Teranishi, Robert, & Parker, Tara
Researchers: Robert TeranishiTara Parker
University Affiliation: New York University, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Email: robert.teranishi@nyu.edu
Research Question:
The extent to which there is unevenness in the rate at which individual UC campuses enroll first-time freshmen from HS that vary by racial comp.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Teacher College Record
Journal Entry: Vol. 112, No. 6, pp. 1575-1601
Year: 2010
Findings:
- The distribution of public high school graduates in California varies greatly across different sectors of higher education in the state, with enrollment of first-time freshmen within segments also varying by race.
- A great majority of White students attending the UC system came from White schools (75.6%), while few came from URM(undre represented racial minority) schools (14.9%). All students from White majority schools therefore, had a greater representation in UC FTF than students from URM schools (regardless of the race of the UC entrants).
- The relationship between levels of racial segregation of high schools and the likelihood of graduates attending individual UC campuses was statistically significant at the .05 confidence level for all campuses except for UCLA and UC Davis.
- After control variables , percent enrollment of URM was a significant negative predictor for attending UC system.
- Approximately two-thirds (65.3%) of first-time freshmen originated from White high schools, even though these schools comprised less than half (44.7%) of all graduates of public high schools in the state. Conversely, first-time freshmen that originate from URM schools is disproportionately low (22.1%), considering their equal representation of the proportion of high school graduates in the state (43.4%).
- More than three-quarters (75.6%) of White FTF compared to 66.1 percent of White graduates originated from predominantly White high schools.
- Independent effect of levels of racial segregation on the likelihood a student will attend the UC system or a particular campus within the system.
- White students from White high schools had the largest share of FTF enrollment across the eight campuses in this study. For six of the eight campuses more than 75 percent of the White FTF came from high schools that were predominantly White. This shows the extent to which the UC system has inequitable access and opportunities available for students that vary by race and high school origin.
- The impact of the racial composition of feeder schools for first-time freshmen was not uniform across the eight UC campuses in this study. Thus, while the University of California as a whole may appear to be making gains in providing opportunities for students of color when access for different groups from different high schools to individual campuses are teased out, the discrepancies are quite significant.