picture when it came
to describing differences between schools. The percentage of students enrolled in
honors and advanced-placement courses also varied greatly among schools. While
state requirements for schools in Metro City and its surrounding suburbs man-
dated that students take two science courses (one full year) to qualify for gradua-
tion, the level of difficulty of these classes was not mandated. Students could fulfill
their state and district requirements by taking either advanced-placement courses
or less demanding courses, such as earth science and ‘‘regular’’ biology.