Recent civilrightsprojectucla_rp items

From Institutions to Individuals: A Paradigm Shift for California's Master Plan for Higher Education

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A new Master Plan for Higher Education is long overdue. California’s landmark 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education served its time well, but a new plan is needed to better serve today’s diverse and economically varied student population. The original plan sought to balance access to higher education with efficient use of state resources by formally articulating the tripartite system of the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC) and establishing a coordinating body. However, this once forward-thinking plan now helps perpetuate inequities and California’s inconsistent adherence to the plan has exacerbated its waning usefulness. California urgently needs a new master plan to sustain and strengthen California’s economic vitality and this essay outlines a new direction for a new student-centered master plan that eliminates artificial barriers and promotes equitable access and inclusive success. This new Master Plan...

Developmental Education Reform as a Civil Rights Agenda: Recent History & Future Directions for California

Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper, the authors describe the research that prompted developmental education reform approaches nationally and in California, describe the efforts in California that led to the passing of AB705 by the California state legislature, and summarize research on its implementation and outcomes. We explore the implications of this research for improving postsecondary access and success for Black and Hispanic students and English learners.

Building Pathways to Transfer: Community Colleges that Break the Chain of Failure for Students of Color

Wed, 3 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In this study, we set out to ask: (1) What causes some students to choose higher transfer community colleges than the college most students from their high school attend? (2) What do these higher transfer colleges do to effect better outcomes for students of color coming from these high need/low-performing high schools? Five colleges were identified as disproportionately transferring students of color from low performing/high needs high schools to community colleges. Three colleges were disproportionately successful with Latino students, and two colleges with African American students, but none was equally successful with both groups. Two colleges were located in urban centers (both of these were most successful with African Americans), two in urban-suburban areas, and one in a rural area of the state. The colleges ranged in size from relatively small (9500) to large (32,000). Each campus had its own success story, and some probably would not qualify today...

The Potential of California's Community College Baccalaureate for Closing Racial Equity Gaps

Wed, 3 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The bachelor’s degree remains a fundamental path to economic opportunity in the United States. Critical for policymakers, then, is ensuring equitable access to such benefits–a task often constrained by long-standing structural barriers. One of the most obvious structural impediments for bachelor’s degree-aspirants in California (CA) is the current version of the CA Master Plan for Higher Education. With a robust public higher education system that is continually forced to adapt to demographic shifts and evolving labor markets, California is an especially important region for exploring the future of postsecondary education and economic growth. This report describes what we currently know about the California Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) program that was launched in 2017 and expanded in 2021. The program shows promising outcomes and that state education leaders can leverage existing components of the state’s education ecosystem to meet the economic and social demands of...

The Role of Standardized Tests in College Admissions

Fri, 9 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This paper summarizes the history of college admissions testing in the United States; how the SAT and ACT are used today in admissions; admissions criteria and their use; the future of admissions tests and alternative approaches to admissions. It also provides thoughts on the definition of "merit" and the value of meritocracy in college admissions.

Scholarly Findings on Affirmative Action Bans

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This policy brief provides an overview of what is known about the impact of these bans nationally and complements research specific to California (see, for example, Kidder 2020). It includes: admission of highly qualified applicants, racial and ethnic diversity in higher education at highly selective and less selective institutions, ethnic and racial diversity in graduate fields of study, STEM degrees, faculty diversity, and the way that colleges and universities have attempted to compensate for the absence of affirmative action.

Proposition 16 and a Brighter Future for All Californians: A synthesis of research on affirmative action, enrollment, educational attainment and careers at the University of California

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

This policy brief synthesizes research on enrollment, graduation and career success for traditionally underrepresented students, the benefits of diverse learning environments including campus racial climate, and the need to increase diversity in UC professional and graduate schools to better serve the health and wellbeing of all Californians.

Policy Brief: Unequal Public Schools Makes Affirmative Action Essential for Equal Opportunity

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The brief first presents new facts on the extraordinary segregation of Black and Latino students in the state’s public schools. Second, it shows that those groups are doubly segregated by race and poverty at the most educationally unsuccessful schools. These children are, on average, from families with far lower income and wealth and with parents with significantly less education. School is their chance to break the cycle of inequality but they are highly isolated in the state’s weakest schools, with very few having the opportunity to attend the competitive schools which are the most equipped to prepare students for access to a very competitive higher education system. The playing field is highly unequal — so many of the advantages that come to students from more privileged families do not reflect individual skill or merit in winning the race, but a much better starting point within the unequal public schools. Extreme segregation in unequal schools means that Black and Latino...

Minority Serving Institutions under Trump’s presidency: Considerations for current policies and future actions

Thu, 1 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Minority Serving Institutions under Trump’s presidency: Considerations for current policies and future actions

In Consideration of Reinstating Pell for Incarcerated Students

Thu, 1 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

In Consideration of Reinstating Pell for Incarcerated Students

How accountability can increase racial inequality: The case of federal risk-sharing

Thu, 1 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

How accountability can increase racial inequality: The case of federal risk-sharing

Asian Americans and Race-Conscious Admissions: Understanding the Conservative Opposition’s Strategy of Misinformation, Intimidation & Racial Division

Thu, 1 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Asian Americans and Race-Conscious Admissions: Understanding the Conservative Opposition’s Strategy of Misinformation, Intimidation & Racial Division

The Impact of the PROSPER Act on Underrepresented Students in For-profit Colleges

Thu, 1 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The Impact of the PROSPER Act on Underrepresented Students in For-profit Colleges

The Baccalaureate in the California Community College: Current Challenges & Future Prospects

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Baccalaureate in the California Community College: Current Challenges & Future Prospects

Alternative Paths to Diversity: Exploring and Implementing Effective College Admissions Policies

Mon, 23 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Alternative Paths to Diversity: Exploring and Implementing Effective College Admissions Policies

Two Decades After the Affirmative Action Ban: Evaluating the University of California’s Race-Neutral Efforts

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Two Decades After the Affirmative Action Ban: Evaluating the University of California’s Race-Neutral Efforts

Texas Top Ten Percent Plan: How It Works, What Are Its Limits, and Recommendations to Consider

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Texas Top Ten Percent Plan: How It Works, What Are Its Limits, and Recommendations to Consider

The Promise and Peril for Universities Using Correlates of Race in Admissions in Response to the Grutter and Fisher Decisions

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The Promise and Peril for Universities Using Correlates of Race in Admissions in Response to the Grutter and Fisher Decisions

Can Socioeconomic Status Substitute for Race in Affirmative Action College Admissions Policies? Evidence From a Simulation Model

Thu, 20 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Can Socioeconomic Status Substitute for Race in Affirmative Action College Admissions Policies? Evidence From a Simulation Model

Asian Students and Multiethnic Desegregation

Tue, 1 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Are Asians in educational settings that are similar or different from other minorities? This study examines one key aspect of that question by comparing the level of racial segregation Asians face compared to other minority groups.

Race, Class, and College Access: Achieving Diversity in a Shifting Legal Landscape

Tue, 25 Oct 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Headlines surrounding the consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions are often incomplete and ill-informed, promoting polarization and deflecting attention from practices that promote racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity in higher education. As colleges and universities seek to educate an increas- ingly diverse American citizenry and achieve the associated educational aims, it is imperative that post- secondary leaders, policymakers, researchers, and members of the media better understand the work and challenges facing institutions in this current legal climate.

This report attempts to broaden that understanding and further much-needed dialogue on how institutions can best respond to a shifting policy and legal landscape at a time when access to postsecondary education has never been more vital and our American citizenry never so diverse. We examine contemporary admis- sions practices at four-year colleges and universities across a wide range of...

Fulfilling America’s Future: Latinas in the U.S., 2015

Tue, 7 Jun 2016 00:00:00 +0000

One in five women in the U.S. is a Latina. One in four female students in public schools across the nation is a Latina. Projections are that by 2060, Latinas will form nearly a third of the female population of the nation. Thus, the future of the nation is very much tied to the future of these women and girls.

Dismantling College Opportunity in California

Mon, 9 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Dismantling College Opportunity in California

Affirmative Action as a Wedge Issue: Prop 209 and The 1996 Presidential Election

Thu, 22 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This paper analyzes the "wedge issue" strategy from both a geopolitical and survey based perspective relying on the GIS mapping of the Statewide Database and a preelection survey that oversampled minorities in different types of neighborhood contexts. We find that although white voters overwhelmingly supported Prop 209, including independent and moderate Democrats, the issue failed to swing their vote from Clinton to Dole because it was less important than other more traditional Presidential issues such as the economy. Nonwhite and the loyal Republicans were more concerned about Prop 209 than others, but their Presidential votes were not in question.

Why High Stakes Accountability Sounds Good But Doesn‘t Work— And Why We Keep on Doing It Anyway

Thu, 7 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Civil Rights Project has been studying the results of NCLB in six states since it was passed and has previously issued 12 reports, as well as two books and a number of articles, on its implementation and the results.

Also available at http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu

Dismantling College Opportunity in California

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

These studies released today call attention to the fact that cuts to higher education impact students, their families, CSU faculty, and staff well beyond the classroom. Reduction in access, retention, and increase in cost are disproportionately impacting traditionally underrepresented students, and are being felt within their personal lives. Related Documents Dismantling College Opportunity in California

These three reports constitute Part Four of The CSU Crisis and California's Future:

Remediation as a Civil Rights Issue in the California State University System by Kimberly R. King, Suzanne...

A Public Laboratory Dewey Barely Imagined: The Emerging Model of School Governance and Legal Reform