Diversity
The administrators of many colleges and universities strive to attract and enroll a diverse student population—not only from a desire to serve underrepresented students, but also because of the belief (supported by recent research) that a diverse environment provides educational benefits for all students. Diversity can be defined along numerous dimensions and often includes racial/ethnic diversity, as well as geographic, income, first-generation to attend college, age, and many other characteristics.
As part of the our commitment to equity and excellence in education, the College Board supports the efforts of higher education institutions to legally achieve diversity and to increase access to college for underserved groups. This section describes College Board initiatives, research, and resources on diversity and student demographics (including the continuing increase in the numbers of Latino high school and college students in the United States).
Access & Diversity Collaborative
In 2004, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decisions (Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger) the College Board launched the Access & Diversity Collaborative to explore issues related to enrollment management and the law. Since its establishment, the collaborative has held national seminars and published guides on diversity policies and practices in higher education.
Visit the Access & Diversity Collaborative page for more information about upcoming national seminars and further background on the project.
Two new policy papers address the implications of June 2007 U. S. Supreme Court decisions (Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education and Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1) involving the consideration of race in assigning students to public schools.
Not Black and White: Making sense of the United States Supreme Court decisions regarding race-conscious student assignment plans (pdf/4M), produced jointly by the National School Boards Association and the College Board, provides practical guidance for public school districts. (September 2007)
Echoes of Bakke: A Fractured Supreme Court Invalidates Two Race-Conscious K-12 Student Assignment Plans But Affirms the Compelling Interest in the Educational Benefits of Diversity. (.pdf/189K) provides an analysis of the implications of these decisions for higher education. (July 2007)
In the wake of the Michigan state constitutional amendment that bans the use of race, ethnicity, and gender in public education, the Access & Diversity Collaborative commissioned From Federal Law to State Voter Initiatives: Preserving Higher Education's Authority to Achieve the Educational, Economic, Civic, and Security Benefits Associated with a Diverse Student Body (.pdf/561K). This policy paper provides background information on the history and impact of voter initiatives, identifies topics that have been missing from the public discourse about such initiatives, and suggests action strategies that might be pursed by higher education institutions to deflect or defeat future voter initiatives. (March 2007)
Admissions and Diversity After Michigan: The Next Generation of Legal and Policy Issues (.pdf/716K) offers an in-depth discussion of key policy and evidence issues that can help guide the development and implementation of race- and ethnicity-conscious admissions policies. Based on information discussed at five national seminars on federal law and admissions (selection) during 2005-06, included are "practice pointers" regarding admissions models, and detailed discussions of critical mass and race-neutral alternatives.
Federal Law and Financial Aid: A Framework for Evaluating Diversity-Related Programs (.pdf/3.55MB) provides a useful tool that can help college and university leaders understand how to structure their financial aid and scholarship policies in a manner that best achieves their diversity-related goals and minimizes legal risk. It is based on materials developed for the national seminars on financial aid, scholarships, and federal law, as well as the questions and issues raised at those meetings
Federal Law and Recruitment, Outreach, and Retention: A Framework for Evaluating Diversity-Related Programs (.pdf/990k) is based on materials developed for the national seminars on recruitment, outreach, and retention and federal law, as well as the questions and issues raised at those meetings.
College Board publications and resources on demographics
The Impact of Demographic Changes on Higher Education: Summary of Conference Discussions (.pdf/138K) reports on a July 2005 meeting of demographers and enrollment management experts.
Education Pays is a report on the benefits of higher education to society as a whole as well as individuals, and details the disparity in higher education participation rates between various segments of the population. This publication is part of the College Board's Trends in Higher Education series.
Also part of Trends in Higher Education, Higher Education Landscape provides numerous charts and graphs of demographic data for the entire United States, as well as by regions and states.
Resources on Latino students
Because Latino students comprise the largest growing segment of the high school and potential college-going population, the College Board has assembled a number of resources to help educators understand and serve this important group of students.
At the June 2007 Prepárate: Educating Latinos for the Future of America Conference, public drafts of two new College Board publications were distributed for review and comment. The final versions of these publications incorporate your recommendations and are now available below.
- Latino Education: A Synthesis of Recurring Recommendations and Solutions in P-16 Education (.pdf/186K) provides a summary of key action-oriented practices that successfully increase educational opportunities and success for Latinos.
- Resources for Increasing Latino Participation and Success in Higher Education (.pdf/1.06MB) is a compilation of examples of successful strategies that have been implemented at colleges and universities across the United States.
- Latinos and Higher Education: Snapshots from the Academic Literature (.pdf/123K) summarizes key findings from more than 50 reports and other documents on topics such as educational context, high school preparation, college costs and financial aid, college pathways and the role of community colleges, and postsecondary institutional climate for Latino students.