(NAME-MCE) The Latino Completion Gap

[Anselmo Villanueva]

The Latino Completion
Gap


Analysis shows graduation rates of Latino college students lag those of
white peers at institutions of all levels of institutional  selectivity --
but that colleges' practices matter.

Report and other information available at http://www.aei.org/paper/100093

The Latino Completion Gap, Examined
March 18, 2010  Doug Lederman  Inside Higher Ed

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/18/hispanic

With Latino Americans expected to make up more than 20 percent of the
college-age population by 2020, most policy makers recognize that it will be
nearly impossible to meet President Obama's college completion goals without
significant improvement in the graduation rates of Hispanic students, which
have long lagged those of other racial and ethnic groups, as numerous
studies have documented<http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/taking-stock-latinos-higher-education>
.

A new analysis <http://www.aei.org/HispanicGrads> digs more deeply into the
data surrounding Latino graduation rates, and while it confirms the overall
reality that Latino students trail their white peers at all types of
institutions, no matter how selective, it also reveals wide variation in the
relative success of institutions with similar student bodies. That matters,
the authors say, because it shows that the educational practices of
institutions matter.

“The data show quite clearly that colleges and universities cannot place all
of the blame on students for failing to graduate,” said Andrew P. Kelly of
the American Enterprise Institute, who co-wrote the study, "Rising to the
Challenge: Hispanic College Graduation Rates as a National Priority," with
Mark Schneider of the American Institutes for Research and Kevin Carey of
Education Sector.

Because the data are drawn from the federal Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System, as are the underlying statistics for most analyses of
college graduation rates, the macro-level finding of the new study -- that
51 percent of Latino full-time students nationally earn a bachelor's degree
within six years, compared to 59 percent of white students -- is not at all
new.

But like the authors' previous study (also funded by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation), "Diplomas and
Dropouts,"<http://www.aei.org/paper/100019>the new one goes beyond
that by examining how the rates break down by the
level of selectivity of the institutions. (The gap between Latino and white
students varies from about 6 percentage points at the most academically
competitive institutions to about 8.5 percentage points at non-competitive,
open admissions colleges.

The most compelling data, though, show the enormous range in the graduation
rates of institutions within those selectivity groupings. Among "competitive
colleges" and "very competitive colleges" -- the groupings that include the
largest number of Latino students -- the gaps between the institutions with
the highest and lowest graduation rates for Hispanic students are more than
50 percentage points.

"To look at this another way, a competitive student enrolled at the school
with the highest graduation rate is, on average, more than seven times as
likely to receive a bachelor's degree than a competitive student enrolled in
the lowest-performing school," the authors write.

And as seen in the table below, enormous variation exists between the 10
colleges with the highest and lowest Latino graduation rates in each of the
selectivity categories:
  College selectivity level  Latino Graduation Rate,
Bottom 10 Colleges  Latino Graduation Rate,
Top 10 Colleges  Non-competitive  17.4%  37.1%  Less competitive  13.9  52.2
 Competitive  18.6  65.6  Very Competitive  30.4  77.5  Highly
Competitive 51.6 85.9  Most
Competitive  67.8  93.5

Interestingly, 20 of the 60 top colleges that fall in the top 10 in their
category "graduated a higher proportion of Hispanic students than white
students," the study found. "In the very competitive and most competitive
categories, Hispanic students at the top ten institutions are keeping pace
with their non-Hispanic peers. Hispanic students attending the top ten
schools in the highly competitive and competitive categories actually
graduate at higher rates, on average, than their white classmates."

The authors also find significant variation within those colleges designated
by the federal government as Hispanic-serving institutions.

Those findings and others suggest, the authors say, that what institutions
do matters. Among the recommendations they make as a result of the data and
of interviews with officials at high- and low-performing colleges:

   - "Though some suggested that policies and programs specifically targeted
   toward Hispanic students, like Latino studies departments and multicultural
   centers, can help to boost student engagement, these programs are unlikely
   to be successful in isolation from a broader, institution-wide effort to
   promote retention and degree completion."
   - "The [Hispanic-serving institution] designation, and the benefits that
   come with it, should be augmented so it also reflects an institution’s
   record in educating, retaining, and graduating those students. The
   performance criteria need not be based on completion rates alone, and they
   should be weighted to reward schools that demonstrate success with students
   who are particularly at risk of dropping
   out. Such a distinction should be awarded to schools that have a proven
   record of serving, rather than simply enrolling, Hispanic students."


 <doug.lederman at insidehighered.com>