Recently, ACT disaggregated its 2014 test results and college retention rates in order to get a closer look at the college aspirations and preparation levels of ACT-takers who reported a family income of less than $36,000 (approximately 24 percent of test-takers.) Overall, 96 percent of low-income students who took the ACT reported plans to enroll in college. 33 percent of these students wanted to obtain a graduate or professional degree, 51 percent wanted to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and 13 percent wanted to obtain an associate’s degree. Despite these aspirations, however, only 11 percent of low-income students met all four of ACT’s college readiness benchmarks, which include English, reading, math, and science. Even more troubling, a whopping 50 percent of low-income students failed to meet even one benchmark.
When broken down by subject, low-income students performed best in English (45 percent met the benchmark, compared to 64 percent of all students). In the three remaining subjects, however, low-income students posted far lower numbers. 26 percent met the reading benchmark (compared to 44 percent of all students), 23 percent met the math benchmark (compared to 43 percent of all students), and 18 percent met the science benchmark (compared to 37 percent of all students). ACT breaks this data down even further, isolating benchmark attainment into categories of family income below $36,000, income between $36,000 and $60,000, income between $60,000 and $100,000, and income above $100,000. Unsurprisingly, the number of benchmarks attained rose along with family income. Students from families with incomes over $100,000 were twice as likely to meet the benchmark in nearly every subject. In other words, although more students from low-income families are taking the ACT than ever before, a “substantial and persistent” performance gap remains between low-income students and their more affluent peers.
The report also draws attention to two interesting additional findings. First, low-income students who take a “core or more” high school curriculum (four years of English and three years each of math, science, and social studies) are more likely to meet each of the four benchmarks—and be college- and career-ready—than their low-income peers who opt for a different course pattern. For example, 47 percent of low-income students who took “core or more” met the English benchmark, compared to 24 percent of low-income students who took less than the core but still met the benchmark. In math, 25 percent of “core-or-more” students met the benchmark, while a dismal 4 percent of students who took less than the core met the benchmark. Second, across all benchmark attainment levels, students with higher ACT Engage College scores in areas like academic discipline, commitment to college, and social connection are more likely to remain enrolled in college after their first year than students with lower scores in those areas. This could point to the importance of non-cognitive skills—though education stakeholders have a long way to go before they agree on the best way to teach these skills to students. Overall, though, the implications of the report are clear: If we’re going to get more low-income kids ready for success in college, our K–12 system has got to get a lot better at helping students complete a rigorous curriculum and develop non-cognitive skills.
SOURCE: “The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2014: Students from Low-Income Families,” ACT (July 2015).
