Standards (1890-1920)
Problem of Standards
The CEEB examinations ... reflected the growing competition for students graduating from the world of public high schools, a world considerably more varied and less well known to the colleges.
Marvin Lazerson
"The College Board and American Educational History"
Throughout the nineteenth century, the secondary school curriculum expanded. The result of the expansion was that by 1890, there was no one, standardized curriculum at the secondary level but a vast array of course options across different regions. While this arrangement may have met the needs of various communities and populations, it left little standardization across wider regions and the country. This lack of standardization became problematic in the 1890s for institutions of higher education and for students preparing for post-secondary schooling.
Why was this problematic for institutions of higher education?
- There was little articulation between a higher education institution's requirements for admission and the course of study pursued by students in public high schools, whose graduates were fast becoming a major applicant pool for institutions of higher education.
- Students did not necessarily know of or have studied the courses required for entrance into any specific college or university.
- Lack of knowledge of entrance requirements for specific institutions limited the choice of institutions to which a student could reasonably apply.
- Local knowledge of admissions requirements for regional institutions restricted an institution to a smaller geographic region from which to recruit students.
- Admission by certificate compounded the problem of lack of standards in the high school curriculum by admitting the graduates of certified high schools without the requirements of taking admission examinations. This alternative system of admissions was developed by the University of Michigan and eagerly adopted by the land-grant colleges and universities of the Midwest as well as independent and public colleges in the East and South.
Concerns about the high school course of study and the problems associated with the lack of curricular standards led to questions about who controlled the high school curriculum and determined the requirements for college entrance.
