IOWA CITY, Iowa—A record number of students from low-income families took the ACT® test, but their progress toward reaching key college readiness benchmarks remained unchanged and significantly below national averages for the sixth consecutive year.
The findings are from a new report, The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2015: Students from Low-Income Families, released today by ACT and the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP). The report focuses on the academic preparation and postsecondary aspirations of 2015 high school graduates who took the ACT and reported annual family earnings of less than $36,000. Nearly one in four of the 1.9 million ACT-tested 2015 high school graduates identified themselves as low income.
“Until these results improve, many students from poorer families are likely destined for a life of financial struggle and lapsed educational plans,” said Jim Larimore, ACT chief officer for the advancement of underserved learners. “Beyond lamenting the well-known systemic challenges these students face, we are committed to acting on our knowledge, through research partnerships with organizations like NCCEP and our own initiatives, to expand access to rigorous coursework and provide free resources to students in need.”
ACT recently began offering students from low-income families free access to the new version of ACT Online Prep™ that launched in December. Beginning with the February ACT test, students receiving test fee waivers from ACT—more than 700,000 last year—are automatically granted access to ACT practice questions, personalized review lessons and study plans, interactive games and a mobile app. In addition, the “Get Your Name in the Game” initiative from ACT has helped nearly 800,000 underserved high school seniors connect with more than 300 colleges at no expense to students or colleges.
Key report findings include:
- Half at zero: Half of students from poorer families failed to meet any of the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, compared to 31 percent of all students.
- Falling short of peers: Twenty percent of low-income students met three or four ACT benchmarks—compared to 40 percent of all students nationally. For the past five years, neither group has made progress in meeting this strong level of college readiness.
- Rich/poor divide: The proportion of students reaching each of the four ACT benchmarks—English, reading, mathematics, and science—was between 38 to 43 percentage points lower for students from poorer families when compared to those from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.
Despite trailing their peers academically, 96 percent of students from low-income families aspire to earn a postsecondary degree. According to ACT and NCCEP, ensuring that more students meet this goal requires supports and interventions that extend beyond the classroom, along with coordinated efforts across various sectors of education.
“It’s no secret that students and families of all income levels see higher education as a pathway to success,” said Ranjit Sidhu, president and CEO of NCCEP, the national nonprofit organization that provides leadership on behalf of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) community. “Despite the alarming findings expressed in this report, we know that when the right partnerships, practices, and supports are in place, we can substantially increase the number of low-income students who will achieve their college and career aspirations.”
ACT and NCCEP based many recommendations in the report on lessons learned from the federally funded GEAR UP initiative, a highly competitive grant program designed to increase the number of low-income students nationally who are prepared to succeed in higher education.
While the GEAR UP program can be tailored to meet the unique needs of communities, implementing the recommendations shared in this report has led to impressive outcomes across the college-to-career continuum. Here are some examples:
- Kentucky: The Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s statewide GEAR UP program increased the number of participating students meeting ACT College Readiness Benchmarks between the 8th and 10th grades by 11 percentage points in English, 3 percentage points in math, 14 percentage points in reading, and 3 percentage points in science. Low-income schools served by the Kentucky GEAR UP initiative ultimately saw their college-going rates increase by 22 percentage points.
- Rhode Island: Students from the College Crusade of Rhode Island’s GEAR UP program enrolled in postsecondary education at a rate that was 15 percentage points higher than a statistically matched comparison group.
- Illinois: The GEAR UP Chicago program, led by Northeastern Illinois University, nearly eliminated the postsecondary persistence gap, by posting a first-to-second-year persistence rate for their low-income students that nearly matches the national average for all students, regardless of income.
- Washington: The statewide GEAR UP project, led by the Washington Student Achievement Council, saw its participating students earn a postsecondary degree or certificate at a rate of 6 percentage points higher than a matched comparison group.
While these highlights illustrate a small fraction of the GEAR UP community, they demonstrate that when community and education leaders collaborate on a systemic approach for improving the college readiness of low-income students, remarkable progress can be made, according to ACT and NCCEP.
About this research:
The Condition of College & Career Readiness 2015: Students from Low-Income Families is the annual report from ACT and NCCEP on the progress of US high school graduates relative to college readiness. This year’s report shows that 59 percent of students in the 2015 US graduating class took the ACT test, up from 47 percent in 2010. The increased number of test takers over the past several years enhances the breadth and depth of the data pool, providing a more comprehensive picture of the current graduating class in the context of college readiness as well as offering a glimpse at the emerging educational pipeline. During ACT registration, students are asked to provide information about family income, high school courses taken, and postsecondary aspirations.
Ongoing research on GEAR UP from ACT and NCCEP:
Given our shared mission and commitment to evidence and partnerships, ACT and NCCEP joined with 13 GEAR UP state grantees to form the College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium (CCREC), an ambitious, multiyear project to examine which interventions are most effective in attaining educational outcomes from the middle grades to college. Throughout the next several years, ACT and NCCEP will share outcomes to spur dialogue and take action on educational practice and policy. The CCREC reports are available here: www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/CoreResearchReport.pdf. More information about CCREC is available here: www.edpartnerships.org/college-and-career-readiness-evaluation-consortium-ccrec.
About NCCEP:
NCCEP is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization dedicated to the fundamental principle that every child deserves an equal chance to obtain a high-quality education. NCCEP establishes community-education partnerships, strengthens research-based college access programs, and develops tools and resources to provide educational opportunities for all students. For more information about NCCEP or GEAR UP, please visit www.edpartnerships.org.