Completing academically challenging course work in high school dramatically increases the likelihood of a student earning a bachelor's degree, according to a new U.S. Department of Education study released today. The study, The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion From High School Through College, found that the academic intensity of a high school curriculum is the strongest indicator of postsecondary degree completion, regardless of a student's major course of study.

"Students who enter college should be ready for college-level work. And it's the job of high schools and middle schools to prepare them for it," said U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. "The president's proposed American Competitiveness Initiative would promote stronger instruction in key subjects such as math and science. As the scientific data in this study show, strengthening curriculum now will pay dividends well into the future."

The President's American Competitiveness Initiative would support rigorous instruction in math, science and foreign languages in the early grades and more challenging course work in high school. Math Now programs, which aim to give younger students solid instruction in math, as well as increased incentives for high school students to take Advanced Placement courses, will ensure that the nation's students are better prepared to complete college and compete in a global workplace.

The Toolbox Revisited studies the High School Class of 1992 as it moved from high school to higher education and includes comparisons to a previous report, Answers in the Tool Box, which followed the High School Class of 1982 from high school through college. Both national longitudinal studies had similar findings.

"This new data empirically confirms what educators already know: Challenging high school course work prepares students for the much tougher challenges that lie ahead," said Secretary Spellings. "It also helps colleges and universities by reducing the need for costly remedial education. The American Competitiveness Initiative is an educational win-win."

Through high school and college transcripts, the study examines students who attended a four-year college at any time, including students who started out in community colleges. The data on which the study is based cover a period of eight and a half years for degree completion—from high school graduation in spring 1992 until December 2000. It is based on data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988.

The Toolbox Revisited is available at www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/index.html and will be available in hard copy on Feb. 28 for free through ED Pubs at www.edpubs.ed.gov/webstore/Content/search.asp or by calling 1-877-4-EDPUBS or 1-877-576-7734 (TTY/TDD).

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