Higher education

Pedagogy

Equity (law)

Test (biology)

Academic achievement

Community college

Economic growth

Medical education

Biology

Remedial education

Mathematics education

Academic standards

Political science

Paleontology

Psychology

Economics

Set (abstract data type)

Programming language

Standardized test

Educational equity

Computer science

Advanced Placement

Medicine

Educational Researcher

This study explores the extent to which “college-ready” students, by high school standards, are assigned to remedial courses in college. We used a unique longitudinal data set that links high school and community college transcript data. Focusing on math, we developed a naming device— inter-sector math misalignment (ISMM)—to measure mis/alignment between high school and college-level math standards. The results confirm that ISMM was prevalent and substantial with respect to high school grades, moderate to substantial based on different measures of math course-taking, and minor to moderate based on standardized test results. We see each of these cases as problematic—for equity, for efficiency, and for educational opportunity.

Mis/Alignment Between High School and Community College Standards