College Course Content Analysis - Final Report

Job Training Programs Curriculum Study: Final Report

EPIC, 2014, GRADE 12

This study analyzed course materials, across over 150 colleges, to identify the prerequisite knowledge, skills, and abilities in mathematics and reading for students to be prepared for entry-level, credit-bearing courses that satisfy general education requirements.

This report describes the College Course Content Analysis study, which was commissioned by the Governing Board to analyze the content of course materials from colleges offering courses that satisfy general education requirements toward a four-year degree. This study was designed to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in reading and mathematics that are prerequisite to entry-level, credit-bearing courses that satisfy general education requirements, and compare them to the grade 12 NAEP reading and mathematics frameworks and assessment items.

This study also compared the prerequisite KSAs identified through this analysis of college course materials to the KSAs identified by panels of college instructors convened for the Judgmental Standard Setting (JSS) studies. In the JSS studies, panels of college instructors convened to identify the KSAs prerequisite to minimal academic preparedness in terms of NAEP content and the associated required performance on NAEP. These JSS studies were commissioned by the Governing Board in 2011 and also addressed job training.

This study analyzed course materials from a representative sample of 151 institutions—80 courses were analyzed for mathematics content and 80 courses were analyzed for reading content. The appendices for this report present the resources used to implement this study, including the protocols used to analyze course materials and content maps graphically displaying reading and mathematics content coverage.