In contrast, most students attending white- and Asian-majority schools had access to more educational resources, such as more AP courses and more credentialed teachers, and exhibited higher levels of college eligibility and admission to the California State University and University of California systems.
The report, “Separate, But Certainly Not Equal,� finds that the troubling trend toward re-segregation and inequality in California’s public schools is resulting in fewer African American and Latino students obtaining the requirements they need to attend the state’s universities.
“While we as a nation are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, which declared ‘separate but equal’ unconstitutional, we here in California are witnessing the re-segregation of our schools and the loss of equal opportunity for African American and Latino students,� said Walter Allen, UCLA professor of sociology and the study’s principal author. “The re-segregation of public higher education in California is rooted in Proposition 209 and in the UC Regents’ decision to end affirmative action in college recruitment and admissions.�
According to Allen, “There has been a stunning decline in the admission of African American students who are new California freshmen to UC flagship campuses.�
In 1997, 515 new California African American freshmen were admitted to UC Berkeley; by fall 2004, this number had dropped by 60 percent to 194 admits, Allen said. UCLA admitted 470 new California African American freshmen in 1997; by fall 2004, these admissions declined 58 per cent to 199 admits, he said.
“These disastrous declines are not just about California demographics,� said Allen, who is also the Allan M. Cartter Professor of Higher Education at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. “I always need to remind people that California has 2.4 million African Americans, the second largest population of African Americans of any state in the nation. More specifically, the total 2002 high school enrollment in California for African Americans was approximately 120,000, compared to roughly 147,000 for Asians.
“Asians and African Americans are considerably closer in their proportion of total state high school enrollment, 9 percent versus 7 percent, than in their relative proportions of freshmen admits to UC, or 34.3 percent versus 3.1 percent,� Allen said. “Why? Our research reveals that the underrepresentation of African American and Latino students is tied to the fact that these students are forced to attend racially segregated, separate and unequal high schools.�
The study, supported by a grant from the Ford Foundation, documents the “considerable inequity in student educational experiences and outcomes, the educational settings where they are expected to learn, and the resources available to promote student learning. These educational inequities are most apparent in the differential rates at which various racial/ethnic groups of high school graduates achieve eligibility and access to the state’s public university systems, the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC).�
Other highlights from the study include:
· African American- and Latino-majority high schools have fewer educational resources, which results in poorer educational preparation and fewer opportunities for higher education.
· High schools with greater proportions of African American and Latino students were more likely to have fewer AP courses than schools with greater proportions of white and Asian students.
· African American- and Latino-majority schools were more likely to have lower teacher retention rates, less experienced teachers and fewer teachers who were fully credentialed.
· In African American- and Latino-majority high schools, white and Asian students did not exhibit the same levels of college eligibility and college attendance rates as were characteristic for white and Asian majority schools.
“Without equal resources such as qualified teachers and access to high-level courses, African American and Latino students do not have an equal opportunity to succeed in school,� Allen said. “California, which in a few short years will be the nation’s first majority minority state, must begin to address the enormous disparities that exist in the state’s secondary educational system.�
Allen proposes the following short-term efforts be put into practice in order to increase the number of African American and Latino college students in California:
- Implement procedures and programs to increase the percentage of African American and Latino students who are accepted and then actually enroll.
- Employ procedures and programs to increase retention and graduation rates for African American and Latino students who are enrolled.
- Implement an admission plan to increase eligibility in the local context to the top 12.5 percent of graduates.
- Restore university outreach activities targeting African American and Latino students.
Allen proposes the following long-term efforts:
- Rescind Proposition 209.
- Restore full funding for university-outreach programs.
- Target low-performing high schools for increased funding, academic development and special admissions.
- Create a comprehensive state program to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in college attendance.
- Require campuses to make access a priority and link funding to progress.
- Increase funding and academic development support for under-performing elementary and middle schools.
The study, based on public information available on California’s 823 comprehensive public high schools, examined nearly 250 measures on student outcomes, demographics, course enrollment, standardized test-taking rates and performance, college eligibility rates, college-going rates, and teacher and administrator qualifications.
The study’s co-authors were Daniel G. Solórzano, chairman of the UCLA Department of Education and professor of education, and Robert Teranishi, assistant professor of education at New York University.
In 2002 the Bunche Center was awarded a five-year grant stemming from discussions with the Ford Foundation about the center’s concerns with the repeal of affirmative action in California’s public institutions via the passage of Prop. 209 and the subsequent decline in African American admissions to the University of California. The grant funds the College Access Project for African Americans, which examines the current status, challenges and strategies for increasing opportunity in higher education in California for African Americans.