(NAME-MCE) Top 10 rule increases minority access to college

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Top 10 rule increases minority access to college

A Texas law that automatically guarantees admission to the top 10% of
students graduating from each high school to Texas state colleges has
been remarkably successful, writes Stephen Brown II, managing director
of a Houston-based public-affairs firm. More black and Hispanic
students are enrolling under the program, which opens up doors for
top-performing students who may not come from leading high schools.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/5149705.html

Sept. 19, 2007, 8:19PM

Top 10 percent gives equal access to flagship schools
Time to work on upping capacity and preparation

By STEPHEN BROWN II
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

As we begin another school year, now is the time to remember what
saved Texas' top 10 percent rule was the awakening of members in the
state House who could not bring themselves to vote against a rule that
has achieved its initial purpose in most districts. It's equally
important for the general public to understand its benefits, as well.
In reality, the top 10 percent rule is not where the system is broke.
In fact, it's been one of the true successes in achieving a
merit-based system that gives all Texas students access to our state's
flagship universities.

This past session, in large part based on the urgings of one
university — the University of Texas at Austin — the Texas Legislature
was well on its way to drastically limiting the impact of the top 10
percent rule by capping the number of students enrolling under it to
50 percent. UT officials failed to appreciate the overwhelming benefit
of enrolling a diverse, competitive field of incoming freshmen. In one
of the session's more dramatic moments, legislators representing
mostly rural and inner city schools defeated attempted modifications
to the top 10 percent rule.

What has been the impact of Top Ten? African-American enrollment has
almost doubled at the University of Texas, from 266 in 1996 to 400 in
2006. Similarly, Hispanic enrollment at that university grew from 932
to 1,300.

A substantial amount of growth can be attributed to this rule change,
as 75 percent of incoming African Americans and 80 percent of incoming
Hispanics were top 10 percent students.

These students have demonstrated the ability to not only meet the
expectations of academic excellence but in most cases to exceed them.

According to UT Austin's own data, top 10 percent students outperform
non-top 10 students in GPA, retention and graduation rates. Despite
some of these students not coming out of premier high schools, they
are nevertheless capable of making the necessary adjustments at the
college level. That is, exceptional students will perform
exceptionally in almost any environment that they are placed.

All students in poor performing schools and school districts deserve a
better pipeline of opportunity throughout their public school careers.

Instead of punishing the top 10 percenters from underperforming high
schools by limiting their access to UT, why not focus on rebuilding
these schools with the resources, tools and teachers needed to improve
its performance? Our state can't afford the disparity gap that exists
within our public school system. That's an issue of college
preparedness that has shown to be distinctly different from the
ability of top 10 percenters to perform (or even outperform) their
contemporaries in our state's elite universities.

While UT clamors about diminishing capacity and an inability to
attract talented nontop 10 percent students, the question remains why
UT Austin continues to fill the nontop 10 percent spaces with the
traditional suburban students that meant over 50 percent of UT's
student body came from 65 schools prior to the enactment of the top 10
percent plan. Capping the top 10 percent plan would result in fewer
talented students from rural, inner-city and border high schools and
more students from a select few suburban high schools. Further, the
capacity issue that exists at UT-Austin is one that can be addressed
without limiting top 10 percenters. Members of the House Education
Committee questioned if UT-Austin is experiencing a capacity problem
why does it only have a 47 percent classroom utilization rate?

Maximizing existing space to meet the needs of all who are qualified
and eligible to attend should be UT's first priority. The increased
revenue that the school would receive by enrolling the students to
fill those empty rooms would more than offset any additional faculty
costs. If UT Austin still remains overbooked after addressing
classroom utilization, incentives could be offered to students willing
to volunteer to attend other state universities.

The answer lies with creative solutions to open the doors of access to
higher education and not closing them on students who have proved
themselves worthy at every opportunity given.

Brown is the managing director of Capitol Assets, a Houston-based
public affairs firm and volunteer advocate for the Houston Area Urban
League.