A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                                Contact:  David Thomas    September 5, 1995                                  (202) 401-1579

As a new school year gets underway, strong evidence -- higher SAT scores, significant educational gains by minorities, and lower dropout rates -- suggests that emphasizing high standards and taking more difficult courses pays off.

These important gains are being posted as Congress prepares to enact some of the deepest cuts to education in the nation's history.

"This is no time to retreat from the progress we've made," Riley says. "I am deeply concerned that our educational progress is being jeopardized by the actions of those members of Congress who are proposing deep cuts in education funding to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy.

"They want to eliminate assistance to schools to improve the basics, raise standards, get technology into the classrooms and make college more accessible. That's wrong for students and wrong for our nation's future."

Riley advises parents to urge their children to take tougher courses if they want to score higher on tests and be better prepared for college and the future.

"This was the key recommendation in ' A Nation at Risk,' the report that sounded the education alarm bell in 1983," he says. "Parents should check with the school and make sure your children are signed up for classes in core subjects and advanced studies." Core subjects generally are defined as English, math, science and social studies.

Barnwell, the guidance director at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., agrees. "I've found that when students take harder courses, their aspirations rise and they view their career goals more seriously. Consequently, they can envision more tangible results from a rigorous academic challenge."

Riley applauds community and state efforts to provide more challenging college preparatory courses and "tech-prep courses" that help students get ready for careers and one to two years of community college.

He also notes a big improvement in the percentage of students taking substantial course work in core subjects over the past ten years -- up from 13 percent to 47 percent. As a result of higher expectations in math and science, student achievement in these subjects, as measured in national assessments, also went up over this ten-year period.

Still, almost half of America's students don't take a rigorous course load throughout their secondary school years. "That needs to be corrected, because all students need to be challenged academically," Riley says.

Studies by the Education Department's National Center for Education Statistics indicate that taking more challenging courses pays off for students. For example, students who have taken higher level math courses show greater gains in math achievement during high school than those who have not taken these courses.

Riley and Barnwell also note that tough courses are weighed heavily by those reviewing college entrance applications. Furthermore, taking the tough courses better prepares students for any endeavor they may pursue. "Whether they're going into the military, the job market or more formal education," Barnwell says, "young people will fare better if they set higher standards for themselves now."