An unsurprising completion gap

New data show rich and poor students complete college at starkly different rates, reports Susan Dynarski for The New York Times. Starting in 2002, the National Center for Education Statistics tracked 15,000 high school sophomores in a longitudinal study, recording academic achievement, college entry, work history, and now, degree attainment. The study divided students into four groups based on parental education, income, and occupation. Students in the lowest quartile had parents with less income and education. Students in the highest quartile had parents with the greatest income and most education. In both groups, teens aspired to college; overall, 70 percent of sophomores planned to earn a bachelor's degree. In the top quartile, 87 percent expected to earn at least a bachelor's, with 24 percent intending an advanced degree. In the bottom quartile, 58 percent of students expected to earn at least a bachelor's, and 12 percent to attend graduate school. Thirteen years later, just 14 percent of students in the lowest quartile had earned a bachelor's degree -- one out of four who had hoped to. Sixty percent in the top quartile had earned a bachelor's, two-thirds. Based on initial screenings, high school achievement and aptitude did not explain the disparity. Poor teenagers with top screening scores and rich teenagers with mediocre scores were equally likely to graduate college. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.