WASHINGTON
In a rare venture into curriculum, the Bush administration this week declared which high school programs are “rigorous” enough to qualify students for college aid.
The designation is important because only college freshmen and sophomores who complete a rigorous high school course of study can receive certain new grants approved by Congress. The Education Department typically avoids endorsing or rating coursework, a politically sensitive area that states control. And the academic competitiveness grants have been criticized for being unfair to low-income students who can’t help that their schools don’t offer rigorous courses.
But in creating the math and science grants for poorer students, Congress ordered Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to judge, which high school programs are challenging.
Spellings, under pressure to get the program running in every state by the fall, announced a range of ways for students to be eligible for grants over the next two years.
She deferred for now to programs that states themselves already consider rigorous, either based on the nature of the coursework or the sheer number of courses that students must take.
But in future years, the criteria will get tougher to better reflect what colleges demand of students, Spellings said in a letter to governors and state school officers.
The grants are open only to students who already qualify for low-income Pell Grants. Some students may be shut out simply because their schools don’t have sufficient offerings.
