The Bridge Between Education and Business ACT Research Ready for College and Ready for Work: Same or

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The Bridge BetweenEducation and BusinessACT
Research -Ready for College and Ready for
WorkSame or Different?
Coalition for the Advancement of Science and
Mathematics Education in Oklahoma
(CASMEO) Langston University - OKC
Campus February 1, 2007
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Ready for College and Ready for Work
FACT 40 percent to 60 percent of jobs in 2015 DO
NOT CURRENTLY EXIST. FACT Only 21 percent of
jobs in the U.S. require a bachelors
degree. FACT 75 percent of jobs in the U.S.
require training beyond high school but below a
four-year degree.
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Ready for College and Ready for Work
College Preparatory Courses - or - Technical
Courses? Whats a student to do to prepare for
the future if the future is unknown? What do
employers expect? What do colleges/universities
expect?
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Ready for College and Ready for Work
We need a bridge to the future with clear
expectations from employers and educators so
students can prepare themselves - a Bridge
Between Education and Business with common, clear
understandings about readiness for college and
readiness for the workplace.
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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• Context
• Long-held belief that students who enter college
  need higher-level skills than students entering
  workforce.
• BUT, if students entering the workforce dont
  have the foundational skills to learn
  job-specific skills, how can they
• Seek and retain jobs in a changing economy?
• Earn a wage sufficient to support a family?
• Have potential for advancement?

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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• Context
• Up to now, there has not been any empirical
  research examining whether college and workforce
  readiness represent the same or different levels
  of knowledge.

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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• Query
• Ready for college and ready for work Same or
  different?

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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• Steps in Research Study
• 1. Defined what it means to be ready for work.
• 2. Identified knowledge and skills needed by
  workers entering these jobs.
• 3. Statistically related the level of skills
  needed for workforce readiness to college
  readiness.

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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• Step 1 What does it mean to be ready for work?
• Focus is on jobs that
• Require a high school diploma
• Pay a wage sufficient to support a family
• Offer the potential for career advancement
• ONET (US Department of Labor) Zone 3
• jobs meet these criteria.

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Ready for College and Ready for Work

• ONET jobs require
• A high school diploma but not a bachelors degree
• Some combination of vocational training/on-the-job
  experience
• Examples include electricians, auditing
  clerks, construction workers, food service
  managers, plumbers.

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Ready for College andReady for Work

• In this study, we essentially defined ready for
  work as ready for workforce training since the
  target jobs require foundational reading and
  mathematics skills necessary to learn
  job-specific skills after high school graduation.
  

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Ready for College andReady for Work

• Step 2 What are the knowledge and skills needed
  by workers entering these jobs?
• Examined job profiles from ACTs WorkKeys
  database for ONET Zone 3 jobs.
• Used the job profiles to identify the level of
  job skills needed to perform each job on the
  WorkKeys scale.
• Identified the level of reading and math skills
  needed to enter the vast majority (90) of Zone 3
  jobs after high school.

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Ready for College andReady for Work

• Step 3 Are the skills needed for workforce
  readiness and college readiness the same or
  different?
• Statistically related ACTs College Readiness
  Benchmarks on the ACT to the WorkKeys workforce
  training readiness levels identified through job
  profiling using a sample of over 450,000 high
  school juniors who had taken the ACT and WorkKeys
  assessments.

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Table 1 Comparability between WorkKeys Job
Profile Level 5 and ACT College Readiness
Benchmarks in Reading and Mathematics
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Table 5 Comparison of College and Workforce
Training Readiness Mathematics Test Questions
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Research Results

• Research results show that the level of readiness
  needed to enter workforce training programs and
  to enter college are comparable.
• Level of expectation for students entering jobs
  offering a wage that can sustain a small family
  is the same as that needed for college.

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Implications of Research Results

• Readiness levels for students preparing for
  college and workforce training programs are
  comparable.
• All students should be educated to a common
  expectation that prepares them for college and
  workforce training programs.
• All high school graduates should be guaranteed
  the opportunity to become ready for college and
  work.

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Why Is This Research Important?

• Results support state efforts to increase
  standards and expectations in high school.
• Results support state efforts to prepare all
  students so they have options after high school.

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Why Important?

• Important for the future of each and every
  student.
• Important for us as a state to improve our
  economy.
• Important for us as a nation to be competitive in
  todays global economy.

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Oklahoma Class of 2006

• Part I Academic Achievement
• ACT Participation and Performance
• Five-Year Trends
• Racial/Ethnic Groups
• Minimum Core vs. Less than Core

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Declining Student Interest inSTEM Majors

• Fact Over the past five years, the percentage
  of Oklahoma ACT-tested students who said they
  were interested in majoring in engineering or
  engineering-related fields has dropped from
  5.7 percent to 5.2 percent.

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Declining Student Interest in STEM Majors

• Fact Over the past five years, the percentage
  of Oklahoma ACT-tested students who said they
  were interested in majoring in computer and
  information science has dropped steadily
  from 3.8 percent to 2.0 percent.

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Declining Student Interest in STEM Majors

• Fact Over the past five years, the percentage
  of Oklahoma ACT-tested students who said they
  were interested in the biological and
  physical science has dropped from 3.8 percent
  to 3.4 percent.

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Declining Student Interest in STEM Majors

• Fact Over the past five years, the percentage
  of Oklahoma ACT-tested students planning to
  major in mathematics has never exceeded .4
  percent which suggests less than 100
  students.

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• ACT Recommended Coursework

ACT Minimum Core English 4 years Social
Sciences At least 3 years Mathematics At
least 3 years Natural Sciences At least 3 years

• In the past, ACT has reported student performance
  by Core and Less than Core course patterns.
  Similar results are included in this report.
• ACT research shows that it is the rigor of high
  school coursesrather than simply the number of
  coursesthat best prepares students for college.
  ACT data show that students who take and work
  hard in higher-level courses such as Physics and
  an advanced math class beyond Algebra II are most
  likely to be college ready.

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• Measuring College Readiness

• Performance of Oklahoma Students
• English, mathematics, reading, and science
• Effect of taking more rigorous courses

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• ACT College Readiness Benchmark Scores
• Through collaborative research with postsecondary
  institutions nationwide, ACT has established the
  following College Readiness Benchmark Scores
• A benchmark score is the minimum score needed on
  an ACT subject area test to indicate a 50 chance
  of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75 chance
  of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding
  credit-bearing college courses.

ACT Subject Area Test

College Readiness

Benchmark Score
English English Composition 18 Math Algebra
22 Reading Social Sciences 21
Science Biology 24
College Course(s)
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2006 Oklahoma Average ACT Mathematics Test Score
Increase by High School Mathematics Course
Sequence
Average ACT Math Score Increase
Course Sequence
Average ACT Math Score
Core Trig and Calculus
23.7
6.6
Core Advanced Math and Trigonometry
21.4
4.3
Core Advanced Math
19.3
2.2
Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry (Min. Core)
17.1
Increase over taking less than 3 Mathematics
courses. Note Missing data means an
insufficient number of students reported taking
that course sequence.
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Percentages of 2005-2006 Oklahoma ACT-Tested
Graduates Ready for College-Level Work as Defined
by Oklahoma
Benchmark 19
Benchmark 19
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Part III Early Indicators of College Readiness

• ACTs EPAS (Educational Planning and Assessment
  System) offers achievement-based assessments at
  three key points as students move from grade
  eight through the transition to postsecondary
  education
• EXPLORE for 8th and 9th graders
• PLAN for 10th graders
• The ACT for 11th and 12th graders
• EPAS promotes decisions to take rigorous
  college-preparatory courses, supports career
  planning, and identifies whether students are on
  target for college readiness. The following
  results pertain to all 8th- and 10th-grade
  students in Oklahoma who participated in EXPLORE
  and/or PLAN during the academic year 2005-06.

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EXPLORE
Average EXPLORE Scores of 2005-2006 Oklahoma EPAS
8th-Grade Students, Compared to National Norms
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PLAN
Average PLAN Scores of 2005-2006 Oklahoma EPAS
10th-Grade Students, Compared to National Norms
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• EXPLORE and PLAN College Readiness Benchmark
  Scores
• The EXPLORE and PLAN College Readiness Benchmark
  Scores are based on the ACT College Readiness
  Benchmark Scores. They reflect students expected
  growth from EXPLORE to PLAN to the ACT and assume
  sustained academic effort throughout high school.

College
Readiness Benchmark Score
EXPLORE PLAN
ACT English English Composition 13 15 18
Math Algebra 17 19 22 Reading Social
Sciences 15 17 21 Science Biology 20 21 24
ACT Subject Area Test
College Course(s)
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N 38,259
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• EXPLORE and PLAN Oklahoma College Readiness
  Benchmarks
• The EXPLORE and PLAN Oklahoma College Readiness
  benchmarks are based on the Oklahoma ACT
  Placement Scores required for entry into freshman
  college-level credit-bearing English and Math
  courses. They reflect students expected growth
  from EXPLORE to PLAN to the ACT and assume
  sustained academic effect throughout high school.

College Readiness Benchmarks

College Course
ACT
EXPLORE
PLAN
English Mathematics
14 16 19 15
17 19
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EXPLORE
Percentages of 2005-2006 Oklahoma EPAS
EXPLORE-Tested Students On-Target to be Ready for
College-Level Work as Defined by Oklahoma
Benchmark 14
Benchmark 15
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PLAN
Percentages of 2005-2006 Oklahoma EPAS
PLAN-Tested Students On-Target to be Ready for
College-Level Work as Defined by Oklahoma
Benchmark 16
Benchmark 17
45
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