Issues > Higher Ed
California Higher Education Equity Working Group (CHEEWG)
The California Higher Education Equity Working Group (CHEEWG), created in 2004 continues to work towards the goal of assessing and identifying optimal practices that facilitate underrepresented students’ access to higher education. Taking account of the unequal educational conditions and outcomes among Latinos, this working group examines the problem of educational underachievement at the high school, community college, and university levels. The group examines and evaluates civic programs that influence the principles and values used to develop policies and programs that help or hinder the transition of students through the educational pipeline. The goal is to uncover potential solutions to the ongoing low rates of higher education attainment among Latinos across California public universities.
At the high school level, the focus of CHEEWG has been demographic analysis of the current conditions that influence college preparation. Also CHEEWG examines “best practices” and institutional barriers that students face in gaining admissions to a four-year university. Analyzing the state context, the research team conducted a study on the pathways from California public high schools to the state’s system of higher education, focusing on the lowest performing schools (measured by statewide accountability measures), which are primarily comprised of Latino and African American students. Motivated by the lack of research and understanding of the “local context” the group also conducted a study to determine how the San Francisco Bay Area is preparing students for entry into the state’s public four-year colleges. This research study explored college preparation and provided a population analysis of the growing Latino community in each of the nine Bay Area counties.
CLPR Research Policy Briefs on this topic include: • Is the Bay Area Preparing Latino High School Graduates for College? A Statistical Portrait of College Preparation in the San Francisco Bay Area (Chavez, Medina, & Arredondo, 2007)
At the community college level, the focus is to analyze enrollment, course-taking patterns, transfer rates and the four-year college destination of Latino California community college students. The CHEEWG research team examined transfer outcomes for Latinos at the 25 community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area and began assessing the type of resources that are currently available to potential transfer students. A case study of a southern California community college was conducted to examine Latino students’ educational goals and their transfer rates. The last component of this issue area is the Community College Corridor Project Collaborative. In this project community college campuses were identified by their proximity to a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station. Currently underway is an evaluation of how the public transportation BART system can facilitate critical transitions for community college students’ preparation to transfer to a four-year college. Further research and publications are forthcoming.
CLPR Research Policy Briefs on this topic include: • Potential Lost: Latinos and California Community Colleges: A Statistical Portrait of Transfer Programs (forthcoming) (Chavez, 2008)
At the four-year college level, CHEEWG has examined university admissions policy—post Proposition 209. Specifically looking at the University of California (UC) system, the team studied Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC), which grants statewide UC eligibility to the top four percent of each high school’s graduating senior class based on grades on their A-G coursework. The research team also analyzed the Texas 10% plan, paying attention to admissions by high schools and the academic performance of 10% plan students and non-ten percent students at UT Austin. Another study looked at the Latino representation at UC Berkeley. To further advance this research effort, in the Spring 2006 semester, CLPR co-sponsored a course titled “The Proposition 209 Project.” In the course UC Berkeley students examined the 1996 vote on proposition 209. Throughout the class students analyzed the different factors that affect the support for proposition 209 and other initiatives. A final and key component of the working group is the dissemination of its findings to policy makers, researchers, practitioners, students, and community organizations. Not only has the group added to the body of literature on higher education access and equity, but is also actively disseminating its findings through academic and policy presentations at national and local conferences, community organizations, and research centers including American Education Research Association (AERA), and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI), this year.
UPDATE: 8/31/06
Barbara Lin, University of California at Berkeley
2006 University of California Berkeley, Summer Research Opportunity Program
UPDATE: 7/5/2006
Other CLPR Film Projects:
UT to UC, The Top Ten Percent Plan
For more information, contact Gabino Arredondo at garre@berkeley.edu
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