Circumscribed Agency: The Relevance of Standardized College Entrance Exams for Low SES High School Students

Abstract

The authors interviewed Black and Latino students from five high-poverty high schools as they attempted to make the transition into college. Their ability to exert individual agency with regard to their entrance exams and their college transition was circumscribed by the messages and behavioral norms that dominated their low-performing high school context. Students preserved their sense of academic competence, yet they drastically misestimated the relevance of their scores while remaining uninformed about their level of college readiness or how to improve it. The framework for analysis comes from three theories: college choice process, cultural capital, and self-efficacy.