Perhaps even more interesting though, is the report's data about the differences in achievement and experiences of these two groups of students once they are enrolled in higher ed. For instance:
* Pell Grant recipients at UC had only slightly lower GPAs than their wealthy counterparts and this was true in mathematics, science and engineering, and in humanities and social science fields.
* Poor students at UC generally had the same levels of satisfaction with various aspects of their undergraduate experience (such as quality of advice received) and in their sense of belonging within a campus community as rich students.
The report also found that the correlation between students being low-income AND first-generation was not as significant as once thought. 1 out of 3 Pell grant recipients had at least one parent with a college degree. Although outreach and college-knowledge orientation would be important for these students as well, traditional strategies of outreach may be less important for these students than increasing federal aid and information about affordability, applying for aid, etc.
SO, if we know that low-income and upper-income students have very similar achievement levels once they get to college, what does this say about college readiness assessments? I think namely, any assessments that ultimately measure income differences such as the normative model of testing that the Raise Your Hand group in Texas is advocating for, are pretty useless in impacting success in college.
Here is the link: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20081002151932940
Here is the link: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20081002151932940
2 comments:
Interesting. As you know, I wrote my op-ed on this very same fact--that it's harder for low-income students to get to college. Based on my experiences (and not empirical research, per say), I definitely see Conley's 'contextual skills and awareness' component of college readiness come into play. Students from low-income families typically have less knowledge about the 'systems' of college and are less likely to have parents and family to help guide them. I especially like your point about how low-income students are performing on par with 'rich kids' and connecting that to college readiness deficiencies versus college success.
Although students from poverty are performing better in public schools, there is still disparity. There are currently a number of high poverty schools that do not provide the level of education needed for students to be college ready. Jenna calls attention to the findings of this particular study revealing only slight differences in GPA. Apparently those low-income students who made it to UC were as successful academically as their more affluent counterparts. The study noted that there was a scarcity of research on the quality of the undergraduate experience of low-income students. However, this particular study found only small differences of satisfaction between the two groups. The fact that UC is a school of diversity may be a factor that would assumingly influence the results showing only slight academic and satisfaction differences between low-income students and other students.
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