Chicago's 1997 three-year college-preparatory science graduation requirement more than doubled the percentage of graduates completing three or more years of science¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r1 · q3
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Among CPS graduates, completion of three or more years of science rose from 35 percent (1993-95 cohorts) to 86 percent in the first policy year and 90 percent the next, in models controlling for incoming student characteristics. → Montgomery 2010

Evidence¶

Montgomery 2010¶

Montgomery, N., & Allensworth, E. M., with Correa, M. (2010). Passing Through Science: The Effects of Raising Graduation Requirements in Science on Course-Taking and Academic Achievement in Chicago. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/passing-through-science-effects-raising-graduation-requirements-science-course-taking

q3 · i? · causal · r1

Pre/post cohort comparison of transcript data from CPS administrative records, controlling for changes in student characteristics over time. Completion among graduates "more than doubled, to 86 percent," then reached 90 percent. No effect size is printed.

"Among CPS students entering high school in 1993 through 1995, 35 percent of students who went on to graduate, completed three or more years of science. In the first year of the policy (1997), the percent of graduates completing three or more years of science courses more than doubled, to 86 percent, and then reached 90 percent the next year."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Despite large increases in course-taking, the science requirement produced little evidence of additional science learning, as most graduates earned Cs or lower — related
• The requirement structure decreased the percentage of graduates completing both chemistry and physics, because mandated earth or environmental science pushed the combination into a fourth year — related