Identifying "Race Unknown" Postsecondary Students in Survey Data (original) (raw)

Because the Numbers Matter: Transforming Postsecondary Education Data on Student Race and Ethnicity to Meet the Challenges of a Changing Nation

Educational Policy, 2004

In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget revised guidelines for treatment of racial and ethnic data, adding a requirement to allow respondents to indicate more than one race and mandating a change in all federal data collection and reporting by January 1, 2003. Nearly 2 years after the deadline for implementation, however, higher education institutions had not yet been required by the National Center for Education Statistics to make the change. This article discusses the policy context for collecting and reporting data on student race and ethnicity in higher education and challenges created by the addition of the multiple race option. This article describes the current status of postsecondary racial/ethnic data collection, predicts challenges in aggregating and bridging data, and makes recommendations for policy and practice.

Student Success and Racialized Demographic Data Collection

2020

In this study, the author analyzes how the California State University (CSU) system collects students’ racial/ethnic demographic information, and subsequently how they present it alongside graduation rates. To obtain the data, the researcher used document analysis on the application form and graduation dashboard, and a semi-structured interview with a key informant with background knowledge on the CSU data collection methods. The author also compared data collection and presentation methods with other national higher education systems. Special attention was paid to the “two or more race” category, and how mixed race individuals are aggregated in such a way as to obscure the ways in which they need additional educational support.

Using national data bases to examine minority student success in higher education

New Directions for Institutional Research, 1991

This chapter describes the use of national data bases to examine access and achievement of students from minority racial/ethnic groups in institutions of higher education. Two types of data bases are described and used. Student longitudinal data bases, built from baseline and follow-up surveys of the same representative samples of students, are directly applicable to research on postsecondary attrition and persistence. We explore the sources of longitudinal data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and present early results from research (in progress) applying Tinto's (1987) model of "institutional departure''-that is, student persistence-with traditional and nontraditional engineering majors and, specifically, American Indian and Alaskan Native students. The second type of data base, also from NCES, contains data from time-lag cross-sectional surveys of postsecondary institutions. An ongoing study demonstrates how data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the successor to the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), can be used to examine trends in institutional minority enrollment and graduation rates by constructing "equity scores" for enrollment and graduation across states and institutions. These are two principal examples of the racial/ethnic data for higher education collected by NCES since 1969 (National Center for Education Statistics, 1989). The NCES data bases can be used by institutional researchers to help institutional leaders, policymakers, faculty, and the public gain a better understanding of and be able to address more effectively the continuing

Select All That Apply? The Pitfalls of Various Racial Classification Schemes in Higher Education Research

2000

In this study, we examined the statistical consequences of various racial/ethnic categorization strategies employed by higher education survey researchers, and found that both descriptive and multivariate analyses can be dramatically altered based on how a researcher classifies students of bi-racial backgrounds. We discuss the implications of the usage of the various classification strategies, and conclude with recommendations for future research.

Exploring the Gross and Relative Effects of Race/Ethnicity in Selective College Enrollment: Evidence from the United States

This research investigates the college destinations of students from different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Utilizing the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 and Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, the study finds that black and Latino students are significantly less likely than are white students to attend all types of institutions. For 2 year and nonselective 4-year college enrollment, this race effect is explained by socioeconomic background and high school achievement. For selective college enrollment, precollege achievement primarily explained the race effect. Overall, race achievement gap during high school strongly predicted the race gap in college enrollment. Low socioeconomic background of black and Latino students also explained their disadvantages in 4-year colleges and universities.