Higher Education and the Color Line
College Access, Racial Equity, and Social Change
Gary Orfield, Patricia Marin, and Catherine L. Horn, editors
Harvard Education Press, 2005
This volume is a continuation of discussions that originated at the Color Lines Conference held at Harvard University on August 30 - September 1, 2003. Attended by more than 1,100 scholars and civil rights leaders, the conference featured a massive output of research on issues connected with race and education in America.
Gary Orfield's introduction summarizes the major issues raised at the conference, centering on the potential role that higher education could have in breaking down barriers of color. The book's primary focus, however, is on directions for the future, and the new research included here is organized around three themes: the "racial transformation" of higher education, the role of law and policy, and nontraditional paths to postsecondary success.
Chapter 1, "The Racial Transformation of Higher Education" (M. Kurlaender and S. Flores), sets the stage for the subsequent chapters by discussing racial and ethnic differences in educational attainment, including postsecondary completion rates. While U.S. high school completion rates for most racial and ethnic groups have improved, they are still below the national mean. Tables, figures, and explanatory text provide a good overview of this topic and the implications for future policy and research.
Chapter 2 (D. Karen and K. Dougherty) reviews the current status of higher education as a route to "social mobility," and offers proposals for reducing inequalities for students of color and those in the lower economic strata. Among these proposals is the combined mobilization of parents, peers, schoolteachers, and counselors to convince students that graduating from college is the best route to future economic success. In chapter 3, D. Price and J. Wohlford explain the use of their measure, the Educational Attainment Parity Indicator (EAPI), to assess outcomes across racial and ethnic groups. The authors suggest that more data and research is needed, with EAPI as one contribution.
A review of college tuition trends and research is the focus of chapter 4, "Can Minority Students Afford College in an Era of Skyrocketing Tuition?" (D. Heller). This concise review analyzes general findings and provides suggestions and caveats for interpreting the data. A section on recent trends in financial aid policy is followed by a discussion on the future for minority students with regard to affordable college tuition. The author makes reference to financial need as a critical criterion in giving awards. Chapter 5 (R. Deil-Amen, J. Rosenbaum, A. Person) examines two-year colleges. The authors express concern that while counselors encourage students to attend college, they often don't provide the appropriate strategies for attaining this goal. This chapter reviews two types of studies of two-year colleges: a quantitative analysis of national survey data, and a qualitative approach to case studies of 14 two-year colleges. The studies also include data on college organizations, programs, advising capacity, job contacts and services.
The research and data for chapter 6, "Diversity on Campus: Exemplary Programs for Retaining and Supporting Students of Color" (D. Whitla, C. Howard, F. Tuitt, R. Reddick, E. Flanagan) were the result of the National Campus Diversity Project. Directed by HGSE's Dean Whitla, this project surveyed colleges to determine the strategies used to recruit and enroll minorities, and to improve minority achievement. The areas investigated were the "educational capital" of a school, which determined the inclusiveness of the curriculum and academic programs for minorities; "institutional capital," to illuminate the behavior and interactions of top administrators, the decision-making process, the operation of administrative offices for diversity, and strategic planning in connection with diversity; and "human capital," to assess a school's diversity in terms of admissions, recruitment, and retention of minority faculty, staff, and students.
Chapter 7, "Potential or Peril: The Evolving Relationship between Large-Scale Standardized Assessment and Higher Education" (C. Horn) presents the possibility of test-based accountability for higher education, similar to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) for K-12. There is a strong connection between the Higher Education Act of 1998 and its reauthorization and NCLB: unless K-12 schooling improves outcomes for minority students, the minority teacher candidate pool may be adversely affected. There are problems, however, with large-scale tests, and the author argues for a new model of assessment in which racial and equity issues are taken into account.
The final two chapters consider issues of law and policy. Chapter 8, "After Grutter and Gratz: Higher Education, Race, and the Law" (A. Ancheta), discusses two major rulings of the Supreme Court. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the importance of student diversity was affirmed at the University of Michigan. In Gratz v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court did not uphold the undergraduate policy by which a point-system at this same institution was used for underrepresented minority applicants. In the final chapter, "From Strict Scrutiny to Educational Scrutiny: A New Vision for Higher Education Policy and Research" (P. Marin and J. Yun), the authors recommend ongoing evaluation of all policies within colleges and universities to ensure that issues of diversity are appropriately addressed. Thus, a climate of "educational scrutiny" must be present in order to allow a diverse student body to flourish. In this way, the authors maintain that a larger purpose will be served through the regular review of institutional priorities and the entire framework upon which the educational mission and objectives are carried out.
As Orfield states in the introduction, there is no single policy that assures equity. This edited volume builds coverage of the topic cogently and with clarity. Chapter notes and references are a rich source for further study.
Higher Education and the Color Line is available from the Harvard Education Press.
By Gladys Dratch, Head of Collection Development, Gutman Library, HGSE
