How Can Ohio Support High-Achieving, Low-Income Students on a Path to College?

The study by Professor Stéphane Lavertu suggests Ohio could improve its K-12 pipeline to higher education by providing HALO students with more opportunities to take advanced coursework and surround themselves with similarly high-achieving peers.

“Every year,” said Lavertu, “thousands of Ohio kids with exceptional academic ability — many from low-income households — fall off the path to college, missing out on opportunities to improve their economic well-being and, consequently, the prosperity of their families and fellow Ohioans.”

Lavertu produced the research report for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which promotes educational excellence for American children via research, analysis and commentary.

The analysis defines HALO students as those who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and whose state test scores put them in the top 20% of Ohio students.

“If HALO students’ college-going rates matched those of their peers from wealthier households, 1,742 more of Ohio’s HALO students would enroll in a four-year college every year — and 1,153 of those students would enroll in a top college or university,” Lavertu said.

Among the findings:

• HALO students are 42% less likely to attend a four-year college than their wealthier high-achieving peers, and they are 66% less likely to attend a top college.
• HALO students’ rates of participation in advanced coursework illustrate how they fall off the path to college. The rate at which HALO students enroll in high school-level math courses (primarily algebra) while in middle school is 26% lower than it is for their wealthier peers. And the rate at which they enroll in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or dual-credit options (as part of Ohio’s College Credit Plus program) while in high school is 34% lower than it is for their wealthier high-achieving peers.
• Rates of student participation in advanced coursework are the strongest predictors of whether districts and high schools get their HALO students into top colleges and universities — even more predictive than peer achievement and far more predictive than common measures of district or school poverty and spending per pupil. 

“The results suggest that Ohio could better support its high-achieving, low-income students by expanding their access to advanced coursework and high-achieving peers throughout the K-12 pipeline,” Lavertu said. “Early interventions, so that students are ready to enroll in algebra by eighth grade and in AP coursework during high school, appear to be effective pathways to get HALO students into top colleges and universities.”

Lavertu explained that enrollment in advanced courses too often requires advocacy from a child’s parents.

“Schools should automatically enroll students in advanced courses if they score well on state tests,” he said. “If schools or districts lack the capacity to offer such coursework, then they should provide parents guidance on how to can take advantage of other schooling options.”

“Policymakers could help by expanding those schooling options, such as establishing selective-enrollment magnet schools and increasing districts’ participation in Ohio’s open enrollment program. Such options could help families and schools overcome resource constraints that prevent them from providing HALO students with advanced coursework and access to high-achieving peers,” said Lavertu. “In fact, selective high schools located in city districts are some of Ohio’s most effective at getting HALO students into college. Again, however, offering families more help in navigating these and other school options is the key to realizing their benefits.”

Read Lavertu’s entire report.