Research says that family income best predicts college success. “What’s the most important indicator of whether or not a student will graduate from college? According to Vice Provost David Laude at the University of Austin (UT), it isn’t how hard a student studies or how well they did in high school.
Instead, the most important indicator of whether or not a student will graduate from college is largely out of his or her control: household income.”
“According to a 2015 report from the Pell Institute, 77 percent of students from high-income backgrounds graduated from college in 2013. In comparison, only nine percent of low-income students earned their degree that same year.”
From https://www.americaspromise.org/news/pbs-newshour-biggest-predictor-college-success-family-income
Standardized tests like the SAT and the ACT are supposed to be language neutral, but they are not. Children who grow up in homes with a comfortable family income have opportunities to visit museums, to travel, and to have educational opportunities that poor children do not have. Children with economic advantages internalize language within the context of their experiences. Thus, when they see that that language in standardized tests, they instantly understand meaning and context where a child without similar experience will not. An example from a high-stakes test development that I remember from years ago was the words “service dog.” Most economically advantaged students understood the purpose of a service dog and could answer the question. Most economically disadvantaged students could not, so the question was eliminated. But test writers have many assumptions about what test takers should know that are based on what they perceive as common language but may not be.
We all rely on knowledge of vocabulary to make meaning of what we read. When a lot of that knowledge comes from economically successful parents who not only model language acquisition but provide opportunities to expand language and understanding, children of such parents will be advantaged when it comes to standardized tests like the ACT and SAT. Does that mean that poor children without these advantages who may be very smart but not have the language skills to do well on those tests should be excluded from college?
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