Middle Grades: The Fork in the Road to College

Did you know that research shows that the level of academic achievement students attain by eighth grade has a significant impact on students’ college and career-readiness? This month’s research brief reviews the research on why the middle grades are such a pivotal time in students’ academic lives and explores how programs can best support middle school students to get them on the college path. Click here to read this month’s research brief to find out more.

Expectations Matter

Thanks to Sarah Bachner for sending this article – Great Expectations: Can research change the character of the affirmative action debate? -by David Kirp, a UC Berkeley Public Policy Professor. While critics of affirmative action argue that beneficiaries of affirmative action would be better off at less selective colleges (where expectations are lower and the work is easier), Kirp presents research to show that students, and minority students in particular, perform better when they are in a “high academic expectations environment”.

Kirp points to the ten-percent admissions policy in Texas where high school graduates in the top tenth of their class are guaranteed spots in the state’s flagship universities. African-American and Latino students who attend Texas’ most competitive colleges “are 21 percent more likely to earn their bachelor’s degree than are students with similar qualifications who opt to enroll in one of the less selective universities.” The findings in the Kirp article are similar to those in a recently released book “Crossing the Finish Line” that I discussed in a recent post.

On another note from the expectations front: a recent education survey of high school educators, low-income students and parents revealed major differences in their beliefs about the purpose of high school. While 48% of low-income students felt that the most important purpose of high school was to prepare for college, only 9% of teachers felt that their primary mission was to prepare students for college (38% of teachers felt that their primary mission was to help students master the subjects they teach and 30% of teachers felt that their primary mission was to teach students basic life skills). Additionally, 40% of teachers felt that it was either “not too important” or only “somewhat important” that their students attend college.  I can’t help but wonder how teachers’ responses might have been different if they were asked about the the importance of college for their own children instead of the young people they teach.

Making sure your high school students are adequately prepared for college

Once your students are in high school, what do you need to do to make sure they are, in reality, being well-prepared for four-year colleges? This month’s research brief – Reality Check – Making Sure Your High School Students are Adequatley Prepared for College - focuses on how to make sure your students are getting a rigorous college-prep high school education and summarizes the issues that you should consider as your students transition to high school.

A little frustration isn’t a bad thing: The benefits of intellectual challenge

In the July 2009 Breakthrough Research Brief on Factors that Support Academic Success, I wrote about student engagement and how research has shown that students are more motivated and engaged when their learning environments are intellectually challenging and socially supportive. Recent research from Rutgers University provides yet more evidence of the benefits of intellectual challenge. The Rutgers University researchers worked with low-performing schools in Newark, NJ and found that when students (who were mostly low-income students of color) work on conceptually complex math problems within a supportive setting (e.g., students are encouraged to work on problems in a variety of ways; receive constructive feedback from peers and share their approaches to solving the problem with the class), they significantly improve their math achievement. The researchers found that though students may be frustrated at first by the challenging work, students feel satisfaction with having worked through the difficult problems and they report a willingness to work harder next time. Not only are students more motivated when they are intellectually engaged and challenged, but they learn more, even when they are previously low-performing (so long as they are given the necessary supports to succeed).

Want to graduate from college? Then go to the most selective college that will admit you!

The surprising finding from the new book, “Crossing the Finish Line“, isn’t that the most selective public universities graduate their students at much higher rates than less selective public universities (65% of students at the most selective schools graduate in four years, while only 33% of students at the least selective schools graduate in four years), but that students who have the qualifications (e.g., grades and test scores) to attend the most selective universities, but end up attending less selective universities, graduate at lower rates than similar students who attend the most selective universities. Students, families and counselors may think students have a better shot of graduating if they attend an “easier” school, but these data don’t support that belief.

The authors call the phenomenon of students attending schools for which they are overqualified, “undermatching” and find that undermatching is more common among students of color, low-income students and students whose parents did not attend college. The authors found that undermatching occurs not because selective schools don’t admit qualified students, but because qualified students are either not applying to or are not accepting the admission offers of the most selective schools.

Not only do overqualified students graduate at a lower rate from less selective universities, but so do students who might be considered to be a better fit for less selective universities. The authors analyzed data for black male students with GPAs of less than 3.0 (a population of students that critics of affirmative action believe are not well served by competitive colleges) and found that these students had higher graduation rates when they attended the most selective universities than when they attended the least selective universities.  While some might worry about students attending schools that are too difficult for them, these data reveal that students across the board have a better chance of graduating when they attend more selective universities. This research strongly reinforces the idea that all students should  be encouraged to apply to and attend the most competitive colleges that will admit them and highlights the need for more extensive, and perhaps more nuanced, college counseling.

Academic Rigor + Practice = SAT Success

This week the College Board released SAT data for the class of 2009. The good news is that the student population taking the 2009 SAT is more diverse than ever before – 40% of SAT takers were students of color, 36% of SAT takers would be first-generation college students, and 25% of SAT takers reported that English wasn’t their first language (or not their only first language).

The bad news is that there are still large disparities between groups of students. For example, the average score on the math section for students whose families earn between $20,000-40,000 was 475, while the average score on the math section for students whose families earn more than $200,000 was 579 and the average score on the writing section for African-American students was 421, while for White students the average score on the writing section was 517.

Strong SAT performance appears to be correlated with at least three factors: completing a strong core curriculum in high school; taking the most academically rigorous courses available and practicing for the SAT by taking the PSAT/NMSQT.

Core Curriculum in High School
Students who completed a core curriculum that included 4 or more years of English, 3 or more years of math, 3 or more years of natural science, and 3 or more years of social science or history had the highest SAT scores. For example, students who took such a core curriculum scored 46 points higher on the critical reading section than students who did not.

Rigorous Classes
Students who took AP or honors classes had higher average SAT scores. For example, students who took AP or honors math classes scored 79 points higher on the math section compared to the average math score.

Practice, Practice, Practice
Students who were familiar with the test and had taken the PSAT/NMSQT had higher average SAT scores. For example, students who took the PSAT/NMSQT scored 45 points higher on the writing section than students who didn’t take the PSAT/NMSQT.

For more SAT data, see the College Board reports.

Elements of effective academic support

More and more schools, districts and states are coming to realize what Breakthrough has known, and has been working towards, for the past 30 years – that underserved students need more access to rigorous courses. But as many point out, access without support is a recipe for failure. This month’s research brief -Elements of Effective Academic Support - synthesizes the research on steps programs can take to enhance the effectiveness of their support for students who are struggling to meet high standards.

Expanding Access to AP Classes

A recently released report from the National Governors Association(NGA) -Raising Rigor, Getting Results: Lessons from AP Expansion -refutes one of the main arguments against providing greater access to rigorous courses, namely that opening up access will necessitate diluting the rigor of the course and/or overall performance in the course will noticeably decline.

The report analyzes the results of a pilot project to expand access to AP courses in 51 high schools in rural and urban school districts and found that the number of students taking AP courses in these schools rose by 65% and the number of minority and low-income students taking AP exams more than doubled in two years. Although the percentage of students in the pilot schools earning a “3″ or higher on the AP exams is lower than the national average, the percentage of students earning a “3″ or higher in these pilot schools is increasing at a faster rate than the national average.

The report also describes the strategies states used to improve AP enrollment and success: expanding access to AP courses, building teacher and student capacity, and creating incentives for schools and students.

Factors that support academic success

In addition to the rigorous academic content that Breakthrough teachers have been teaching this summer, Breakthrough teachers have also been working hard to get their students excited about learning, instill confidence in their students and help students reimagine their futures. These efforts to motivate students, build confidence and model excellence are an explicit focus of Breakthrough programs because research shows that these “non-academic” factors can have a huge impact on student success.  This month’s research brief – Factors that Support Academic Success - explores the data and research on “non-academic” factors that support academic success and discusses the implications for Breakthrough programs.

Looking beyond high school

Education Week released it’s annual Diploma’s Count report this week, which contains tons of data, including national, state, and district-level data on high school graduation rates and trends over time. For those of you following this sort of thing – the national high school graduation rate for the class of 2006 is 69.2%, which is an increase since 1996, but is lower than the 2005 graduation rate (these graduation rates are calculated using the Cumulative Promotion Index).

The report also focuses on the challenges states and districts face in gettting their students college-ready. There is a growing policy push towards college readiness, as well as a growing recognition that high school completion does not guarantee college readiness (as evidenced by the fact that, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 42% of students entering two year colleges enroll in remedial courses.) One of the major challenges in ensuring students are prepared for college (aside from the belief that college isn’t necessary for some students)  is that there is not yet a consensus on how to define or assess ”college readiness.”

All agree that rigorous academic preparation in high school is key, but is that determined through course requirements? academic content standards? scores on tests like the ACT or SAT? How do skills unrelated to content, skills like problem-solving or time management, fit in?

An increasing number of states are grappling with these questions as they develop their own college readiness standards. Some states, such as Texas, Washington and California, have brought together educators and policymakers from the K-12 sector and the higher education sector to collaborate in developing college readiness standards. This kind of K-16 alignment will become increasingly more important if high schools are to become more accountable for student outcomes beyond high school graduation. Some advocates are already looking to strengthen high school accountability measures in the reauthorized No Child Left Behind legislation so that high school success is determined, in part at least, by how many students enroll in, stay enrolled and graduate from college. 

And speaking of success rate in college, another interesting report, Diplomas & Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t), was released last week that shows that the graduation rates of colleges vary widely, even when comparing colleges with similar students and similar admissions criteria. The report’s authors found that these disparities in graduation rates decrease for more selective colleges and that the average graduation rate is significantly higher for more selective colleges (the average graduation rate at the ”less selective” colleges is 39.6%, while the average graduation rate at the “most selective” colleges is 87.8%.) These data highlight how far we still have to go to adequately prepare all students for college and ensure they graduate once they get there.