Shadow Education, American Style: Test Preparation, the SAT and College Enrollment

Abstract

Cross-national research finds that "shadow education" -educational activities outside of formal schooling -tends to confer advantages on already privileged students. Shadow education in the United States, such as test prep for college entrance exams, has received considerably less attention. Drawing on the National Education Longitudinal Study, we analyze the likelihood of participation in, and the implications of, SAT preparation. Social class inequalities in test preparation, particularly costly SAT courses and private tutoring, are notable and have at least moderate consequences for SAT scores and selective college enrollment. We also find racial/ethnic variations in the use of test preparation. We consider the implications of these findings for understanding shadow education, stratification and educational mobility in the United States.The SAT is arguably the single most important test for American high school students. Every year, more than 2 million young people take this standardized multiple-choice test and most four-year colleges and universities use the results to evaluate applicants from more than 20,000 disparate U.S. high schools (College Board 2007;Grodsky, Warren and Felts 2008). 1 In light of the growing importance of test scores for college admission over the past several decades (see Alon and Tienda 2007), it should not be surprising that SAT preparation services have developed into a lucrative multi-million dollar industry. The Princeton Review, one of the largest companies in this market, earned $110.4 million in revenue for its test preparation services in 2009 (Princeton Review 2010a). Such preparation includes expensive private courses and coaching as well as more moderately priced test prep manuals and computer software programs.A vociferous debate has emerged regarding the "fairness" of the SAT and the extent to which it should be used in the college admission process (Thernstrom and Glazer 1999; Lemann 1999). Indeed, over-reliance on SAT scores in college admissions has broad and clear-cut implications for issues of merit and diversity in the educational sorting and credentialing process (Alon and Tienda 2007). No less profound, especially for the question of merit, is the likelihood that access to and use of test preparation vary by the family background of students (Briggs Downloaded from 436 • Social Forces 89 (2) 2001; Powers and Rock 1998). Are children from well-resourced families more likely to participate in test preparation than poorer children? Does test preparation pay off in terms of higher examination scores and likelihood of admission to college, especially selective colleges? These questions resonate with prior work on educational stratification and its roots in family inequalities, but they also speak to the relevance of "shadow education" in the United States.Shadow education -a theoretical construct most often used in comparative education research -refers to educational activities, such as tutoring and extra classes, occurring outside of the formal channels of an educ...

Analysing the Shadows: Private Tutoring as a Descriptor of the Education System in Georgia

“…Our conclusions again coincide with results of scholarly research in different parts of the world showing that examinations at different levels are major drivers of the scale and shape of shadow education in Europe (Bray, 2011), Asia (Bray & Lykins, 2012) and the United States (Buchmann et al, 2010). This study also adds to existing empirical evidence of the interrelation between high-stake examinations and the scope of PT by exploring specific factors influencing exam-driven PT in the Georgian context.…”

“…There are many characteristics of an education system that PT may respond to, including underfinancing of the system, corruption, ineffective teaching processes, and drawbacks in curriculum and assessment processes (Buchmann et al, 2010). However, the whole spectrum of different drivers related to system characteristics can be generalized as a single factor, that of the unsatisfactory quality of mainstream schooling.…”

“…Prior research on shadow education in other countries finds that PT significantly increases inequalities in systems where high-stakes testing serves as a gatekeeper to future educational opportunities (Stevenson & Baker 1992;Buchmann et al, 2010). Therefore, our study focuses on the transition point to higher education and evaluates the system against the criteria of equity by examining disparities in access to PT and the impact of PT on college enrolment in Georgia.…”

“…The growth of this phenomenon is evident in many countries of the world: across Europe (Bray, 2011), Asia (Bray & Lykins, 2012) and the United States (Buchmann, Condron, & Roscigno, 2010). The academic literature suggests that in many cases the phenomenon appears in response to certain drawbacks of formal education systems, and itself influences the system in many different ways (Stevenson & Baker, 1992, Bray, 2011, Silova et al, 2006, Baker & LeTendre, 2005.…”

The Face of Private Tutoring in Russia: Evidence from Online Marketing by Private Tutors

“…Possibly the strongest predictor is the requirement placed on students by the educational system to take standardised examinations on completion of their secondary education. Several studies show that the closer high school students are to a standardised highstakes assessment, the more likely they are to seek the services of private tutors (Ireson & Rushforth, 2004;Dang, 2007;Elbadawy et al, 2007;Buchmann et al, 2010). The above studies observe that this trend is consistent across countries, regardless of their socio-economic situation, and they include, for example, the USA, Vietnam, Egypt and the UK.…”