Benchmarks of College Readiness and Differences by Race and Institutional Selectivity

• In Event: 33.079 - Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: 33.079-13 - Examining Notions of College Readiness

Abstract

The public conversation about college readiness tends to be dominated by the overly simple benchmarks set by the College Board and the ACT. Perhaps the greatest flaw of these benchmarks is their insensitivity to race and institutional selectivity: there is no reason to assume that the same benchmark would apply to students of different races at schools of varying selectivity. Analyzing the nationally representative NPSAS data, we use traditional high school performance measures to establish a simple, yet nuanced, measure of college readiness, with particular attention given to how these measures may be differentially predictive for students from different backgrounds attending different institutions.

Authors

• Daniel Klasik, The George Washington University

• Terrell Lamont Strayhorn, The Ohio State University