Illinois colleges are losing Black students. Turning that around is key not just for equity but to ‘build jobs’ here, advocates say.
With Black student enrollment at Illinois colleges and universities in a steep decline, a new coalition of educators, business executives, politicians and students have unveiled their proposals for closing the equity gap between Black and white students in higher education. The Equity Working Group for Black Student Access and Success in Illinois Higher Education released its action plan Monday, a framework to help understand root causes of educational disparity for Black students and to tackle issues such as college affordability, preparedness and support that helps keep students enrolled.
A Stratified System
A new report points to significant and ongoing disparities in which students attend underresourced colleges versus wealthier, more selective universities. The report also identifies stubborn inequities in degree completion in the United States across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines and widening gaps in higher education attainment between states.
Robust Data Systems Help States Recover
States with robust statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDS) are positioned to help support student learning during and after the pandemic. These systems provide additional information to lean on during a crisis, such as courses, credits and engagement, and a buffer when specific data collections, like standardized testing, are limited or lack quality. Longitudinal data, or data linked over time at the student level, can help states glean progress even when data are missing or are compromised. The value of these systems supports the key recommendation in a recent audit, that the District of Columbia complete the work to create an SLDS.
Reimagining the Road to Graduation
Reimagining the Road to Graduation tells the story of five students in California’s Bay Area, Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, and the Mississippi Delta to illustrate how young people are often left to navigate disjointed and inadequate systems as they prepare for and attend college. The five student personas featured on this site are grounded in the real stories and experiences of young people from across the country (in some cases, we have changed or combined identifying details, but each persona draws on students’ authentic experiences).
New Report Highlights Adult Learners of Color
A new report on a series of new studies outlines strategies for supporting adult learners of color in college. The report, released Wednesday, was produced by the Community College Research Center at Columbia University and commissioned by the Lumina Foundation. It notes that 42 percent of Black Americans, 58 percent of Latinx Americans and 50 percent of Native Americans age 25 and over have only a high school degree, compared to 31 percent of white Americans. About 27 percent of Black Americans and 19 percent of Latinx and Native Americans completed bachelor’s degrees, compared to 42 percent of their white counterparts.
Illinois colleges are losing Black students. Turning that around is key not just for equity but to ‘build jobs’ here, advocates say.
With Black student enrollment at Illinois colleges and universities in a steep decline, a new coalition of educators, business executives, politicians and students have unveiled their proposals for closing the equity gap between Black and white students in higher education. The Equity Working Group for Black Student Access and Success in Illinois Higher Education released its action plan Monday, a framework to help understand root causes of educational disparity for Black students and to tackle issues such as college affordability, preparedness and support that helps keep students enrolled.
