Why Is Student Progress in High-Poverty Schools Frequently Not Sustained?
While there are decades of research on the potential success of students in high-poverty schools, those gains are too seldom sustained past high school graduation. In this November 5, 2025 podcast from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute (The Leaky College Pipeline for High-achieving, Low-income Students, by Michael J. Petrilli), the author paints a bleak picture about the difference between the success of short-term interventions to promote student success and the failure of schools to sustain that success so that it results in higher levels of college enrollment and completion.
This study focused on high-achieving low-income students in Ohio. The study considered students with very similar levels of achievement and followed them into their post-secondary educational choices. It’s not a lack of achievement or intelligence, but a lack of expectations and advanced learning opportunities for high-achieving low-income students.
Findings:
– High school students are significantly less likely to take advanced classes, including International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses.
– In middle schools, where algebra is the launching pad for advanced classes in high school, fewer achieving high-poverty students take algebra than their peers with the same academic potential. These students are outnumbered by a ratio of 6 to 1 in college attendance, and this is compared to students who had the same achievement in elementary school.
Solutions:
– Focus on advanced education in elementary school.
– Universal screening for gifted and talented programs.
– Promote automatic enrollment into advanced classes based on prior year test scores. This is in contrast to enrollment that depends on student volunteering, parent recommendation, or teacher nomination.
– Expand AP and other advanced programs. Include financial incentives for teachers who teach these classes, particularly if these teachers need to travel from one school to another to cover the demand for these classes.
– Allow students to cross district boundaries to take advantage of advanced classes.
– Increasing college participation by high-achieving low-income students can have a significant life-long impact on the employment opportunities and financial stability of these students and their families.
Here’s the link: https://fordhaminstitute.org/ohio/research/leaky-pipeline-assessing-college-outcomes-ohios-high-achieving-low-income-students
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