Combined strong academic culture and high grades more than double EXPLORE-to-ACT gains at every starting score, including moving students from an EXPLORE of 17 to an average ACT of 20.7¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
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This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Among students starting with EXPLORE 17, those in strong-culture schools with GPA 3.0+ gained 3.7 points to an average ACT of 20.7, versus 1.4 points to 18.4 for weak-culture, lower-grade peers; the pattern held at EXPLORE 14 and 19. → John Q. Easton 2008
Evidence¶
John Q. Easton 2008¶
John Q. Easton, Stephen Ponisciak, Stuart Luppescu. (2008). From High School to the Future: The Pathway to 20. Research Report, Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/high-school-future-pathway-20
q2 · i? · associational · r2
Combined analysis (Figure 8) of matched CPS students at three EXPLORE starting scores (14, 17, 19), comparing high grades/strong culture versus low grades/weak culture. Gains were 3.0 vs 1.2 (EXPLORE 14), 3.7 vs 1.4 (17), and 4.9 vs 1.9 (19); the report states students under better conditions improve by a factor of 2.5 times as much.
"Students who attended high schools with a strong academic culture (defined for this analysis as being above average on school-wide academic press for the future and in the top quarter of schools on expectations for postsecondary education) and earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better during freshman, sophomore, and junior year advanced 3.7 points on the EPAS scale to receive an average ACT score of 20.7"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Strong school academic culture (academic press and college-going culture) raises ACT scores by about 0.6 points after controlling for prior PLAN scores — related
- Higher course grades predict larger ACT gains regardless of starting PLAN score; students with Ds or Fs lose ground — a broader claim this one bears on
- CHSRI juniors' ACT scores were no different from similar students' and remained well below college readiness benchmarks — related
- A ninth-grade EXPLORE composite score of 17 is the tipping point for reaching an ACT score of 20, and can serve as an interim benchmark — related
- School academic press is positively related to school-average reading and math achievement gains in Chicago middle grades — related
- The grade students receive in the corresponding subject course is the strongest predictor of improvement from one EPAS test to the next — related
- CPS students make smaller improvements on sequential EPAS tests from grade to grade than students nationally with the same prior scores — related
- Academic achievement is more likely in classrooms that combine personalism with a strong press toward academic work — related
- Schools with stronger college-going cultures have higher student ACT scores, regardless of student backgrounds — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
culture-and-grades-combined-act-gains |
title |
Combined strong academic culture and high grades more than double EXPLORE-to-ACT gains at every starting score, including moving students from an EXPLORE of 17 to an average ACT of 20.7 |
description |
Combined strong academic culture and high grades more than double EXPLORE-to-ACT gains at every starting score, including moving students from an EXPLORE of 17 to an average ACT of 20.7 |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2008 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-09 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — john-q-easton-2008 |
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