Newly-released analysis of U.S. Education Department data shows that from 2009 to 2011, the rate at which Black and Latino students entered four-year colleges and universities considerably outpaced that of Whites, while six-year graduation rates for underrepresented minority students increased only slightly, according to the Washington-based Education Trust organization.
In the organization’s “Intentionally Successful: Improving Minority Student College Graduation Rates” brief, Education Trust officials described the findings as “encouraging news for those concerned about closing access and success gaps” in American higher education.
Between 2009 and 2011, the nation’s Black undergraduate population jumped by 8.5 percent and Latino undergraduates rose 22 percent, while White college enrollment increased only 2.7 percent. During that same time period, graduation rates also increased. Six-year graduation rates for Latino, White and Black students increased by 4.7 percent, 2.1 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
“The reporting stems from our College Results Online website, and the impetus for this [particular] report was that we completely updated the site to include the most recent information available from the U.S. Department of Education,” said Joseph Yeado, higher education research and policy analyst at The Education Trust and brief author.
Yeado noted that the update to the Education Trust’s College Results Online website includes a comprehensive analysis of almost every individual four-year college and university in the U.S. as measured against peer institutions. The analyses document major differences among colleges serving similar students and showcase effective efforts at schools that have boosted graduation rates for students of color and reduced gaps between Black and Latino students and their White peers.
“We at the Education Trust have focused on equity gaps. So gaps in graduation rates between White and underrepresented students have been something that’s been part of our research agenda,” Yeado said.
“We want those gaps to close,” he added. “We want to provide research that raises this as an issue and, at the same time, work with colleges and universities to find ways to close those gaps for good.”
