Transcript ppt

IMPROVING SUCCESS AMONG
UNDERREPRESENTED COMMUNITY COLLEGE
STUDENTS*
Jacquelyn (Jackie) V. Reza
Professor and Director of Professional
Development De Anza College, Emeritus
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
Equal Employment Opportunity and Faculty Diversity Summit
November 4, 2015
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Dr. Fairlie‘s Research and other aspects of faculty
dynamics that foster success of underrepresented
students:
• Presentation of Dr. Robert Fairlie’s article:
A Community College Instructor Like me
AND....
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Fairlie’s Broad Research Interest
• Interested in studying how to improve economic
outcomes for people, especially those who are
disadvantaged and poor.
• One ongoing research theme is to understand how we
can increase human capital especially related to helping
people find jobs.
• Two recent research projects examine the relationship
between community colleges and human capital.
• One type of human capital that is important especially
for low-income populations is community college.
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More context for his study…
• The achievement gap between historically
underrepresented minority students and non-minority
students is one of the most persistent and vexing
problems of the educational system in the United States.
• African-American, Latino and Native-American students
have substantially lower test scores, grades, high school
completion rates, college attendance rates, and college
graduation rates than non-minority students (U.S.
Department of Education 2010).
National Data (Fairlie)
Grade Point Average Distributions by Race and Type for all U.S. Colleges
National Center for Educational Statistics 2007/08
GPA: 0-1.0
GPA: 1.02.0
GPA: 2.03.0
GPA: 3.04.0
U.S. 4-Year Colleges
Total
Minority
Non-minority
1.9%
2.4%
1.6%
7.7%
10.5%
6.3%
38.4%
44.6%
35.0%
52.0%
42.5%
57.1%
U.S. 2-Year Colleges
Total
Minority
Non-minority
4.5%
13.6%
5.6%
16.2%
3.8%
Dr. J. V. Reza 11.7%
36.5%
40.2%
34.0%
45.4%
38.0%
50.5%
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Why Focus on Community Colleges?
• Community colleges enroll the majority of all minority students attending public
universities and nearly half of all students attending public universities.
• Larger share in California, representing 70 percent all public higher education
enrollment (Sengupta and Jepsen 2006; California Community Colleges
Chancellor’s Office 2009)
• Community colleges serve as an important gateway to 4-year colleges in
addition to providing workforce training and basic skills education.
• Nearly half of all students attending a 4-year college previously attended a
community college (CCCCO 2009)
• CSU transfers from community college expected to grow by 25 percent over
the next decade (California Postsecondary Education Commission 2010).
• California Community College System – largest higher education system in the
world, over 100 campuses, 2.9 million students
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Introduction to An Instructor Like Me
• Many social researchers and public policy makers argue that the college
achievement gap may be partly explained by the general lack of minority
teachers at the post-secondary level.
• Only 9.6 percent of all full-time instructional faculty at U.S. colleges are black,
Latino or Native American (U.S. Department of Education 2010).
• In contrast, these groups comprise one-third of the college-age population and
an even higher percentage of children.
• Many social scientists hypothesize that the lack of minority instructors limits the
availability of role models, increases the likelihood of “stereotype threats” and
discrimination against minority students, and limits exposure to instructors with
similar cultures and languages.
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Fairlie’s Key Research Questions
• Do underrepresented minority students preform better in
courses taught by minority instructors?
• Do African-American students do better in courses
taught by African-Americans?
• Do Latino students do better in courses taught by Latino
instructors?
• How much does this represent of the achievement gap?
Ethnic/Racial Distribution of Community Colleges
CA Total
African-American
197420
7.6%
American Indian/Alaskan Native
15308
0.6%
Asian
301692
11.6%
Filipino
78414
3.0%
Hispanic
881472
33.8%
Pacific Islander
15263
0.6%
Two or More Races
57243
2.2%
Unknown/Non-Respondent 224153
8.6%
White
839542
32.2%
De Anza
1350
3.6%
167
0.4%
14829
39.4%
1891
5.0%
6618
17.6%
214
0.6%
1170
3.1%
1380
3.7%
9982
26.5%
Total
37601
2610507
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Data
• Student-Course level data from De Anza College
• Observe over 30,000 students in nearly 21,000 classes
• Academic histories of students enrolled sometime between Fall 2002 and Spring
2007.
• Student-instructor match is possible
Demographic characteristics for students and instructors.
• Use statistical regression analysis
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Statistical Regression & Fixed Effect Model
yijc  1 * Minority i * Minority j   i  c  uijc
classroom fixed
effects
Minority
Student
dummy
Minority
Instructor
dummy
Individual
fixed effects
Fixed Effect Model re: 1) Focus on the differential effect between minority and non-minority
students of being assigned to a minority-instructor in the same class. (Answers the question of
whether the minority achievement gap is smaller in classes that are taught by minority instructors.),
2) Controls for differential student performance, 3) Controls for different types of courses taken
(e.g. majors, transfer, etc…), 4) Controls for different classes taken, 5) Controls for different
instructors taken, 6) Controls for different grading standards or procedures.
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Results: How Large are Effects Relative to
Achievement Gap?
Underrepresented minority
Similar
Instructor
Effect
White-Min
Percent of
Achievement Gap (change)
Gap
Minority
Base Rate
Dropped
Course
-0.020
-0.039
51%
0.281
Passed a
Course
0.012
0.054
23%
0.835
Course Grade
0.54
0.318
19%
2.587
Grade of B or
Higher
9.924
0.112
21%
0.567
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Results: Effects on Long-Term Outcomes
• Examine effects of taking courses with minority
instructors on:
• Awards and degreees
• Majors
• Transfers
• Positive effects
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Fairlie‘s Conclusions
• Strong, positive and robust minority-interaction effects for all outcomes examined
• Strong, positive own-race interactions
• African-Americans seem to have largest gains
• Evidence for students reacting to instructors rather than vice versa
• Role model effects, take additional courses and majors
• Focus on courses with more objective grading
• More details, full article
• http://people.ucsc.edu/~rfairlie/papers/
Dr. J. V. Reza
OK....SO WE GET IT....HIRE
QUALIFIED FOLKS OF COLOR...
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Percent of Graduate Degrees Conferred to Minorities by Sector
* Source – DIVERSE MAGAZINE, ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION, VOL. 32, NO. 13, Page 16.
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Summary
Fairlie‘s Conclusions
• Strong, positive and robust minority-interaction
effects for all outcomes examined
• Strong, positive own-race interactions
• African-Americans seem to have largest gains
• Evidence for students reacting to instructors
rather than vice versa
• Role model effects, take additional courses
and majors
• Focus on courses with more objective grading
• More details, full article
• http://people.ucsc.edu/~rfairlie/papers/
Reza’s Conclusions
THANK YOU
Jacquelyn (Jackie) V. Reza
Professor and Director of Professional
Development De Anza College, Emeritus
[email protected]
510 676-3260