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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? The percentage of graduates taking both chemistry and physics declined from 29 percent the year before the policy to 12 percent for the 2001 cohort, controlling for student and school 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 · r2

Cohort comparison of graduate transcripts, adjusted and unadjusted; taking both chemistry and physics fell from 29 percent to 12 percent. Because most students started in earth or environmental science, completing both courses required a fourth year of science.

"The year before the new graduation requirements, 29 percent of graduates took both chemistry and physics—not including those students who made it to the level of advanced science. That figure dipped to 28 percent of graduates in the 1997 freshman cohort, then dropped to 20 percent for the 1998 cohort and to 12 percent for the 2001 cohort, controlling for student and school characteristics."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Earth and environmental science courses showed lower engagement, academic demand, clarity, and inquiry-based pedagogy than biology, chemistry, and physics — related
• Chicago's 1997 three-year college-preparatory science graduation requirement more than doubled the percentage of graduates completing three or more years of science — related
• Dropout rates at age 17 remained at prepolicy levels for the first two cohorts through the promotion gate, then declined to 25 percent with the fourth cohort — related
• Later cohorts fell off schedule for graduation at earlier ages, but the percentage off schedule by age 16 changed very little — related
• Graduation rates declined by about four percentage points in the first policy year and one more the next, then recovered to nearly pre-policy levels within five years — related