CA Supreme Court Allows Undocumented Students to Pay In-State Tuition

Elisabeth Cutler — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:11:15 +0000

It would be great if the DREAM Act would finally pass, but in the meantime it’s good to know that this week the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld a state statute (AB 540) that enables undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at state universities if they have attended a California high school for 3 or more years and graduated from high school. In 2008, a California appeals court ruled that extending in-state tuition status to undocumented students conflicted with federal law. California is one of 10 states where undocumented students can pay in-state tuition.

Banks lose, students win

Elisabeth Cutler — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:33:44 +0000

All eyes were focused on the passage of the health care bill last week, but within the reconciliation bill that passed were some key education provisions – including restructuring the federal student loan program and greater investment in Pell grants.

The approved legislation effectively removes private banks from the federal student loan equation. Direct-lending by the federal government will take the place of lending by private banks. This move is expected to save $61 billion over 10 years, with much of that money to be invested in higher education. This legislation increases the maximum size of Pell grant awards, with increases tied to inflation, and eases the debt burden of students participating in the Income-Based Repayment Program. Those students in the Income-Based Repayment Program will pay 10% (down from 15%) of their income towards their loans and debts will be forgiven after 20 years (down from 25 years).

For more information on these changes: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/safra_minorities.html

Overcoming the Barriers to College

Elisabeth Cutler — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:19:29 +0000

Over the past 30 years, college-going has increased for all groups of students – that’s good news. The bad news is that there are still huge gaps in the rates of college attendance between groups of students. Students who would be first in their family to attend college, low-income students and students of color enroll in college at far lower rates than their peers. Even the highest-achieving, low-income students enroll in four-year colleges at about half the rate of high-achieving high-income students.

So what are the barriers to college enrollment for low-income and other underrepresented students and how can Breakthrough programs help students overcome these barriers? This month’s research brief – Barriers to College for High Achieving Students – describes the research and best practices that Breakthrough programs should consider when designing and implementing high school support services that will best prepare their students to apply to and enroll in selective four-year colleges.

Achievement Gaps at the Highest Levels of Achievement

Elisabeth Cutler — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:30:14 +0000

Achievement gaps may be shrinking overall, but new analyses of National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data show that achievement gaps persist, and in some cases are widening, among the nation’s highest achieving students.

A recent report from the Center for Education and Evaluation Policy, Mind the (Other) Gap, examines achievement gaps among high-achieving students and found striking gaps in performance. The report’s authors looked at disaggregated NAEP data and examined the disparities between underrepresented students (e.g., low-income, minority, ELL) and non-underrepresented students in the advanced levels of performance on NAEP. A few findings from the report:

only 1.7% of low-income students scored at the advanced level in 8th grade math in 2007, while the percentage of non-low-income students scoring in the advanced level in math was 10% – a gap of 8.3 percentage points
the disparity between the percentage of low-income and non-low-income students scoring at the advanced level in 8th grade math, which the report’s authors label an ”excellence gap”, has widened since 1996, when the gap between the percentages of low-income and non-low-income students scoring in the advanced level of math was only 3.3 percentage points
only .9% of African-American students scored at the advanced level in 8th grade math in 2007, while the percentage of White students scoring in the advanced level in math was 9.4% – a gap of 8.5 percentage points
this “excellence gap” in 8th grade math has widened since 1996, when the gap between the percentages of African-American and White students scoring in the advanced level of math was only 4.9 percentage points
the scale score of low-income students scoring at the 90th percentile in 8th grade reading was 288, while the scale score of non-low-income students scoring at the 90th percentile in 8th grade reading was 309, a difference of 21 points (10-12 points on NAEP is roughly equivalent to one grade level, so a difference of 21 points means that the highest achieving low-income students are about two grade levels behind the highest achieving non-low-income students)

Middle Grades: The Fork in the Road to College

Elisabeth Cutler — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:22:30 +0000

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

Elisabeth Cutler — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:17:39 +0000

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

Elisabeth Cutler — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:39:50 +0000

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

Elisabeth Cutler — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:05:11 +0000

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!

Elisabeth Cutler — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:58:29 +0000

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

Elisabeth Cutler — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:58:51 +0000

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.