Among the surprises in the results: The test takers reported as being among the wealthiest were one of the groups that saw the biggest declines. Students with family incomes of more than $100,000 saw declines in all three sections combined of 19 points from the previous year's scores. By contrast, the only income group that actually saw increases were those with reported incomes between $10,000 and $20,000. In that group, there were increases in all three sections totaling 21 points.
College Board officials say the data aren't very reliable because students report their perceptions of what their parents make. And over one-third of students didn't answer the question.
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To me, the questions pertaining to income are less impertinent than those questions pertaining to race. I leave those parts blank, for I refuse to contribute to such demographics (the only group I would identify myself as is Singaporean).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I do live in a single parent home, and until last year were in the "incomeless" category. I can't remember whether there was an option for that or not.
I know I was 30 years old before I had the vaguest clue how much money my single mother made.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a household that had constant money worries. I now know that by income, we were quite comfortably middle class, my mother just didn't know how to save/budget very well.
Certainly any data from me at that time would have been quite unreliable. I doubt I'm the only kid who grew up thinking I was a lot poorer than I actually was.
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo your feeling is that this data can't tell us anything?
Or would you "discount" it in some way?
btw, same thing here
ReplyDeleteMy dad was a farmer, and we were raised to think we had NO money at all, which to some extent, I think, was true. I know my folks got a lot of loans and advances from my dad's parents, at least.
But then when I was 18 my family had no problem sending me to Wellesley....
I was vaguely aware that my family's fortunes had changed significantly at some point, but I didn't know why or by how much, etc.