This document analyzes whether African American students at Arlington High School are college ready using the College Readiness Indicator System (CRIS). The findings show that African American students have lower academic preparedness, as demonstrated by lower participation in college-level courses and lower SAT/ACT scores compared to all students. However, African American students showed similar rates of academic tenacity as measured by attendance and discipline. While African American student participation in the SAT/ACT was higher than all students, key college knowledge data was not available broken down by subgroup. Overall, the study concludes that African American students at Arlington High School are not college ready based on academic preparedness indicators.

1. College Readiness for All: Are
African-American Students at
Arlington High College Ready?
Sabrina Matthews
University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington High School
April 25, 2015

2. PROBLEM: Are African American Students at
Arlington High School College Ready?
CONTEXT
Arlington ISD’s goal for 2020 is that all
graduates will be prepared to excel in higher
education or their career of choice.
The term “all graduates” is inclusive of all sub-
populations including minorities and the
economically disadvantaged.

3. HOWEVER
Very few discussions (if any) are
being had about the academic
performance of racial sub-
populations at Arlington High
School

4. Literature Review
ACT - The Condition of
College and Career Readiness
2013: African American
Students
 Nationally African American
students that met college
readiness benchmarks are lower
than all student populations in
English, reading, mathematics,
and science.
 54% of students were 3+ points
below benchmark in English,
72% in Reading, and 80% in
Math and Science. 62% did not
meet a benchmark at all.
College Readiness For All: The
Challenge for Urban Schools
(Roderick, Nagaoka, Coca)
 College aspirations for all US high
school students have increased
across all sub-groups over several
decades, however disparities
remain in regards college readiness
and enrollment
 In order for aspirations to turn into
attainment, high schools and
teachers need clear indicators of
college readiness and clear
performance standards for those
indicators

5. Literature Review
Building and Implementing a
College Readiness Indicator
System: Lessons for First Two
Years of the CRIS Initiative
 College Readiness Indicator
System (CRIS) is a system that
aims to address the main
dimensions of college readiness
to support and significantly
increase the number of students
who graduate from high school
college ready
 Indicators include:
 Academic Preparedness: key
academic content knowledge and
cognitive strategies needed to
succeed in doing college level
work.
 Academic Tenacity: Underlying
beliefs and attitudes that drive
student achievement.
 College Knowledge: The
knowledge base and contextual
skills that enable students to
successfully access and navigate
college.

6. Individual-Level Indicators
of CRIS
Academic Preparedness College Knowledge Academic Tenacity
• GPA
• No Failures in core
subjects
• Performance on HS
exit and benchmark
exams
• Participation in college
level course work/
college prep
curriculum
• SAT/ACT Score
• Knowledge of
admission criteria,
application process,
and financial
requirements for
college.
• Completion and
submission of college
applications
• Post-graduation plan
• Independent Study
Skills
• SAT/ACT Participation
• Attendance
• Disciplinary violations
• Self-discipline
Bolded terms are the indicators utilized in project due to data access.

7. Purpose
Arlington ISD’s goal is to ensure ALL students
are college and career ready BUT according
to ACT report, nationally African American
Students are not college ready.
Utilizing CRIS, I will determine if the African-
American Students at Arlington High School
are college ready.

8. Methods
The following displays the data sources that
were utilized to address each CRIS indicator:
Academic preparedness
 2013-14 Academic Performance Report.
Academic Tenacity
 2013-14 Academic Performance Report.
 2013-14 12th Grade Student Exit Survey
 2011-15 Advanced Placement Enrollment Report
College Knowledge
 2013-14 12th Grade Student Exit Survey

9. Findings-Academic Preparedness
 African American students have the lowest participation in college
level/college preparatory course work compared to all sub-populations.
 The percent of African -American students that met criteria on the
SAT/ACT is lower than all students that met criteria on the SAT ( score
of 1110) and ACT score of (24).

10. Findings-Academic Preparedness
African-American
students at Arlington
High School lowest
percentage of students
at Satisfactory
performance on the
State of Texas
Assessment of
Academic Readiness
(STAAR) than all
students.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
English
I/Reading I
English
II/Reading II
Biology U.S. History Algebra I
% Satisfactory Performance on
STAAR
All Students African-American

11. Findings Academic- Tenacity
 Disciplinary actions and attendance rates of African-American
students are similar to other sub-populations.
Disciplinary Referrals
Caucasion/White Hispanic/Latino
African American/Black Asian
Native American Other
0
20
40
60
80
Attendance Rate
Attendance Rate (%)
All Students
African-
American

12. Findings-College Knowledge
The percentage of African-
American students to take
the SAT/ACT is higher than
the all student participation.
 Unexpected Finding
 The 2013-2014 12th Grade
Student Exit Survey addresses
whether students submitted
college applications, if
students ever met with
advisors, student study skills,
and the admission/financial
process for college compared
to the past year.
 This data is not broken down
into sub-populations even at
the district level. Therefore not
able to be utilized in study.0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Class of 2013 Class of 2012
SAT/ACT Tested
All Students Africac-American

13. Conclusion
• Utilizing CRIS it was determined that African-American
student population at Arlington High School are not
academically prepared for college when compared to all
students.
• When using discipline and attendance as a measure,
African-American students showed the same academic
tenacity.
• The percentage of African-American students to participate
in the SAT or ACT was higher when compared to all student
groups indicating college knowledge.
Therefore African-American students at Arlington
High School are NOTCollege Ready

14. Implications/Future Research
 Campus should define college-readiness and establish a
measurement tool to determine college/career readiness in
students.
 Incorporate sub-populations when collecting district and
campus level data to address disparities in student
populations.
 Utilize rigorous data-driven instruction that is aligned to
state and college readiness standards to ensure ALL students
are learning on or above level.
 Encourage African-American students to participate and
complete college preparatory courses.

15. References
 2013-14 Texas academic performance reports. (2014). Retrieved April 29,
2015, from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/tapr/2014/
 African american students: The condition of college and career readiness
2013. (2013). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www.act.org/newsroom/data/2013/states/africanamerican.html
 Gurantz, O., & Graciela, B. (2012). Building and implementing a college
readiness indicator system: Lessons from the first two years of the CRIS
initiative. VUE, 1-15.
 Melissa Roderick, Jenny Nagaoka, & Vanessa Coca. (2009). College readiness
for all: the challenge for urban high schools. The Future of Children, 19(1),
185-210.