ERIC Number: ED228244
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983-Mar
Pages: 81
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Devaluation, Diffusion and the College Connection: A Study of High School Transcripts, 1964-1981.
Adelman, Clifford
This paper reanalyzed existing transcript data from: (1) the Study of Academic Prediction and Growth (High School Class of 1969) ; and (2) the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Study of Labor Market Experience (High School Classes of 1975-1981) in terms of various measures of the quantity of schooling, and in relation to changes in college graduation requirements between 1967 and 1974. Major findings discussed in this paper include: (1) The average credit value of academic courses in high schools has declined considerably since the late 1960s, indicating that less time is being allocated for them and that students are spending less time in the academic curriculum; (2) High school students on all tracks are spending more time in and receiving more credit for "personal service and development" courses, a trend which accounts largely for the results in (1); (3) The dominant student track in high school is now the "General Track"--curriculum dominated by survey, remedial, and personal service coures--and many students in this track go on to college; (4) The secondary school curriculum has become diffused and fragmented over the past 15 years, as have college courses and degrees; and (5) Grade inflation, while significant, has not been as pervasive as assumed, and its locations and sources in the curriculum do not fit easy assumptions. (Author/JM)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Standards, College Admission, College Bound Students, College Curriculum, College Preparation, Educational Quality, Graduation Requirements, High School Students, High Schools, Higher Education, Secondary School Curriculum, Track System (Education), Undergraduate Students
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Department of Education, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: National Commission on Excellence in Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A