Butler, Donnell
Researchers: Donnell Butler
University Affiliation: Princeton University
Email: djbutler@princeton.edu
Research Question:
This study investigates whether there is a positive association between students' high school ethno racial composition and the ethno-racial composition of their first college preference.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: American Academy of Political and Social Science
Journal Entry: Vol. 627, No. 1, pp. 36-58
Year: 2010
Findings:
- On average, white students who attend predominantly (i.e., greater than 75 percent) white high schools select a first-preference college that is 11 percentage points more white than white students who attend minority (i.e., 25 percent or less) white high schools (74 and 63 percent, respectively).
- Hispanics students who attend predominantly Hispanic high schools prefer colleges that have three times the proportion of Hispanic classmates as the colleges preferred by minority Hispanic high school attendees (46 and 15 percent, respectively).
- Among blacks, students in predominantly black high schools prefer colleges that have twice the proportion black as the colleges preferred by students attending both integrated (i.e., 25 to 50 percent same ethno-racial group) and minority black schools (52 and 27 percent, respectively).
- Multivariate results show that even when high school and student characteristics are taken into account, support for Braddock’s perpetuation of segregation hypothesis persists not only for blacks but also for Hispanics, Asians, and whites.
- However, controlling for nearest college characteristics eliminates the association between ethno-racial composition of high school and first college preference for both blacks and Hispanics; For both white and Asian students, the association between high school and top college preference share of own group also shrinks when characteristics of nearby colleges are taken into account, but for both groups, it remains statistically significant.
- Characteristics of nearby colleges rather than a preference for segregated settings in large part explains the observed perpetuated segregation in college choice.
- Among black students, friends’ college plans are most important for those who attended majority-black schools.
- Among students who attend schools where more than half of their classmates are of the same race or ethnicity, family attendance at college choice is more important for black students than for white and Hispanic students.