Campus Racial Climate and Student Academic Outcomes: A Critique of Prior Research and Recommendations for Future Study

Abstract

What explains the persistent gap in college retention between white American college students and those who are members of ethnic minority groups? Some argue that a large part of the answer is campus racial climate: a negative climate disproportionately harms minority students and leads to worse outcomes. Existing theory provides some basis for this expectation. However, we find that empirical support for this claim is weak. Many studies fail to compare findings across racial groups, and the few that do offer at best inconsistent support for the thesis that racial climate helps to explain the retention gap. Furthermore, many studies are plagued with severe methodological problems such as lack of attention to level of analysis and failure to offer rigorous tests of differences across groups. We discuss the implications and offer recommendations for future research.