“Unknown” Students on College Campuses: An Exploratory Analysis

Posted in Campus Life, Media Archive, Reports, United States on 2011-01-01 23:33Z by Steven

“Unknown” Students on College Campuses: An Exploratory Analysis

The James Irvine Foundation
December 2005
20 pages

Campus Diversity Initiative Evaluation Project Team (Claremont Graduate University and the Association of American Colleges and Universities):

Daryl G. Smith, Co-principal Investigator
José Moreno, Senior Research Analyst
Alma R. Clayton-Pedersen, Co-principal Investigator
Sharon Parker, Co-principal Investigator
Daniel Hiroyuki Teraguchi, Research Associate

with

Suzanne Benally, Campus Liaison
Susan E. Borrego, Campus Liaison
Jocelyn Chong, Research Associate
Mari Luna De La Rosa, Research Associate
Mildred García, Campus Liaison
Jennie Spencer Green, Campus Liaison
Belinda Vea, Research Associate

A research brief from The James Irvine Foundation Campus Diversity Initiative Evaluation Project

In response to the increasing number of students who fall into the “race/ethnicity unknown” category of post-secondary demographic data, this exploratory study devised a method to ascertain the racial/ethnic backgrounds of these students by comparing existing enrollment data to a second, independent data set. The method was tested at three small private institutions in California. Our findings suggest that overall, a sizeable portion of students in the unknown category are white, in addition to multiracial students who may have selected white as one of their categories. These findings—while not necessarily generalizable—alert campus leaders of the need to attend to this growing segment of the student population and to how the United States is diversifying in more complex ways than ever before. The brief concludes with recommendations for future research and for both campus and federal data collection and use.

Table of Contents

  • Executive Summary
  • Introduction: The Rise in “Unknown” Students on College Campuses
  • Methodology: Identifying the “Unknowns”
  • Findings: A Sizeable Portion of “Unknown” Students Are White
  • Implications: Accuracy Depends on the “Unknowns”
  • Recommendations: Improving Data Collection and Use
  • Conclusion
  • Bibliography
  • Appendix
  • Contributors

Read the entire report here.

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