| Diversity
Scorecard Executive Summary
CUE>>Diversity
Scorecard>>Executive Summary
The effectiveness
of post-secondary institutions is being determined, in part, by evidence
of excellence and equity in the educational outcomes of their students.
Toward that end, The James Irvine Foundation has awarded a grant to the
Center for Urban Education (CUE) to fund the Diversity Scorecard Project.
This is a partnership of 14 institutions to use existing institutional data
to monitor their progress toward equity for their historically underrepresented
students in four areas: access, retention, institutional receptivity, and
excellence.
California is
the most ethnically diverse state and is often seen as a prime example of
an economy experiencing the polarizing effects of globalization. On one
end, an elite group of college-educated workers flourishes in a growing
knowledge-based economy, while at the other end an even larger group of
poorly educated workers, composed largely of immigrants and minorities,
hold low-paying service and manual-labor jobs. In this situation it is more
critical than ever to raise awareness around racially stratified patterns
of educational attainment.
The key features
of the project are:
The 14 partner
institutions have essentially reached equity in opportunity by enrolling
significant numbers of historically underrepresented students. These undergraduate
institutions enroll 12.31% of the Latino students and 12.26% of the African
American students enrolled in all postsecondary institutions in California.
- From
Stage I Diversity to Stage II Diversity: Equity in Educational Outcomes
Having achieved
equity in opportunity, the partners are now poised for Stage II Diversity,
the goal of which is to move toward equity in educational outcomes. For example,
does the representation of African American and Latino students in elite
programs, on the Dean's list, in student leadership positions, and in majors
that lead to high-demand careers parallel their representation in the student
population? Are these students over-represented in remedial courses and under-represented
on graduation day? The Diversity Scorecard serves as an evidence-based tool
for institutions working for equity in educational outcomes.
There has been
a groundswell of interest in higher education in the development of a "culture
of evidence." A culture of evidence has been described as one in which
institutional performance indicators and data are collected and examined
on a regular basis
in order to inform institutional planning, decision-making, and improvement.
The Diversity Scorecard calls for the collection and analysis of data specifically
related to student outcomes.
Co-principal
Investigators are:
Estela Mara Bensimon, Professor of Higher Education and Director, Center for
Urban Education
Donald E. Polkinghorne, Fahmy Attallah and Donna Attallah Chair in
Humanistic Psychology
Project
Contact Information:
Center for Urban Education
WPH, Suite 702
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0031
(213) 740-5202
(213) 740-3889 (fax)
email:rsoecue@usc.edu
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