More
than 14 percent of the nation’s high school students attend schools
where at least three quarters live in poverty. Most of these 1.8 million
pupils are students of color. These low-income students and students of
color are much less likely than their white and more affluent peers to
attend and complete college. A new analysis illustrates one of the
reasons why: These high schools with concentrated poverty are less
likely to offer the coursework students need if they are to attend and
succeed in four-year colleges. The analysis is presented in a Government Accountability Office(GAO) report released last month at the request of U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking member on the House Education Committee.
Below
are five charts from the report that shed light on the connection
between poverty, race, and college attendance. “High-poverty” schools
have free or reduced-price meal rates of at least 75 percent.
“Low-poverty” schools have rates under 25 percent.
Students of color are more likely to attend high-poverty high schools.
2. High-poverty schools are less likely to offer calculus and physics.
3.
High-poverty schools are less likely to offer Advanced Placement
courses and access to dual enrollment in high school and college
classes. High- and low-poverty schools are equally likely to offer
International Baccalaureate classes, but relatively few of either
provide access to this option.
4.
Most four-year colleges’ admissions requirements call for students to
take three math credits and three science credits in high school.
5.
Most four-year colleges require students to take a math sequence that
includes, at the very least, algebra I, geometry, and algebra II. Most
require a science sequence that includes, at the very least, biology,
chemistry, and physics. A smaller percentage of high-poverty schools
offer the math and science sequences required by most four-year
colleges.
What Can Be Done to Bridge the College-Prep Gap?
The
between-school differences in access to college-preparatory classes
present a very real barrier facing low-income communities and
communities of color. It will be necessary to address these inequalities
if our society is to close opportunity gaps. But we think it important
to highlight three points:
Access to college-prep classes must be connected to corresponding access to the supports and resourcesnecessary for students and their teachers to be successful.
In schools throughout the U.S., tracking(or
“ability grouping”) systems deny low-income students and students of
color access to college-prep courses even when those classes are indeed
offered in their schools.
The GAO report analyzes what it
calls “high-poverty schools”—those where at least three quarters of the
students live in poverty. This is itself the core problem. Any serious effort to close opportunity gaps must begin by addressing this concentratedpoverty, as well as the associated racial segregation.
In the meantime, educational leaders might look to some of the schools recognized by NEPC’sSchools of Opportunityprogram, where high-poverty high schools do offer their students a rigorous and equitable college-prep curriculum. For example:
AtRainier Beach High Schoolin Seattle (where the poverty rate is 75%), all 11thand 12thgrade students take at least one International Baccalaureate course.
AtSeaside High Schoolin
California (where the poverty rate is 74%), all students take core
courses that prepare them for admittance to the University of
California
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