March 11, 2016
Low-income students score significantly
below national averages on meeting college readiness benchmarks, according to ACT’s
recent report, The Condition of College & Career Readiness
2015: Students from Low-Income Families. Equally disturbing
is the fact that this pattern of underachievement is persistent. For the sixth consecutive year, low-income
students performed well below the national averages.
This report considers the academic
preparation and postsecondary aspirations of ACT-taking 2015 high school
graduates with reported family earnings of less than $36,000 as compared with all
ACT test takers. About 25 percent of the
1.9 million ACT-tested high school graduates fell into the low-income category.
In general, the study found that most
ACT test takers are not ready for success in college, but low-income students
display far less readiness. These academic
gaps between low-income students and more affluent students emerge early in life
and persist, and they have major consequences for future college readiness. ACT research found that “the level of
academic achievement that students attain by 8th grade has a larger impact on
their college and career readiness by the time they graduate from high school
than anything that happens academically in high school.” Wise choices about schooling, however, can
help mitigate the socioeconomic backgrounds of students. Low-income students who take a core high
school curriculum are more likely to be college-ready than those low-income
students who take less-challenging curricula.
“Taking the right high school courses is a decision that has profound
consequences, yet we aren’t seeing enough low-income students enroll” in these
demanding courses, the report found. Additionally, students, notwithstanding the
incomes of their families, show more persistence in college if they have
demonstrated higher degrees of academic discipline, commitment to college, and
social connections. Even though the
relationship between college success and noncognitive skills needs to be better
understood, there is evidence that there “are core noncognitive skills that are
strongly correlated with college success.”
These skills need to be “developed and nurtured over time.”
The report also found that
- half of the students from low-income families did not meet any of the four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks—a much higher percentage than the 31 percent of all ACT test takers who met no benchmarks;
- 20 percent of poorer students succeeded in meeting three or four ACT benchmarks, whereas 40 percent of all ACT test takers achieved three or four benchmarks. Over the past five years, neither the poorer students nor ACT test takers as a whole have increased their percentages reaching this standard; and
- the rich/poor divide is correlated with large differences in college readiness. The proportion of students reaching each of the four ACT benchmarks—English, reading, mathematics, and science— was between 38 and 43 percentage points lower for students from low-income families than for students from families with annual incomes of $100,000 or more.
The report concludes with a “call to
action” for the development of policies and practices that provide a “tightly
integrated approach to addressing postsecondary access, readiness, and success
that spans the entire education continuum.” Back to Top
Richland College, in collaboration with ED’s
Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving-Institutions (AANAPISI)
Program is hosting a two-day conference for institutions of higher education
interested in improving minority-student success. It will focus on effective
research, initiatives and programs that impact the academic success of students
at minority-serving institutions (MSIs).
The conference will be held from Friday,
Oct. 14, to Saturday, Oct.15, 2016, in Dallas, Texas. It will focus on the existing evidence
and on developing more robust methods for determining the success of minority
programs and initiatives so that colleges and universities can improve, obtain
funding, and effect change. The 2016 MSI convening is the first in a series of
four annual conferences hosted by Richland College that are designed to shift the
focus of MSIs from what they are doing
to what they are doing successfully.
The Richland College conference website,
http://richlandcollege.edu/msi-convening/, has more
information, including how to submit a proposal for a workshop at this year’s
conference. You may also contact M.T. Hickman, the 2016 MSI convening
coordinator, at Mthickman@dcccd.edu or at (972)238-6097. Back to Top
Looking for free tools to help students
understand consumer protection basics—including financial literacy—in plain and
simple language? The Federal Trade Commission has a free educational
website—Consumer.gov in English and Consumidor.gov in Spanish—to help people avoid
scams, manage their money, use credit and loans carefully, and protect their
personal information.
The site is easy to use and navigate,
and accessible to people with different learning styles and literacy levels.
Educators can access free articles, videos, and worksheets about managing money—including making a budget; credit, loans,
and debt,
how to get and
fix credit reports;
and avoiding scams
and identity theft.
Other tools include presentations and lesson plans (arriving in spring 2016).
You can also hear content read aloud by clicking the “listen” button next to
each article in either English or Spanish.
Consumer.gov and Consumidor.gov
information is free to use and share. Everything is in the public domain, so
cut and paste and use as you wish. You can download copies to hand out, link to
a page, or copy text into a newsletter. There are no copyright limits.
The FTC will also send free printed
copies of Consumer.gov and Consumidor.gov materials. Resources come in a sample pack, including all
topics in English and Spanish, or in tear-off pads of
50
for each topic. Students can refer to these one-page flyers when making
financial decisions, or complete the Make a Budget worksheet to
make their own monthly budget. Free bulk orders (including free shipping) may
be submitted at ftc.gov/bulkorder. Back to Top
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau
of Justice Assistance (BJA) has announced a funding opportunity for its Second
Chance Act (SCA) program to
provide technology-based career training to incarcerated adults and juveniles.
Authorized by the Second Chance Act of
2007, this grant program aims to facilitate the successful reentry of
individuals after a period of incarceration and promote public safety.
In addition to providing technology
career training to incarcerated individuals prior to their release from a
correctional facility, the program will design individualized reentry plans with
employment support and other post-release transition services. Training will be
in an occupational/technological field (e.g. computer programing, software
development, auto mechanics, manufacturing, etc.) in which there is a labor
demand in trainee’s geographic area.
Please read the full announcement from
BJA, and be sure to register for the information webinar on responding to the
solicitation, hosted by the National Reentry Resource Center, on Wednesday,
March 16.
Applications are due April 12, 2016.
Grant Announcement
Webinar
Registration Page
To learn more about the type of work
supported through the SCA technology-based
career training program, visit Kansas Second Chance Act Grantee Helps Secure
Tech Jobs for Women Returning Home from Prison.
Subscribers may also be interested in
the following mentoring grant solicitation:
Apply Now: Second Chance Act Comprehensive
Community-Based Reentry Utilizing Mentors
Register Now for
Webinar: Responding to the Second Chance Act Adult Reentry Mentoring Grant
Solicitation. Back to Top
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