Summary
A major barrier to increasing the enrollment of targeted minority high school graduates is their weak academic preparation. It is true that Wisconsin minority high school graduates are widely viewed as underrepresented among entering freshmen from the state. But this underrepresentation fails to consider the number of minority high school graduates who are not only minimally qualified for admission to UW-Madison but also those who would be admitted competitively in the absence of admission preferences for minorities.This analysis demonstrates the importance of defining the pool of those eligible for admissions. It draws on Wisconsin data from the American College Testing program which shows how the pool of eligibles declines because higher proportions of minority high school graduates do not take the ACT, do not graduate in the upper half of their class, have not completed the core academic subjects in high school, and do not place high enough in class rank and ACT scores to be competitive admits to UW-Madison.
The results show that for Fall 1997 entering freshmen from Wisconsin high schools that minorities as a group are overrepresented rather than underrepresented. Depending on how the pool of eligibles is defined, Blacks are either proportionately represented or considerably overrepresented among entering freshmen. The results are accounted for principally by the weak academic preparation of Black high school graduates. However, the fact that preferences in admission are given to Blacks is another contributing factor.
Introduction
Without a dramatic increase in minority high school graduates who are academically qualified to attend the UW-Madison, the campus Madison Plan 2008 now being discussed will fail to achieve its goals of expanding educational opportunities for targeted minority students. Why this obvious fact has not been recognized and publicized is curious. One reason may be that the rationale for diversity programs would be undermined.The analysis focuses on the academic achievement of Wisconsin’s minority high school graduates. The first part examines the meaning of “underrepresentation” which underpins diversity policies and programs. The second demonstrates sharp differences in academic achievement by race/ethnicity among Wisconsin high school graduates. The third part notes the implications of these differences for the available pool of academically competitive minority applicants to the UW-Madison. The fourth part reexamines the extent of minority underrepresentation based on the pool of competitively admissible applicants.
Underrepresentation of Minorities
The lexicon of diversity makes generous use of the term underrepresentation. As applied to undergraduate enrollments, underrepresentation occurs at UW-Madison when the percentages of enrolled freshmen from Wisconsin minority groups fall short of their percentages among the state’s high school graduates.Race/ethnic composition of Wisconsin public high school graduates. Information on the number and percentage distribution of public high school graduates by race/ethnicity, collected each year by the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction, is shown in Table 1 for Wisconsin’s 1996-97 public high school graduates. Of the 55,189 high school graduates that year, minorities represented 9.1 percent of total graduates, Blacks 4.1 percent, Hispanics 2.1 percent, Asians 1.9 percent, and Native Americans 0.9 percent.
- Table 1: Number and Percent of Wisconsin Public High School Graduates, By Race/Ethnic Group, 1996-97
Race/ethnic composition of Entering Freshmen at UW-Madison. Information on the number and percentage distribution of entering freshman by race/ethnic group and residency status, collected by UW-Madison, is shown in Table 2 for Fall 1997-98 entering freshman who are Wisconsin residents. Of the 3,848 entering freshmen from Wisconsin, 7.9 percent were are minorities, divided as follows: Blacks 1.9 percent, Native Americans 0.4 percent, Hispanics 2.0 percent, and Asians 3.6 percent.
- Table 2: Number and Percent of Wisconsin Resident Entering Freshmen at UW-Madison By Race/Ethnic Group, Fall 1997-98
Underrepresentation in Wisconsin Student Minority Enrollment. Are Wisconsin’s minority high school graduates underrepresented among entering freshmen from Wisconsin? Table 3, which combines Tables 1 and 2, answers that question.
- Table 3: Underrepresentation of Wisconsin Resident Entering Freshman at UW-Madison By Race/Ethnic Group, 1997-98
Overall, the minority population is slightly “underrepresented,” by -1.2 percentage points, as shown by the heavily-shaded line. They account for 7.9 percent of new entering freshmen as compared to 9.1 percent of the previous year’s high school graduates. Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics are also underrepresented, as shown by the lightly-shaded first-three lines. The most serious underrepresentation occurs for Blacks who constitute 4.1 percent of Wisconsin high school graduates but only 1.9 percent of entering resident freshmen, thereby producing an enrollment gap of -2.2 percentage points. Asians, by contrast, are substantially overrepresented, with a +1.7 percentage point gap (3.6-1.9).Colleges and universities, including UW-Madison, have responded to historic underrepresentation of minorities by creating programs designed to attract more minority applicants (affirmative action) and to help ensure that those who do enroll receive the academic support they need to graduate (diversity). To increase minority enrollment, minority applicants are given special preference to admission decisions. This is also the case at UW-Madison.
What most colleges and universities, including UW-Madison, have not done is to examine why even with preferential admission the serious underrepresentation of Blacks and Native Americans continues. The next section tries to do this.
Gaps in Academic Preparation of Wisconsin High School Graduates
Why do minorities continue to be underrepresented among entering freshmen? Many reasons contribute to their underrepresentation but one has not received appropriate attention in discussions of UW-Madison diversity policies and programs. The answer is clear; it is the lack of adequate academic preparation in high school and, indeed, throughout the K-12 school system.The statistical comparisons just used to document underrepresentation fail to recognize the concept of the available “pool” of potentially admissible applicants. To be admissible, applicants must meet UW-Madison admissions standards which demands more than a high school diploma. This minimal standard requires that applicants must be in the upper half of their high school graduation class, complete the appropriate college preparatory courses, and supply their ACT scores. Many high school graduates, minority and majority alike, do not or cannot qualify for admission on any or all of these standards. Even then, not all minimally qualified applicants can be admitted because of limitations imposed on the size of the entering class by Enrollment Management Policy first implemented in the middle 1980s. As a consequence, to meet the new targets for entering freshmen, the Admissions Office must further narrow the number of applicants admitted. That it does so is clearly indicated by a statement contained in UW-Madison application materials: “Applicants with the strongest academic records of grades, represented by a grade-point average or class rank, courses taken (including senior year courses), and test scores will have the greatest chance of admission.” (Wisconsin 1998 Undergraduate Admissions Materials, p. 4) In other words, the UW-Madison defines the “pool” of admissible applicants more narrowly than that of all high school graduates and more narrowly than do most other UW System campuses.
Many people at UW-Madison are aware that the academic qualifications of targeted minority high school graduates are weaker than those of nontargeted students. For example, Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics are less likely to take the ACT exam. They are less likely to rank academically in the top half of their high school graduation class. They are less like to have taken the core college preparatory courses required for admission to UW System institutions. They are less likely to place in the top quarter of their high school class. Finally, they are to rank well up in the top quarter of their high school class and to have obtained high ACT scores. Since High School Percentile Rank, ACT scores,, and completion of the core curriculum are all key determinants of admissions, the underrepresentation of minorities, particularly Blacks and Native Americans, is not surprising.
Is there some way to narrow the pool of Wisconsin’s public high school graduates to more closely approximate the criteria used to admit applicants to UW-Madison? A previously unexploited source of data makes it possible to produce several estimates of the relevant pool of eligibles. These data are generated by the American College Testing program which administers the ACT test to high school seniors applying for admission to college.
Six pools of eligibles can be defined:
- High school graduates. This is the weakest standard and in included for purposes of comparison.
- ACT test takers who are high school graduates. Taking the test indicates some motivation for college and familiarity with college admission requirements.
- ACT test takers who rank in the top half of their graduating classes. This is a necessary but not sufficient criterion for meeting the minimum admission requirement.
- ACT test takers who complete the core academic courses and presumably rank in the top half of their graduating class. Completion of the core curriculum is another necessary condition for meeting the minimum admission requirement.
- ACT test takers who rank in the top quarter of their graduating class and presumably have completed the core curriculum. Applicants meeting these standards can be regarded as moderately competitive with White applicants, based on actual admissions decisions at UW-Madison.
- ACT test takers who rank in the top quarter of their graduating class (and presumably have completed the core curriculum) and are estimated to have ACT scores of 21+. Applicants meeting this higher standard can be regarded as fully competitive with White applicants at UW-Madison.
The analysis here focuses on the admission standards defined above to determine how they affect the number of Wisconsin high school graduates who might be considered eligible for admission to UW-Madison. Because of widespread concerns about the underrepresentation of Blacks, their situation is highlighted.
Figure 1 shows how the relative size of the pools of Black and White high school graduates is reduced as successively more stringent admissions standards are constructed with the available data. The contrast between Blacks and Whites is most dramatic. It begins with differences in the percentages of high school graduates who take the ACT exam, place in the top half of their high school class, and complete the core curriculum. If the standard applied to nontargeted applicants is equivalent to admitting graduates in the top quarter of their high school class, then the pool of admissible Black high school graduates drops to 14 percent of the total, while for whites it holds at 32 percent. Limiting admission to those in the top quarter of the class who also have ACT scores of 21 or above, cuts the pool of Black eligibles to 5-8 percent of the 2,264 high school graduates, as contrasted to 25 percent for Whites. As noted earlier, this stringent standard most closely approximates nontargeted applicants admitted to and enrolling at UW-Madison. Though no data are available to directly verify this statement, UW-Madison’s 1998-99 entering freshmen have been described as follows: almost half the class ranks in the top tenth of their high school class, their average ACT score is 26.8 as contrasted to a national average of 21.0, and their average high school grade point average is 3.62.5 Both this year’s and last year’s entering freshmen are clearly talented young people.
Figure 2 shows how the absolute size of the various pools of eligibles change as more stringent criteria are brought to bear in defining these pools. Of the 2,264 Black high school graduates from 1996-97, it appears that no more than 321 would be admitted on a competitive basis if the standard required graduating in the top quarter of their high school class. But, if the standard were more stringent, requiring them to have ACT scores of 21 and above, as well as being in the top quarter of their class, the number of Wisconsin’s Black high school graduates who would be admitted competitively about 160. This is a very small number. It means that the competition for these talented minority graduates is especially intense. Is it any wonder UW-Madison has difficulty getting these talents Blacks to apply and enroll when many other institutions, especially private colleges and universities, are eager to recruit these students and can provide them with generous financial aid offers?
- Figure 1: Percentage of 1996-97 Wisconsin High School Graduates in Pools of Eligible Applicants, Blacks and Whites
(* = Based on author estimates)
Data Source: ACT High School Profile Report: High School Graduating Class of 1997, State Composite for Wisconsin - Figure 2: Number of 1996-97 Black High School Graduates in Pools of Eligible Applicants
(* = Based on author estimates)
Data Source: ACT High School Profile Report: High School Graduating Class of 1997, State Composite for Wisconsin
Comparable information for each of the targeted and nontargeted groups is shown in Table 4. The situation for Native Americans and Hispanics is less desperate than that for Blacks. But, again, the small numbers of them who remain eligible means that they will continue to be underrepresented for some time to come.
- Table 4: Estimated Numbers and Percentages of 1996-97 Wisconsin High School Graduates by Race/Ethnic Group Who Are in Variously Defined Pools of Those Eligible for Admission to UW-Madison, Based on ACT Data
Another Look at Underrepresentation
Table 5 assists in determining the extent of underrepresentation using the standards that most closely approximate the UW-Madison admission standard applied to nontargeted applicants. Again, the benchmark is the percentage distribution of entering freshmen by race/ethnicity from Wisconsin. This means that underrepresentation occurs when the percentage figures in each of the first three columns exceed the figures in the fourth column. The lightly shaded boxes indicate underrepresentation and the more heavily shaded boxes indicate overrepresentation.
- Table 5: Changes in the Race/Ethnic Composition of Potential Applicants Using Alternative Definitions of the Pool of Potentially Admissible Applicants
When the eligible pool is defined to include all high school graduates, as shown in the first column, Blacks, Native Americans, and Minorities as a group are underrepresented, whereas Asians are heavily overrepresented and Hispanics are slightly overrepresented. Whites, of course, are overrepresented.If the eligible pool is restricting to those in the top quarter of their graduation class (the second column), the underrepresentation of Blacks and Native Americans disappears, the overrepresentation of Hispanics, Asians, and Minorities increases, and Whites become underrepresented. When the most stringent standard is used, i.e., top quarter of the class and an ACT score of 21 or above (the third column), Blacks become substantially overrepresented. Hispanics, Asians, and Minorities as a group increase their overrepresentation. And, Whites continue to be underrepresented.
To sum up, the rather substantial underrepresentation of Blacks and Native Americans that shows up in the traditional measures of underrepresentation is grossly misleading. These measures assume implicitly that all high school graduates are potentially admissible. Yet, any familiarity with admissions requirements at UW System institutions, including UW-Madison, makes it clear that high school class rank and ACT scores are key factors in admissions decisions.
Additional support for this view comes from ACT data which are available for several of the eligible pools defined earlier. The average ACT scores for those taking the ACT are shown in the first column of Table 6 while scores for those ranking in the top quarter are shown in the second column. The average ACT scores of those Blacks who took the test are by far the lowest for any race/ethnic group. Even when the pool is restricted to the top quarter of the class, the average ACT score of 19.5 is well below the score of 21 which is viewed at some UW System institutions as indicative of college academic performance. The third column reports the average ACT scores of entering UW-Madison freshmen in Fall 1997. The average of 22.3 for Blacks is again the lowest, meaning that Blacks are likely to be disadvantaged in competing academically with students from the all other race/ethnic groups.
- Table 6: Average ACT Scores by Race/Ethnicity in Alternative Pools of Potentially Admissible Applicants
The lower ACT scores for Blacks reported here are consistent with the rapid falloff in the numbers of Blacks in the pools of eligibles. What is not apparent is the extent to which preferential admission for Blacks, and also of course for Native Americans, and Hispanics, holds down the average ACT score of entering freshmen. Were the same standard applied to Blacks as to Whites, the average score would undoubtedly be higher; of course, the number of entering freshmen would also be lower.
Conclusion
The remedy for this deplorable situation lies not in giving preferences in admissions to underrepresented minority groups. Instead, minorities should be admitted on the same basis as other students to ensure that they can compete academically with their fellow students. As already noted, this would no doubt reduce the number of entering freshmen from minority groups. The question that arises is this: what are the costs and benefits of fewer but better academically prepared minorities as against more but more poorly prepared minorities?At the same time, every effort must be made to find out what accounts for the lagging academic achievement of Blacks and Native Americans and to devise remedies that will overcome these deficiencies.