Closing Participation Gaps for Arizona Minority Students

If Arizona is going to be successful in improving minority access to and success in higher education, a systematic approach needs to be developed. The purpose of The Road to Higher Education: Closing the Participation Gaps for Arizona Minority Students is to provide a framework of focus for academic success to be used to enhance Arizona’s approach to higher education policy. This paper provides three valuable resources to the policymaking community. First, it creates a framework for evaluating Arizona minority student postsecondary access and success. Secondly, through the application of this framework, it provides a holistic examination of the root causes of minority under-representation at the graduation ceremonies of Arizona’s public universities. Finally, this paper identifies policy recommendations to address the underlying conditions that limit minority academic success.

Closing the College Achievement Gap

College achievement gaps continue to exist between Americans of varying income levels and ethnic/racial groups. As part of “Access to Success”, a group of 19 public college systems all have agreed to cut in half their own gaps in college-going and college graduation rates for low-income students and those from underrepresented minority groups by 2015. Each system will craft its own plan and begin publicly reporting uniform data on the rate at which low-income and minority students in their states enroll in system institutions and earn degrees. Officials from the participating systems will also work together to share ideas about and attack some of the underlying issues that affect them all.

Designing State Community College Data and Performance Measurement Systems to Increase Student Success

Across higher education, there is a growing interest in strengthening systems that track and make visible student progress and success. This policy brief grew out of a collaborative effort among seven states that are participants in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count to develop a set of indicators that states can use to more effectively track student performance, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and learn from the strengths of other community college systems. This guide is intended to help states design and implement performance measurement and data systems to maximize improvement, particularly for students who traditionally have not fared well in college.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Follow-Up

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) is the first nationally representative study within the United States to directly assess children’s early mental and physical development, the quality of their early care and education settings, and the contributions of their fathers, as well as their mothers, in their lives. This First Look report provides descriptive information on certain characteristics of this population of children when they were about age four. Findings include:

• Children with two-parent families scored higher than children with single-parent families on the overall literacy scale score
• On average, females demonstrated higher receptive vocabulary, and expressive language knowledge and skills than males.
• Forty percent of children from lower socioeconomic status families and 87 percent of children in higher socioeconomic status families demonstrated proficiency in numbers and shapes.
• Twenty percent of the children were in no regular early care and education arrangement; 45 percent were in a center-based (non-Head Start) setting; 13 percent were in a Head Start setting; 13 percent were in a home-based relative care setting; and 8 percent were in a home-based non-relative care setting.

Transition to College

A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics provides selective, nationally representative information about the transition of 2002 high school sophomores to college, including the types of postsecondary institutions at which they are enrolling, whether the attendance rates and institution types very across student characteristics and high school experiences, and their choice of major and other characteristics of their enrollment. Findings include:

• Seventy percent of spring 2002 sophomores had enrolled in a postsecondary institution by 2006.
• The location of the school was the most common reason that spring 2002 sophomores who attended a postsecondary institution gave for choosing their first school.

Teaching of 21st-Century Skills

Results of a new poll commissioned by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills shows the vast majority of U.S. voters believe students are ill-equipped to compete in the global learning environment. Eighty-eight percent of voters say they believe schools can, and should, incorporate 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, communication and self-direction, and computer and technology skills into the curriculum. Furthermore, 66 percent of voters say they believe students need more than just the basics of reading, writing, and math; schools need to teach a broader range of skills.