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

ACT Research Report Series 2016 (6)Dina Bassiri, PhDAcademic Growth Patterns of First-Generation College Students in Grades 8 to 12 © 2016 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. 5881Dina Bassiri is a senior research scientist in Statistical and Applied Research at ACT, specializing in educational outcomes research and student growth models.AcknowledgmentsThanks to Jeff Allen, Krista Mattern, Justine Radunzel, Richard Sawyer, and Kate Paxton for their reviews and helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this report. ContentsAbstract .................................................................................. ivIntroduction .............................................................................. 1First-Generation College Students ...................................................... 2Data and Methodology .................................................................. 3Subgroup Definitions ................................................................... 4Predicted Test Scores .................................................................. 5Results ................................................................................... 6Achievement Differences ............................................................... 6Hierarchical Modeling Results .......................................................... 7Growth Differences ..................................................................... 8Discussion .............................................................................. 13Study Limitations and Future Research ................................................. 14Policy Implications ..................................................................... 15References ............................................................................. 16Appendix A ............................................................................. 20Appendix B ............................................................................. 22 AbstractMany college students are first-generation (i.e., their parents do not have postsecondary educations). As is well known, first-generation college students tend to have lower college admission test scores and to be less successful in completing their postsecondary programs than students whose parents have gone to college. This study investigated the extent to which gaps in their test scores might begin in middle school. Using longitudinal data of approximately 282,000 students who took ACT Explore®, ACT Plan®, and the ACT® test (in grades 8, 10, and 11/12, respectively), I examined growth patterns by parent education level from grade 8 to 10, grade 10 to 11/12, and grade 8 to 11/12. About 20% of the students were first-generation college students, 67% were non-first-generation, and 13% did not report their parents’ education level.First-generation students experienced less-than-expected growth in all four subject areas (English, reading, mathematics, and science), whereas students with a parent who had at least a bachelor’s degree experienced above-average expected growth. Most of the growth differences, while statistically significant, were small in magnitude. I also examined growth patterns of gender and racial/ethnic subgroups within parent education groups. In general, male students consistently experienced at or above-average expected growth in mathematics and science and female students typically experienced less-than-expected growth in both subject areas. Female students typically experienced higher growth in English and reading among students whose parent had at least a bachelor’s degree. Results for race/ethnicity were generally mixed, except that African American students consistently had the least growth. Notably, Asian students demonstrated significantly higher growth than the other racial/ethnic subgroups in mathematics and science; in English and reading, Asian students whose parent had at least a bachelor’s degree generally experienced higher growth than the other subgroups. 1IntroductionAs postsecondary education is becoming more crucial for career placement in the twenty-first century’s fast-changing economy, more students with diverse backgrounds are seeking a higher education. Access to college has increased substantially over the last 50 years, although student success—defined as the combination of academic success and degree or certificate completion—is unevenly distributed by socioeconomic status (Turner, 2004). That being said, first-generation students still remain underrepresented among college students. Specifically, a 2001 National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study found that although 82% of non-first-generation students enrolled in college immediately after finishing high school, only 54% of students whose parents had completed high school and 36% of students whose parents had less than a high school diploma did so (Choy, 2001). Many first-generation students come from educationally disadvantaged and/or