Texas: College-prep classes set students up for college failure

College-prep classes don't prepare Texas students for college, reports Sneha Dey in The Texas Tribune. Students who've taken college-prep English and math are 5 percent less likely to earn a college degree or certificate than classmates who were not considered college ready, according to a new study, The Uneven Promise of Readiness.

“We could be potentially setting students up for failure because we’re saying, ‘OK, you’re college ready.’ But you actually get into college and you’re immediately taking developmental coursework,” said Jacob Kirksey, a Texas Tech professor who was the lead researcher. “And maybe you’ve racked up ... loans as a result of that process.”

Researchers tracked nearly 1 million Texas high school students across eight graduating classes from 2016 to 2023 to see how they fared after high school, Dey reports. Six years after graduation, students who'd earned college credits via dual enrollment were more likely have completed a college credential. Those who'd earned a vocational certificate or associate degree in high school were earning 15 percent to 20 percent more than classmates. Students with high test scores also were more successful. But enrolling in college-prep classes had no payoff.

Texas school districts earn higher performance ratings, which are linked to higher funding, if more students are in career and college readiness tracks. When the Texas Education Agency raised its readiness expectations, college-prep enrollment boomed. It was an easy way to meet state requirements without revamping curricula, Gabriela Sánchez-Soto, a member of the Houston Education Research Consortium, told Dey. “You can’t blame the players for playing the game. But we need to always assess how well whatever thing we’re asking students to do is actually accomplishing."

"The TEA has started a process to review and approve college prep classes" in hopes of ensuring rigor, writes Dey. So far, only a few English prep courses -- and no math courses -- have been approved.

Fordham's Michael Petrilli is hosting a discussion on how states can limit grade inflation on Schooled. Several people point out that there are strong incentives to give higher grades: Everybody's happy with A's. Nobody complains.

Parents place more faith in grades than in test scores, and are more likely to seek help if their child's grades slip than if their scores are low. By the time parents realize their child is not prepared to pass college classes it's often too late to do much about it.