National Study Shows Most "Honors" Algebra I and Geometry Courses Are Not Rigorous

"Regular" Algebra I Classes More Likely To Be Rigorous Than "Honors" Classes

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Most graduates who took an Algebra I class labeled "honors" by their school did not receive a rigorous mathematics curriculum compared to graduates who took an Algebra I class labeled "regular" by their school, according to the groundbreaking Algebra I and Geometry Curricula: Results from the 2005 High School Transcript Mathematics Curriculum Study released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

"The study shows that course titles can be very misleading about the course's actual content," said NCES Commissioner Jack Buckley. "We found that there is little truth-in-labeling for high school Algebra I and Geometry courses. The study also shows that – regardless of the course's title – if the course content is rigorous, the student is better-prepared for challenging academic work. Graduates who took rigorous Algebra I and Geometry courses scored higher on the National Assessment of Educational Progress than students who took courses with beginner-level content. They were also more likely to graduate high school having taken an advanced mathematics course."

The study brings together information from three sources – students, schools, and textbooks – to provide an in-depth look at high school graduates' mathematics courses. It was conducted in conjunction with the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) High School Transcript Study (HSTS), and explored the relationship between coursetaking and achievement by examining the content and challenge of two mathematics courses taught in the nation's public high schools – Algebra I and Geometry.

The study's results show what differences exist within the curricula of Algebra I and Geometry courses, how accurately school course titles and descriptions reflect the rigor of what is taught in Algebra I and Geometry courses, and how the curricula of Algebra I and Geometry courses relate to subsequent mathematics coursetaking patterns and NAEP performance. The report developed three course levels for Algebra I and Geometry based on the combination of content and challenge of each course, as determined by the textbooks used in the course:

• Beginner: Covers more introductory material and less advanced material than an intermediate course.
• Intermediate: Contains a balanced mix of both introductory and advanced material.
• Rigorous: Covers more advanced material and less introductory material than an intermediate course.

For graduates who took an Algebra I class labeled "honors" by their school:

• About 73 percent actually were taught material ranked as intermediate.
• Less than 20 percent actually received a rigorous curriculum.

By contrast, graduates who took an Algebra I class labeled "regular" were more likely (34 percent) to receive a rigorous curriculum than those who took "honors" (18 percent).

For Geometry, among graduates who took classes labeled "honors":

• 33 percent received a rigorous curriculum.
• 62 percent were taught intermediate material.

Nearly one in five graduates (19 percent) who took a "regular" Geometry course received a rigorous curriculum.

The study also examined how the content of Algebra I and Geometry courses were related to later mathematics coursetaking. Students who received more rigorous coursework in their early high school mathematics courses were more likely to go on to higher-level classes. Seventy-nine percent of graduates who took rigorous high school Algebra I courses went on to complete Algebra II or higher.

Of the graduates who completed a rigorous Geometry course, about 50 percent took an advanced mathematics or calculus course as their highest mathematics course, comparatively higher than the 38 percent of graduates who had a beginner Geometry course or the 42 percent who had an intermediate Geometry course.

Other highlights from the study:

• Most graduates, regardless of race/ethnicity, took an intermediate level Algebra I course. There were no measurable differences among White, Black, and Hispanic graduates who took intermediate and rigorous Algebra I courses. However, some differences were seen in the percentage of graduates who took beginner-level courses. A larger percentage of Hispanic (19 percent) and Asian/Pacific Islander (24 percent) graduates took a beginner Algebra I course, compared to White graduates (12 percent).
• A larger percentage (37 percent) of White graduates in "honors" Geometry classes labeled were enrolled in rigorous courses, compared to the percentage of Black and Hispanic graduates (21 and 17 percent, respectively) in similarly titled courses.
• Graduates who took rigorous Algebra I and Geometry courses scored higher on NAEP. Graduates who took rigorous Algebra I courses obtained higher NAEP algebra scores (146) than graduates who took beginner Algebra I courses (137), but not significantly different from graduates who took an intermediate Algebra I course (143). Graduates who took rigorous Geometry courses obtained higher NAEP geometry scores (159) than graduates who took beginner (148) or intermediate (152) Geometry courses.

The study's analyses are limited to public high school graduates who completed an Algebra I or Geometry course during high school. Therefore, the Algebra I results do not include those students who took Algebra I in middle school. In addition, textbook information was used as an indirect measure of the topics to be taught in a course. This information does not reflect classroom instruction.

Algebra I and Geometry Curricula: Results from the 2005 High School Transcript Mathematics Curriculum Study is available at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/hsts/math_curriculum/.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the United States. NCES is located within the Institute of Education Sciences, part of the U.S. Department of Education.

For more information on NAEP and the High School Transcript Study, please visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ and http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/hsts/.  

SOURCE National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)