Hanging from the wall of science teacher Robin Jossart's classroom at Century High School is a horse skeleton.

A previous student dug it out of a farmer's field, boiled off the meat and assembled it for a class project.

All the skeletons assembled in her classroom, displayed on top of cabinets and hanging from the ceiling, are student projects. Jossart points them out to her advanced placement biology class as examples of what they could do for independent projects.

A project, like the skeleton, was one of the few options they could consider for their project. Job shadowing a doctor or veterinarian for two weeks and writing a 10-page paper were among their other options.

Her students also are getting ready for the final push leading up to the advanced placement test by preparing for independent projects.

"I have had students come back and they told me it helped them learn to study and take tests,"in college, Jossart said.

Upon completing the class, students will take a test that can earn them college credit. An advanced placement class does more than earn a student college credit; it can prepare a student for college.

Students who take more advanced classes score higher on the ACT test, and students who score higher on the ACT are more prepared for college.

"I really wanted to get college credit," senior Mike daSilva said. "Also, I want it to make college easier, and I want to get into a more competitive school."

By taking AP biology, daSilva could get what he wants. Advanced classes like AP biology are part of a more challenging high school curriculum. The College Board, the makers of the ACT test, has studied what it takes for students to be prepared for college by comparing ACT scores to the types of classes students have taken. Its findings define what makes a student ready for college.

A student is ready for college if they do not need remedial classes in the core subjects: English, math, social studies and science. In North Dakota, 27 percent of freshmen take remedial courses, compared to 30 percent nationally, said Mike Hillman, North Dakota University System vice chancellor of student affairs. The more advanced classes they take, the less likely they need to take remedial classes in college, Bismarck Assistant Superintendent John Salwei said.

He bases this assessment on ACT test results. Students who meet the minimum score in a subject on the test are likely to do well in that area in college. Salwei looked at the core classes students took and the ACT scores they received to see how the two match up. Students needed to take advanced classes to reach the minimum score ACT set to likely do well in college.

"It breaks down the test into an assessment of learning," Salwei said.

Not all students, however, take some of the more challenging classes or the most advanced classes the school offers. To give students a better chance, the Bismarck school district wants to increase the difficulty of all its classes.

"Chemistry, biology and physics require a math background and beyond algebra," Salwei said. "Math skills can hold (students) back."

But students do not always take the more advanced classes.

"If you did higher the standards, more students could fail," senior Casey Loesch said.

Some students in the AP classes, like Loesch, look at AP classes as classes that students choose to be in, in turn wanting to succeed, while "normal" classes have students who want to be there or don't.

"You can tell a large difference between AP and normal classes," daSilva said. "In AP classes, students want to pass, (while) you can have passing and failing students in normal classes."

Students who take AP classes tend to take classes with the same group of students, senior Caleb Pickard said.

"AP English is not the same as AP science," though, senior Jean Canham said.

Ideally, she would like to see classes, regardless if APor general education classes, taught for the sake of learning. She likes the AP biology class because it has "less useless work" than other classes.

"There is more work, but you actually accomplish something," she said.

The difference in difficulty puts students at a disadvantage for college and for entering the work force, according to school officials. More of the work force is college educated, and the skills needed for jobs are more advanced. Employers are hiring more workers with a college degree and fewer workers with only a high school diploma than they did in 1970, according to an analysis by Education Week.

In North Dakota, the bulk of the work force - 68 percent - has at least some college or a college degree, 26 percent has a high school education and the rest did not graduate from high school. The analysis categorized associate degree holders with workers who have some college. Nationally, 13 percent of workers do not have a high school diploma, and the remainder of the work force is divided evenly among high school graduates, some college and college graduates, at 29 percent each.

"(We) started to think, because of the global economy, employers want the same skills as the military and college," Salwei said.

Those skills are to communicate, compute and read. The set-up of the traditional high school prepares students for different tracks - college, trade school or work force - with different skill sets, instead of giving all students the same skills. Employers, however, want the same skills as the college-bound set, if they want employees they can promote within their business, NDUS Vice Chancellor Mike Hillman said.

"The employers at the table confirmed that," he said, speaking about conversations among educators and employers as part of an education task force studying the needs of education from kindergarten through college graduation.

One way the Bismarck district is changing its offerings is through the help of an outside curriculum company. Kaplan K12 is creating a curriculum guide for high school language arts. This is the district's solution to provide more challenging curriculum for all its language arts offerings.

Providing more rigorous core courses is a nationwide movement. Among the organizations leading the movement is High Schools That Work. It is a part of the Southern Regional Education Board. It is a framework for schools, districts and states to create a more rigorous high school curriculum. It is used in 32 states, not including North Dakota. It is a set of goals and practices high schools have implemented to raise student achievement and prepare students for life after high school.

High Schools That Work recognizes all students taking the same challenging curriculum is beneficial. It recommends four credits of college preparatory English, four credits of math, three college-preparatory science classes and three years of social studies. For math classes it recommends algebra I, algebra II, geometry and higher courses be required and that students be required to take math during their senior year.

For a student to graduate from the Bismarck Public Schools, they must complete four credits of English, two credits of math, two credits of science, three credits of social studies and two credits of physical education plus eight additional credits, known as electives. In 2009, there will be three math credits required. The graduation requirements do not specify what courses should be taken in the core areas of English, math, science and social studies. If a student is considering college, the university system requires more of those classes, and does have guidelines for what courses, such as algebra for math.

"High school graduation requirements and college admissions requirements are really disconnected," Hillman said. "It would help if it was connected."

Legislation could be proposed this legislative session to increase graduation requirements so that they more closely align to the North Dakota University Systems' requirements. Once both systems have the same requirements, it will form a basis for the types of classes to meet the requirements and what needs to be taught in those classes, Hillman said. Eventually, credit in North Dakota high schools could be based on mastery of a subject, instead of whether it is a quarter, semester or yearlong course. This just applies to students going to a North Dakota school

"We need to move beyond seat time (credit based on time spent in class)," Hillman said. "If a student completes a unit of algebra, what they know varies from school district to school district. Higher education has to define competencies and work with K-12 … so by the time a student graduates, they have all the competencies."

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)