Low-income Students Research Articles

English Learner as an Intersectional Identity

ABSTRACT English learners’ (ELs’) opportunity gap in U.S. K–12 schools is well known. While many of us in the field of applied linguistics are committed to achieving greater parity for ELs, the field as a whole has a propensity to approach this opportunity gap by addressing ELs’ linguistic needs. This response, however, is siloed in nature, resulting in tunnel vision that reduces ELs into a single identity—that is, language learners—when in fact they are also at the intersection of multiple identities, such as students of color, low-income students, and students with disabilities. By applying an intersectionality lens to three examples from research and practice to illustrate how ELs’ intersectional identities create inequalities beyond language barriers, we urge those in the field of applied linguistics to collaborate with educators, policymakers, and researchers in other fields to address the linguistic and nonlinguistic barriers that ELs face in their educational journey.

From privileges to rights: changing perceptions of racial quotas in Brazil

ABSTRACT This article analyzes how the implementation of affirmative action in Brazil has changed the way people, in particular potential beneficiaries of racial quotas, understand race, inequalities, and rights. Drawing on an original collection of essays written by low-income students in a college preparatory course in Rio de Janeiro, and comparing essays written nearly twenty years apart (2003 and 2022), it shows that potential beneficiaries have become more critical of the often-repeated notion that Brazil is a “racial democracy”. It also finds that, contrary to their 2003 counterparts, potential beneficiaries in 2022 rarely express fear that racial quotas would increase prejudice against black people. Finally, students in 2022 commonly describe racial quotas as a means of reparation and a right the state should protect, a framing nearly absent in 2003. These findings highlight the transformative potential of affirmative action in creating a new legal consciousness among historically stigmatized groups.

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

Effects of Maturing Private School Choice Programs on Public School Students

Using a rich dataset that merges student-level school records with birth records, and leveraging a student fixed effects design, we explore how a Florida private school choice program affected public school students’ outcomes as the program matured and scaled up. We observe growing benefits (higher standardized test scores and lower absenteeism and suspension rates) to students attending public schools with more preprogram private school options as the program matured. Effects are particularly pronounced for lower-income students, but results are positive for more affluent students as well. Local and district-wide private school competition are both independently related to student outcomes. (JEL H75, I21, I22, I28)

Test-based accountability and educational equity: Breaking through local district politics?

A central premise of the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was that test-based accountability systems would break through local politics and lead districts to prioritize the needs of disadvantaged students. Yet, no research examines the equity-related effects of NCLB’s district accountability system. Focusing on a state with rich data, we find that negative ratings (which put districts at higher risk of state intervention) led to the disenrollment of economically disadvantaged students (ostensibly leading to a decline in income-based school segregation) and a corresponding (suspicious) jump in test scores. Negative ratings also led to changes in collectively bargained personnel policies and the replacement of teachers in disadvantaged students’ schools. There was no redistribution of funds toward disadvantaged students’ schools, however, and likely minimal impact on district elections. The results put into question whether a shift in district governance helps explain NCLB’s well-documented positive impacts on low-income students’ academic outcomes.

An online research immersion program to increase introductory science student confidence and science identity.

The number of undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds enrolled in science and technology-related courses has increased over the past 20 years, but these students' persistence in STEM majors until graduation still lags behind the overall college population. Interventions like exposure to independent research, instruction using active learning, and connection within a scientific community have been shown to increase persistence and the development of science identity, especially for underrepresented minority students (URM), students with high financial need, and first-generation college students. However, exposure to research for introductory students can be expensive or challenging for an institution to provide and for some students to access. We designed Wintersession Research Week as a remotely taught, collaborative introduction to independent research for beginning undergraduate students, prioritizing those traditionally underrepresented in STEM (low income, first generation, and URM students). Because this program utilized graduate students as research mentors, we also provided training and mentoring to develop the next generation of science faculty. We found that the program helped undergraduate student participants to develop a scientific identity and increase confidence in their skills, and that graduate students found the experience valuable for their future teaching. We believe that elements of this program are adaptable to both virtual and in-person settings as an introduction to research, mentorship, and teaching for students and mentors.

The Impact of Academic Library Expenditure on College Graduation Rates

Some higher education institutions have announced plans for cutting funding for academic libraries in response to fiscal difficulties. However, academic libraries provide essential resources and experiences for college students, and a number of studies have investigated how institutional expenditure for academic libraries is associated with student graduation. Yet, these studies are limited in that they only examine cross-sectional correlations, do not control for other factors that can influence student success, or only examine a relatively small number of institutions. To address these limitations, we use longitudinal data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems (IPEDS) to analyze the relationship between institutional expenditure on academic libraries and student graduation rates. In particular, we examine how library expenditure is associated with not just overall graduation rates, but the graduation rates of low-income students (i.e., recipients of the federal Pell Grant). Preliminary results indicate that institutional expenditure for academic libraries is positively associated with both overall student graduation rates and the graduation rates of low-income students, net of multiple institutional characteristics linked to graduation rates. Our findings support the importance of investing in academic libraries for student success and evidence against the budget cut of academic libraries. Our study also sheds light on academic libraries’ relevance for the performance of low-income students in universities.

Social Media and College-Related Social Support Exchange for First-Generation, Low-Income Students: The Role of Identity Disclosures

First-generation, low-income (FGLI) students face barriers to college access and retention that reproduce socioeconomic inequities. These students turn to social media for college-related social support. However, while students can reap benefits from social media, it is crucial to investigate under what conditions social media interactions facilitate or hinder students' access to college-related social support. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 FGLI students in the United States who applied for college in the 2020-2021 application cycle. Our findings illustrate how FGLI identity disclosures on social media can facilitate access to college-related social support when met with supportive or neutral responses, while stigmatizing reactions can disrupt access to these benefits. We draw from the lenses of the "doubly disadvantaged'' and "privileged poor'' used to describe FGLI students in post-secondary education to argue that engaging in FGLI identity disclosures on social media can help students become academically and psychosocially prepared for collegiate environments. Finally, we discuss the implications of this work for theoretical frameworks centering social media and social support, consider when stigma might lead to support space abandonment, and describe the potential implications for social media design.

Preparing for the STEM Pathways? Dual Enrollment and College Major Choice in STEM

ABSTRACT Guided by the STEM pathway model, our study hypothesizes that dual enrollment can serve as an effective strategy to improve and equalize college students’ access to STEM programs. We analyzed a nationally representative dataset to disaggregate the influence of dual enrollment course-taking (i.e. participation, dual credits in Math/Science, number of dual credits) on students’ STEM major selection, with a focus on traditionally underrepresented students in STEM. We found that taking dual enrollment courses in general is positively associated with the probability of majoring in STEM, especially at the baccalaureate level. However, taking dual enrollment courses in Math/Science is not associated with the probability of majoring in STEM when compared with students with no dual enrollment courses in Math/Science. The relationship between dual enrollment course-taking and STEM outcomes varies across different student background groups: It is consistently positive for students of higher household income to major in STEM but not statistically significant for low-income students. We discussed practical implications and future research with a focus on the role dual enrollment plays in advancing postsecondary STEM access.

Elementary school teachers’ perspectives about learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

How did school closures affect student access to education and learning rates during the COVID-19 pandemic? How did teachers adapt to the new instructional contexts? To answer these questions, we distributed an online survey to Elementary School teachers (N = 911) in the United States and Canada at the end of the 2020–2021 school year. Around 85.8% of participants engaged in remote instruction, and nearly half had no previous experience teaching online. Overall, this transition was challenging for most teachers and more than 50% considered they were not as effective in the classroom during remote instruction and reported not being able to deliver all the curriculum expected for their grade. Despite the widespread access to digital technologies in our sample, nearly 65% of teachers observed a drop in class attendance. More than 50% of participants observed a decline in students’ academic performance, a growth in the gaps between low and high-performing students, and predicted long-term adverse effects. We also observed consistent effects of SES in teachers’ reports. The proportion of teachers reporting a drop in performance increases from 40% in classrooms with high-income students, to more than 70% in classrooms with low-income students. Students in lower-income households were almost twice less likely to have teachers with previous experience teaching online and almost twice less likely to receive support from adults with homeschooling. Overall, our data suggest the effects of the pandemic were not equally distributed.

Financial aid uncertainty and low-income students’ higher education preferences

Low-income students’ preferences for higher education might depend on the uncertainty of financial aid. Using a time discontinuity design, this paper exploits the unanticipated cancellation of a nationwide Colombian merit and need-based scholarship, called Ser Pilo Paga, to study its consequences on students’ preferences for higher education. Preferences are measured using a discrete choice experiment administrated to 949 low-income high school students in 2018. The findings reveal that the scholarship’s cancellation reduced higher education ambitions among low-income students due to the decreased interest in both financial aid and high-quality universities. The effects were particularly concentrated on income-eligible individuals who were more likely to obtain the scholarship, as their choices for financial aid and high-quality institutions declined by 15 to 50% of the baseline preference.

Leveraging Cultural Wealth, Identities and Motivation: How Diverse Intersectional Groups of Low-Income Undergraduate STEM Students Persist in Collegiate STEM Environments

Grounded in a conceptual framework incorporating intersectionality, motivation, self-determination, and self-efficacy, this empirical study investigated how individuals’ identities, mindsets, and resources in educational environments intentionally cultivated to support their decision-making, development, and connections in the science community, can significantly increase the recruitment, persistence, and success of low-income, academically talented science students from diverse backgrounds. Several factors—academic performance in coursework, self-image, self-agency, financial support, and social integration in the science culture—continue to significantly impact student retention and persistence in STEM disciplines. Many of these factors are negatively affected based on a students’ intersecting identities, which can be detrimental to their academic success if not addressed. We found that additional considerations to factor in concerning low-income students from diverse backgrounds that is pertinent to supporting their persistence and success in the postsecondary STEM educational context.

The Power of Certainty: Experimental Evidence on the Effective Design of Free Tuition Programs

Proposed “free college” policies vary widely in design. The simplest set tuition to zero for everyone. More targeted approaches limit free tuition to those who demonstrate need through an application process. We experimentally test the effects of these two models on the schooling decisions of low-income students. An unconditional free tuition offer from a large public university substantially increases application and enrollment rates. A free tuition offer contingent on proof of need has a much smaller effect on application and none on enrollment. These results are consistent with students placing a high value on financial certainty when making schooling decisions. (JEL H52, H75, I22, I23, I28, I32)

The Social Hierarchy of India through the Lens of Capitalism from Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger"

This research article will focus on the socioeconomic and political conditions of present India through the lens of Capitalism from the work of Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger”. The main character in this book comes from a lower social level and works intelligently to become well-known in society. With the help of the figure Balram Halwai, the postcolonial period of India’s class inequalities was depicted. The current approach of introducing equality in the social structure is required to address the capitalism issue in contemporary India. The social hierarchy needs to be eliminated from society. By elaborating on Indian philosophical notions of living, Aravind Adiga also included philosophical elements in this work. He also discussed the state of Indian education, which forced many low-income students to drop out in the middle of their studies to care for their families. Children who receive an Indian education also acquire incomplete knowledge. The social hierarchy and structure of postcolonial India are discussed in this article.

Federal Servants of Inclusion? The Governance of Student Mobility in Canada and the EU

Student mobility constitutes a core pillar of higher education internationalisation. Reflecting wider global trends, Canada and the EU have increasingly prioritised equity and inclusion in their student mobility programmes. Canada’s Global Skills Opportunity programme, launched in 2021, provides federal funding specifically to low-income students, students with disabilities, and Indigenous students. The EU’s Erasmus Programme has a long-standing tradition of community-building through inclusive student mobility. This article traces the principle of inclusion as a mobility rationale and analyses the role of the federal government in Canada and the European Commission in the EU supporting it. Using a policy framing lens, this study compares problem definitions, policy rationales, and solutions for federal/supranational involvement in student mobility. Findings show that inclusiveness has been an underlying silent value, yet it has mostly supported larger political and economic goals in both contexts.

Student-ready critical care pedagogy: a student-centred instructional approach for struggling students

ABSTRACT This qualitative case study proposes a pedagogy to support the academic success of students from historically excluded groups (HEGs), e.g. first-generation students, low-income students, and Students of Color, who are struggling academically. We adopted a ‘student-ready’ approach (McNair et al. 2016), which foregrounds institutional responsibility for meeting the needs of students. This study took place at a large, public, research-focused institution in the US. Undergraduate students from HEGs nominated faculty who they believed supported their academic success. Nominated instructors participated in semi-structured interviews and classroom observations to share more about their teaching. Data were analysed and categorized into themes: Creating a Culture of Learning, Demonstrating Care, and Meeting Students Where They Are. These themes were then applied to create a model of Student-Ready Critical Care Pedagogy, a teaching approach for working with struggling students.

Policy transfer and policy experimentation in China: the case of state-sponsored student loans

ABSTRACT As part of efforts to mass higher education, China introduced state-sponsored student loans around the turn of the century, a progressive social policy reflecting the country’s move toward increased marketization and decentralization in delivering educational services. The loan scheme, open to low-income students, is a voluntary policy transfer that draws on lessons from abroad. Unexpectedly, it stalled soon after implementation. Subsequent local experimentation brought it back on track. This article uses the Dolowitz and Marsh policy transfer framework to identify and explain the unsuccessful transfer. It also uses Heilmann’s model to examine the local experimentation that brought about institutional change nationwide. The article argues that policy transfer, in conjunction with policy experimentation, provides practical frameworks for capturing the subtleties of China’s hierarchical governance and the different complications experienced throughout the policy process. The article thus contributes to the integration of policy transfer and experimentation as a broader toolbox for policy analysis.

The maintenance of classism in medical education: "time" as a form of social capital in first-generation and low-income medical students.

As first generation (FG)/low income (LI) students enter the elite profession of medicine, schools make presumptions about how FGLI students allocate their time. However, their lives are markedly different compared to their peers. This study argues that while all forms of capital are necessary for success, time as a specific form keeps classism in place. Using constructivist grounded theory techniques, we interviewed 48 FGLI students to understand where, why and how they allocated their time, and the perceived impact it had on them. Using open coding and constant comparison, we developed an understanding of FGLI students' relationship to time and then contextualized it within larger conversations on how time is conceptualized in a capitalist system that demands time efficiency, and the activities where time is needed in medical school. When students discussed time, they invoked the concept of 'time famine;' having too much to do and not enough time. In attempting to meet medicine's expectations, they conceptualized time as something that was 'spent' or 'given/taken' as they traversed different marketplaces, using their time as a form of currency to make up for the social capital expected of them. This study shows that because medical education was designed around the social elite, a strata of individuals who have generational resources, time is a critical aspect separating FGLI students from their peers. This study undergirds the idea that time is a hidden organizational framework that helps to maintain classism, thus positioning FGLI students at a disadvantage.

Low-income students thriving in postsecondary educational environments.

Low-income students thriving in postsecondary educational environments.

Trends in arts education in United States public schools from 1988–2018

There is scant evidence on the level of arts education available in U.S. public schools and how this has changed over time. In this paper, I present new evidence on broad trends in arts education in U.S. public schools from 1988 through 2018 using nationally representative data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and the National Teachers and Principals Survey (NTPS) and administrative data from North Carolina. Both the SASS/NTPS and North Carolina data cover several school years after the Every Student Succeeds Act was passed in 2015, which may have impacted arts education. I first calculate the percentage of full-time teachers whose main teaching assignment is in the arts. In the aggregate, about 5.5% of public school teachers are arts teachers, and this has been stable for decades. There are substantial regional differences that have also changed little. I also find substantial and persistent differences by school characteristics: Schools with higher percentages of both Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and low-income students consistently have a lower percentage of full-time arts teachers than other schools. I also examine of school-level and student-level trends in arts access using administrative data from North Carolina from 1998–2013. I find narrowing gaps in the presence of licensed art teachers between low-performing schools and other schools, and high-BIPOC schools and other schools. I also assess access to the arts at the student level from 2007–2018. I find narrowing gaps in arts enrollment between White students and Black and Hispanic students, consistent with the school-level trends I report. This descriptive evidence from both national and North Carolina data improves our understanding of how arts have been prioritized by schools in recent decades and highlights gaps in access students have had to the arts over time.