Despite large increases in course-taking, the science requirement produced little evidence of additional science learning, as most graduates earned Cs or lower¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q3 i? Five out of six CPS students averaged a C or lower in science after the policy; students earning Cs showed only small standardized test score gains and students earning Ds showed no evidence of learning. → Montgomery 2010 q3 i? The percentage of graduates completing three years of science with a B average or higher rose modestly, from about 19 percent pre-policy to 30 percent post-policy. → Montgomery 2010 (2)

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 using grades as a proxy for learning, validated against test scores; the report found grade-test links where "Standardized science test score gains were minimal among students who earned Cs." No effect size is printed for this finding.

"Five out of six CPS students averaged a C or lower in science after the policy change. Standardized science test score gains were minimal among students who earned Cs in their science courses and absent among those who received Ds."

Montgomery 2010 (2)¶

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Cohort comparison of graduate transcripts controlling for incoming characteristics; B-or-better completers of three years rose from about 19 percent to 30 percent, "an increase of 11 percentage points." No standardized effect size is printed.

"Prior to the policy, about 19 percent of graduates completed at least three years of science with a B average or higher in those courses (Figure 10). After the policy, the figure jumped to 30 percent, an increase of 11 percentage points."

Discussion¶

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`cps-science-requirement-little-learning-gain`
`title`	`Despite large increases in course-taking, the science requirement produced little evidence of additional science learning, as most graduates earned Cs or lower`
`description`	`Despite large increases in course-taking, the science requirement produced little evidence of additional science learning, as most graduates earned Cs or lower`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2010`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-09`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	2 — `montgomery-2010`, `montgomery-2010-2`

Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.