FOR RELEASE: April 30, 1998
Contact: Darryl Geddes
Office: (607) 255-9735
E-Mail: [email protected]
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http://www.news.cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A Cornell University study provides new evidence that curriculum-based external exit exams not only enhanced student achievement, but also increased the earnings of graduating seniors who took them.
The study also found that students who took remedial or basic courses earned less than their peers who enrolled in more challenging courses.
According to the study, high school graduates who take minimum competency tests (MCT), which are required for graduation in more than 20 states, earned an hourly wage that is as much as 3 to 5 percent greater than their counterparts from school districts where MCTs are not offered. The study also found that earnings of female high school graduates who took the MCT were on average 6 percent higher than those women who did not take the MCT. The study controlled for socio-economic status, test scores, grades, courses taken and other individual and school characteristics.
"With the MCT requirement, the school's diploma now signals more than just seat time," said study author John Bishop, associate professor in Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. "Employers have historically complained that the high school diploma offered no guarantee of a literate employee. But the MCT now indicates that a student meets or exceeds certain minimum standards in reading, writing and mathematics. This should make local employers more willing to hire the school's recent graduates."
Students who took remedial classes in English or math or both were not only less likely to attend college but generally earned less than those who took more challenging courses, the study showed.
"A year after graduating, males from the class of 1992 who had taken both types of basic/remedial courses were earning a significant 12 percent less than their peers," Bishop reported.
Curriculum-based external exit exams, particularly in New York state where Regents exams are offered, also were linked to higher SAT scores. New York state high school students scored 46 points higher in total verbal and math SAT scores than their nearest competitor, the study showed.
Bishop suggests that these findings have important implications for New York state's Regents exam, which will be restructured with tougher academic requirements in the near future.
"These curriculum-based external exit exams not only enhance student achievement but also impact favorably the earnings potential of test-takers," Bishop said. "If we require all students to pass the Regents exam to graduate, we will substantially raise the stakes for New Yorkers."
Bishop said in order to record significant passing rates in the Regents exam, school districts must be ready to change policies and resource allocations, to focus more intensive studies on struggling students and to inspire teachers to work harder.
"Requiring that all students reach the Regents standard in five core subjects will significantly increase student achievement, college attendance and completion and the quality of jobs that students get after high school," Bishop noted. "The biggest beneficiaries of the policy will be students, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have been allowed to avoid rigorous courses in the past."
Bishop's findings were based on a statistical analysis of data from the two national studies, the National Educational Longitudinal Study and High School and Beyond, which contain information on minimum competency tests.
The study, "Diplomas for Learning, Not Seat Time: The Impacts of New York Regents Examinations," was co-authored by Joan Y. Moriatry and Ferran Mane and supported by the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education.
The study has important implications, especially for New York state, as education officials will soon change the structure of the Regents exam, requiring all students to reach Regents standard in five core subjects.
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