ACT Newsroom & Blog

Assessing Readiness for Education and Workplace Success Requires More Than Measuring Academic Skills

ACT Center for Equity in Learning’s Report Also Highlights Need for Lifelong Learning to Advance Equity

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Aug. 28, 2017—Working more than 15 hours a week while in college may do more harm than good for college students from underserved backgrounds, according to a new report from the ACT Center for Equity for Learning. The result of working more hours contributes to “disparities in students’ academic and career success” is one of the findings of “Who Does Work Work For? Understanding Equity in Working Learner College and Career Success.”

Over time, students from all backgrounds who work more than 15 hours weekly tend to fall behind in their academic progress, as well as in their earnings, debt, and early career outcomes. The stakes for underserved groups (members of racial or ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, or students from low-income families) are especially high.

The analysis by Sarah Blanchard Kyte, Ph.D., is based on National Center for Education Statistics data of a nationally representative cohort of first-time freshmen over a period of six years to understand when and why working during college contributes to disparities in students’ academic and career success. The data show that most students (59 percent) work during college.

The report suggests working a more moderate number of hours may be a key strategy for students from low-income families trying to get through and get ahead in college. It also finds that employers and others can assist by trying to adapt to accommodate the real-world demands on college-aged working learners.

The findings come on the heels of the Trump administration’s proposed budget that calls for a $500 million cut to the federal work-study program. The administration also proposes new criteria for who qualifies for the work-study program. If enacted, these changes would lead to only 333,000 students receiving work-study aid in 2018, compared to the 634,000 students receiving it in 2017, according to some estimates.

The report states: Among students working 15 or fewer hours, 76 percent work off campus and 61 percent receive no work-study. This suggests that students who work fewer hours benefit not only from fewer hours of work, but also from work arrangements that accommodate the rhythms of the semester and disproportionately, from work experiences set within their college or university.

We are in the midst of the annual college admissions cycle when many high school seniors are making decisions about where they will attend college in the fall. During this time of year I often see news stories that dismiss the role of admissions tests. Unfortunately, many of those stories are misinformed about the utility and value such assessments provide to students, schools, and colleges.
The biggest misperception I see is the argument that high school grades are the best indicator of college success and, therefore, we don’t really need standardized admissions tests. This notion is misinformed. That’s a polite way of saying it is nonsense.

Let’s start with the fallacy in the argument. High school grades are not, in fact, the best indicator of college success. Neither are test scores alone. In fact, the best predictor of success in college coursework is the combination of the two—grades and test scores together. Hundreds of independent studies have shown this to be true.

The figure below illustrates the additional value test scores contribute beyond grades.  Two students with the same high school GPA of 3.0 may have widely different probabilities of attaining a similar college freshmen GPA based on their ACT scores.  If one student had an ACT Composite score of 20, they had a 28% probability of earning a 3.0 or higher freshman GPA; if another student had an ACT Composite score of 30, they had a 54% probability.

High school grades have their limitations.  They not only reflect the idiosyncrasies of individual teachers’ grading standards and differences in course rigor, but they also contain inflation. More than 55 percent of college-bound students report having high school grades above 3.25, and 25 percent of U.S. high schools report an average GPA of 3.75 or higher for their graduating class.

We often accept the hypothesis that grades are fair and unbiased indicators of future success without much scrutiny, but grade inflation has steadily increased in the past few decades, and it has increased more rapidly for white and Asian-American students coming from more highly educated families.

Educators acknowledge that there are differences in the quality of schools and the rigor of curriculum. Test scores are one measure that helps colleges navigate and mitigate those differences, allowing them to compare the preparation of students coming from different backgrounds and different experiences. Without test scores, colleges must rely on their own subjective impressions of different groups of students and the quality of different high schools.  We know that subjective impressions and decisions have biases which are often implicit and never as accurate as empirical data.

Admissions tests provide a common metric that allows colleges to evaluate students who attend different high schools, live in different states, complete different courses, and receive different grades from different teachers. High school GPA simply cannot do that.

Good decision-making in the admissions process requires consideration of multiple sources of data; important decisions that impact students’ lives should never be based solely on one metric.  Research has shown that around 70 percent of college-bound students actually perform similarly across both high school grades and admission test scores (i.e., high, average or low on both measures).  In such situations, tests and grades provide confirmatory evidence that can increase our confidence in our decisions.

In the other 30 percent of situations, a student’s high school grades may be significantly higher or lower than his or her ACT scores. When this occurs, admissions professionals justifiably may place much scrutiny on both the test scores and grades. Perhaps the test scores become less persuasive and relevant, or possibly the grades and other factors receive additional scrutiny.  This is not a rationale to dismiss objective test scores but rather the justification for using multiple measures and professional judgment in evaluating college applicants and their potential fit and likely success at each institution. When multiple sources of information are available, basing decisions on less information is never the best solution.

Colleges, by and large, understand this. Most—despite what you may have heard—continue to require that applicants submit test scores. Colleges rank admissions test scores second in importance after high school grades earned in college-prep courses as an admission criterion. And they actually rank test scores above high school grades earned in all courses.

I often read articles that describe what admissions tests don’t do, but they ignore or lose sight of what admission tests can do.   ACT score results, for example, help with college and career planning. ACT score reports provide feedback on the types of careers and majors that best match the student’s interests and skills. They also provide an early indicator of the types of colleges at which students may be most competitive and allow parents, teachers and counselors to assist students in planning for admissions. Not every student can or should go to an Ivy League college, and admissions tests help determine potential schools and colleges that may best fit a student’s preparation and aspiration.

There is no single measure that can definitively predict future behavior by itself, and all measures have limitations.  The best decisions are made when multiple sources of data are considered. There is no reason to ignore test scores, just as there is no reason to ignore previous accomplishments, high school grades, or personal factors that have influenced a student’s development and aspirations.

Our ultimate goal should be to help students land where they have the best possibility of success, and there is no question that admissions test scores help accomplish this goal.

“Sure, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) would be a great addition, but there’s no way to add it to the plate; our teachers already have their hands full with preparing students academically, and there’s no way our board will let us direct resources to anything that doesn’t raise test scores.”

“My teachers would love to get more support for Social and Emotional Learning, and would be happy to commit more time to it, but our district office demands that our initiatives be evidence-based, and how do we really know if teaching SEL actually works.”

 How often have you heard variants of one or both of these comments in your school or district?

For educators working with students daily, juggling the myriad of demands enhancing student achievement and navigating the complex regulations burdening them, these are entirely understandable reactions and concerns. It’s not that teachers, counselors, principals, and superintendents don’t care about life skills for their students; of course they do. They know more than anyone what a difference it makes when students can manage their anger, persevere during difficulties, exercise self-discipline in their studies, and get along with others.

 What educators need is twofold.

New Markets and ACT will back entrepreneurs creating innovative pathways improving the education-to-employment pipeline

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT, a mission-driven nonprofit organization, today announced a $10.5 million strategic investment in New Markets Venture Partners, a pioneering education-focused fund with a successful 14-year track record of identifying and scaling businesses committed to improving educational outcomes for millions of students across the K-12 and postsecondary spectrum.

“Investing in innovation is central to our mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success,” said Marten Roorda, ACT chief executive officer. “We are inspired by both the impact of technology and a growing community of entrepreneurs working to address some of our most vexing challenges across the student life cycle. Our investment with New Markets is designed to support businesses that are making an impact by allowing them to invest in critical efficacy research and to attract strong teams needed to scale.”

With ACT’s support, the 10-year fund will invest in education companies with proven models of success across the early childhood, K-12 and postsecondary education landscape. The fund also intends to back emerging approaches to workforce development, hiring and training at a time when skills and equity gaps challenge employers.

“There is an urgent need for investments into new educational models with proven efficacy that address the nation’s achievement and skills gaps,” said Mark Grovic, general partner and founder of New Markets Venture Partners. “Given ACT’s long history of leadership and innovation in assessment and college and career readiness, New Markets is excited to work with them to identify and support the nation’s best education entrepreneurs working to remove the obstacles that prevent students from reaching their full potential. ACT will be a great partner both for us and for our portfolio companies.”

ACT will be the largest strategic investor in the new fund, which recently named former Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Deputy Director Jason Palmer as general partner. Other investors include the Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Network, ECMC Group and Prudential Financial.

“ACT’s strategic investment philosophy is to leverage our strong heritage as an authority in education and career research, coupled with our industry presence and influence, to enter new markets and advance our mission and long-term strategy,” said Brad Lindaas, ACT vice president for strategy. “Our investment with New Markets aligns directly with this philosophy.”

About ACT

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, ACT is trusted as a national leader in college and career readiness, providing high-quality assessments grounded in nearly 60 years of research. ACT offers a uniquely integrated set of solutions designed to provide personalized insights that help individuals succeed from elementary school through career.

New Markets Venture Partners

Founded in 2003, New Markets is one of the leading education technology-focused venture firms in the U.S. New Markets has built strong relationships with states, districts, universities and other centers of innovation that allows it to provide exceptional value to its portfolio companies. Current investments include: Graduation Alliance, a leading dropout prevention and recovery firm helping students with diplomas, credentials and jobs; Presence Learning, a pioneer in the application of teletherapy in K-12 schools; leading digital credential platform Credly; and Straighterline, which offers low cost college courses accepted by over 100 accredited partner colleges. Notable exits include Moodlerooms (acquired by Blackboard), Starfish (acquired by Hobsons) and Questar Assessment (acquired by ETS).