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

Policies and Procedures That Influence
Achievement in High Schools
We found the greatest differences between schools at the high school level. The
highest-achieving schools, such as Springdale and Hamilton, offered the greatest
variety of courses and more levels of courses in subjects such as math and science
than those offered at South Central or Uptown.
According to its principal, Springdale has traditionally upheld high standards and
resisted attempts to erode those standards. In addition, Springdale offered over
200 hundred courses, ranging from advanced-placement courses in calculus and
astronomy to vocational courses in food service management and interior design.
At the opposite end of the spectrum were the schools with the lowest-achieving
students, such as Uptown High and South Central Vocational High School. Up-
town had a wider range of students than South Central in terms of levels of ability
and had adapted its course offerings for this range. Among the courses were many
math and science courses at two levels, regular and honors. Calculus, chemistry,
and physics were also offered at the advanced-placement level. Both Uptown and
South Central enrolled students in several 2-year vocational programs, such as

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metal working and auto mechanics. South Central also offered regular academic
courses; however, the principal at South Central said that many were remedial
courses, since the majority of their students required courses at this level. A con-
sistent response in the interviews with teachers at South Central was that they
were ‘‘doing what we can.’’
Homework expectations were quite high at the high- and middle-achieving
schools we visited, although not all schools had a written policy on homework.
At Springdale, the school catalog stated that students can expect ‘‘an average of
40 minutes of out-of-class homework per subject each day, and that students in
basic, regular, and accelerated classes are expected to spend about the same
amount of time on homework.’’ At Hamilton, we were told the amount of home-
work assigned depended upon the level of the course. The prevailing view at
Hamilton was that ‘‘it was better to assign quality problems rather than just a large
number of problems.’’ Again, in contrast to these two schools, were the remarks
of teachers at South Central, who indicated that they did not often assign home-
work because the students seldom completed the assignment. They went on to
explain that most students left their books in their lockers, because they did not
want to be seen on the street with a textbook under their arm. There was a
stigma attached to being a good student. Teachers said that such students were
ostracized and ‘‘put in their place’’ by their classmates.
As at the elementary and middle school levels, high schools generally encouraged
the use of calculators and computers. Students in accelerated math courses at
most schools were using graphing calculators, and computer usage was often
incorporated into the curriculum and instructional methods of particular courses.
At Hamilton, computer courses were offered through the mathematics, fine arts,
business education, cooperative education, and industrial technology departments.
At the lowest-achieving school, South Central, computers were used for testing
students’ academic abilities and often to offer remedial instruction.