Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 by Parental Education

Technical Brief2016 ACT Research & Policy© 2016 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved.6 170ACT Technical Briefs provide reliability, validity, and other psychometric analyses on ACT education and workforce development assessments, services, and programs and those of its partners. For more on the ACT test, visit www.act.org.Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 by Parental EducationDina Bassiri, PhDA recent study examined academic growth patterns for first-generation students by parent education levels, based on the ACT college and career readiness system of assessments from grades 8 to 12.1 Across subject areas, the average ACT Explore®, ACT Plan®, and ACT® test scores increased with parent education level (Table 1).2,3,4 First-generation students across all grade spans experienced less-than-expected growth in all subject areas. However, most of the academic growth differences were small (Figures 1–3).• Average growth for first-generation students across all grade spans ranged from -0.52 to -0.18 in English, -0.39 to -0.15 in reading, -0.34 to -0.19 in mathematics, and -0.35 to -0.15 in science. • Students whose parent had only some college experienced less-than-expected growth in all subject areas and across all grade spans. • First-generation students and students whose parent had some college experience both had statistically significant (p-value < 0.01) and negative mean residual scores in all subject areas across all grade spans. Yet, the difference between their mean residual scores ranged from 0.02 to 0.07 in mathematics, 0.14 to 0.34 in English, 0.11 to 0.26 in reading, and 0.11 to 0.23 in science. This shows that the difference between first-generation students and students whose parent had some college experience was smallest in mathematics.• Students whose parent had at least a bachelor’s degree had statistically significant (p-value < 0.01) and positive mean residual scores (ranging from 0.09 to 0.79 in English, 0.08 to 0.63 in reading, 0.13 to 0.71 in mathematics, and 0.08 to 0.53 in science). • Across all subject areas, it appears that growth differences by parental education get more pronounced overtime. That is, the mean residuals are larger in later grades, indicating that disparity is exacerbated over time, rather than closing or narrowing the achievement gap. Dina Bassiri is a senior research scientist in the Statistical and Applied Research department, specializing in educational outcomes research and student growth models. 2 ACT Research & Policy Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 by Parental EducationTable 1. Summary Statistics of ACT Explore, ACT Plan, and ACT Scores5GroupNTestSubject AreaEnglishMathematicsReadingScienceMean (SD)Mean (SD)Mean (SD)Mean (SD)Parental EducationNo College56,162ACT Explore14.7 (1.6)15.4 (1.4)14.4 (1.3)16.6 (1.1)ACT Plan16.6 (1.7)17.8 (1.9)17.0 (1.8)18.0 (1.6)ACT19.3 (2.6)19.5 (2.2)19.8 (2.4)19.8 (2.1)Some College76,265ACT Explore15.3 (1.5)15.8 (1.4)14.9 (1.3)16.9 (1.1)ACT Plan17.2 (1.6)18.4 (1.9)17.7 (1.7)18.6 (1.5)ACT20.3 (2.6)20.3 (2.3)20.7 (2.4)20.6 (2.1)Bachelor’s Degree65,493ACT Explore16.0 (1.5)16.4 (1.3)15.4 (1.3)17.4 (1.1)ACT Plan18.0 (1.6)19.3 (2.0)18.5 (1.7)19.3 (1.5)ACT21.6 (2.7)21.5 (2.5)21.9 (2.4)21.7 (2.2)Graduate Degree45,954ACT Explore16.4 (1.5)16.7 (1.3)15.7 (1.3)17.7 (1.1)ACT Plan18.4 (1.6)19.9 (2.0)18.9 (1.7)19.8 (1.6)ACT22.5 (2.8)22.3 (2.5)22.7 (2.5)22.3 (2.2)Note: Of the total sample of 281,854 students, 37,980 students (13%) didn’t report their parent’s education level.-.18 -.04 .09 .30 -.19 -.17 .13 .46 -.15 -.04 .08 .27 -.15 -.04 .08 .27 -.60 -.40 -.20 .00 .20 .40 .60 .80 No College Some College Bachelor’s Degree Graduate Degree Mean Residual Score Parental Education English Mathematics Reading Science Figure 1. Mean residual scores6 for grades 8 to 10 growth period by parental education 3 ACT Research & Policy Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 by Parental Education-.45 -.13 .27 .58 -.24 -.17 .16 .44 -.32 -.09 .15 .45 -.26 -.04 .17 .30 -.60 -.40 -.20 .00 .20 .40 .60 .80 No College Some College Bachelor’s Degree Graduate Degree Mean Residual Score Parental Education English Mathematics Reading Science Figure 2. Mean residual scores7 for grades 10 to 11/12 growth period by parental education-.52 -.18 .31 .79 -.34 -.27 .22 .71 -.39 -.13 .19 .63 -.35 -.12 .21 .53 -.60 -.40 -.20 .00 .20 .40 .60 .80 No College Some College Bachelor’s Degree Graduate Degree Mean Residual Score Parental Education English Mathematics Reading Science Figure 3. Mean residual scores7 for grades 8 to 11/12 growth period by parental education 4 ACT Research & Policy Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 by Parental EducationNotes1 Bassiri, D (2016). Academic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 (ACT Research Report 2016-6). Iowa City, IA: ACT.2