Disparate Pathways: Understanding Racial Disparities in Teaching

Lack of racial diversity remains a persistent problem in medicine, most notably in the field of orthopaedic surgery. In 1999, an analysis by England and Pierce of orthopaedic residents who had been selected for residency programs from 1983 to 1995 found that the percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans had changed minimally over that 12-year period1. During that time, the rate of Black orthopaedic residents in training never surpassed 3.5%. In the >2 decades that have followed, there has been a continued call to increase recruitment of underrepresented minorities (URMs), particularly Blacks, into orthopaedic surgery2-6. Despite these directed efforts, orthopaedic surgery remains the least racially and ethnically diverse field among both surgical and nonsurgical specialties7,8. Lack of racial diversity correlates with substantial disparities in the culturally competent care of minority patients, with well-documented negative implications9-11. Improving diversity within our specialty is essential to achieving equitable postoperative and functional outcomes in our diverse patient population. While barriers to improving gender diversity have been and should continue to be explored, the profession of orthopaedic surgery must critically evaluate the barriers to recruiting URM applicants, particularly Black applicants. This is essential to help usher in the next decade with a racially diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. This article serves as the first in a series exploring the barriers to achieving a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment for Black orthopaedic surgeons. The focus of the article is to examine the barriers to successful recruitment of Black applicants and provide tangible recommendations for improving racial diversity in residency. What Obstacles Do Black Candidates Face in Matching into Orthopaedic Surgery? The barriers to Black students' pursuit of orthopaedic surgery as a career are both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsically, Black students assess the career choices that are available to them by evaluating what those in their own communities are doing or are expected to do. In a 2013 article, Hill and Vaughan explored the concept of "paradigmatic trajectories" to explain ways that students self-select out of pursuing surgical specialties12. Black medical students are frequently unable to see, identify, or interact with orthopaedic surgeons who look like them. These students are repeatedly informed about the difficulty of getting into orthopaedics and are denied "experiences of participation," which leads them to being unable to see themselves as orthopaedic surgeons. By contrast, their majority peers often have the opposite experience: they see many available role models in orthopaedics who match their demographic, serve as role models, and provide hands-on experiences. As this scenario is repeated each academic year, the disparity between the number of White and Black medical students choosing to pursue orthopaedics as a specialty increases, a process that, to date, appears perpetual. Extrinsically, the pipeline of minority students to orthopaedic residency positions is filled with detours due to the redirection of minority students to other career pathways. This discouragement begins early for Black students, particularly Black male students, especially in educational environments in which their teachers are White. A study using survey data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, which was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, evaluated how teacher expectations influenced student performance among 6,000 high school students13. It found that there were clear racial disparities in teacher expectations of student performance. For example, the study found that teachers expected 58% of White high school students to obtain a 4-year college degree, but expected only 37% of Black students to do so. Furthermore, when considering these same Black students, White teachers were significantly less likely than their Black colleagues to expect the students to achieve a 4-year college degree. This difference was even more pronounced when the student was a Black male. Ultimately, the study concluded that negative expectation bias contributed to a self-fulfilling prophecy: only 29% of Black students in the study obtained a 4-year degree. Certainly, diminished expectations of Black students may carry similar consequences in higher education. For Black medical students, the lack of early exposure to orthopaedic surgery and the elimination of student-generated stereotypes regarding their potential fit for the specialty are critical roadblocks to increasing applications to residency programs. Schmidt et al. noted that the timing of exposure and student-perceived stereotypes, among other factors, were major determinants in a medical student's decision to pursue surgery14. An early introduction to the field of surgery was particularly important in increasing a student's interest in a surgical career. For those Black students who persevere in choosing orthopaedics, being chosen for an orthopaedic residency program is still problematic. The benchmarks that are used for resident selection are arbitrary at best, and biased and discriminatory at worst. In the 2018 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) survey of program directors15, 91% of orthopaedic residency program directors cited the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step-1 score as the most important factor for selecting students to interview. Membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) honor society was the third most important factor listed, and the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE) was noted as the seventh factor. Ramkumar et al. confirmed that orthopaedic surgery interview offers for applicants correlated most with AΩA status, the Step-2 Clinical Knowledge score, and the Step-1 score16. This has important implications for URM students. Wijesekera et al. reported that the USMLE perpetuates downstream pipeline disparities stemming from parental education or socioeconomic status, especially for URM students17. Clinical clerkship evaluations and the MSPE have demonstrated a negative bias toward Black students compared with their White counterparts18, and there are implicit differences in the words that are used to describe different ethnic groups19. Boatright et al. reported that Black students were less likely than an equivalent White student to be selected for the AΩA honor society, even after controlling for Step-1 scores, research, leadership roles, and membership in the Gold Humanism Honor Society20. The data reveal that there is inherent bias in the objective measures that are used by orthopaedic surgery programs to vet their applicants. Although the current measures select excellent future orthopaedic surgeons, these measures ultimately favor a specific group, which is defined by Rubright et al. as "a native English-speaking White male U.S. citizen at average age"21 at the expense of applicants who do not fit this mold. What Current Strategies Have Been Implemented to Increase the Number of Black Medical Students Applying into Orthopaedic Surgery? In 2020, racial inequality, health disparities, and social injustice have played a central role in the civil discourse within and outside of the field of medicine. The lack of racial and ethnic diversity in orthopaedic surgery deprives the specialty of the diversity of ideas and lived experiences that can speak to social issues that affect our diverse patient population. Different national organizations have attempted to champion diversity efforts in orthopaedics. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) has incorporated diversity initiatives into its strategic goals. These goals include understanding and responding to the diversity of the patient population, enhancing the delivery of culturally competent care, and supporting efforts to diversify the profession and the orthopaedic workforce. Despite these efforts, orthopaedic surgery still critically lags behind other subspecialties with regard to increasing the diversity of its surgeon workforce, which speaks to a critical need to further prioritize diversity in orthopaedics through a coordinated multidisciplinary approach. At the 2011 AAOS/ORS (Orthopaedic Research Society)/ABJS (Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons) Musculoskeletal Healthcare Disparities Research Symposium, Dy and Nelson proposed that cross-cultural communication and workplace diversity should be valued by all orthopaedic surgeons and should be championed by the leaders of academic orthopaedic departments2. They suggested that structured collaborative initiatives should be implemented by departmental leadership at each medical school in coordination with female and URM orthopaedic surgeon role models. Furthermore, they recommended that national orthopaedic societies like the AAOS should work in concert with diversity-minded orthopaedic associations such as the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society, the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society (JRGOS), and the American Association of Latino Orthopaedic Surgeons to recruit and prioritize the mentorship of underrepresented populations into the field of orthopaedic surgery. In tandem with the efforts of the AAOS, mentoring pipeline programs such as Nth Dimensions coach applicants on how to prepare and position themselves as highly qualified applicants into the field of orthopaedic surgery. Nth Dimensions has developed a longitudinal pipeline curriculum that is designed to engage medical students in their first year of medical school. The program has multiple phases that maintain contact after exposure, including webinars, symposia, and an immersive summer internship program, as well as longitudinal mentorship and professional development. The program intentionally exposes students to multiple hands-on experiences through bioskills workshops and physician-shadowing. In addition, Black students are exposed to an extensive network of Black orthopaedic surgeons with a wide variety of lived experiences. From the initial contact through residency completion, the Nth Dimensions "community" reinforces orthopaedics as a viable career. This exposure was found to significantly increase the odds of URM participants applying to orthopaedic residencies by 15-fold22,23. To our knowledge, no other pipeline programs that focus on improving racial diversity within medicine exist with data to support their success. For Programs That Historically Lack Ethnic Diversity, How Can Residency Program Leadership Increase Recruitment of Black Orthopaedic Residents? A study by Adelani et al. recently reported that the number of orthopaedic training programs with no Black residents actually increased from 40 programs in 2002 to 60 programs in 2016, with the worst year being 2011, when 76 programs had no Black residents24. Recently, McDonald et al. surveyed program directors and coordinators on perceived barriers to increasing the diversity of their individual orthopaedic programs25. Nearly 70% of respondents said that the lack of enough URM faculty hindered their ability to recruit URM applicants. Fifty-six percent of programs responded that they consistently ranked URM applicants to match, but these applicants matched elsewhere. Fifty-five percent of programs felt that their programs could be more diverse, but the programs simply did not receive enough applications from URMs. Interestingly, 32% of programs were not specifically trying to recruit URM applicants at all. While pipeline programs such as Nth Dimensions provide a solid foundation for improving the number of Black students pursuing orthopaedics, future strategies need to implement program-level initiatives to further these goals. Orthopaedic residency programs that are affiliated with medical schools should nurture an early interest in orthopaedic surgery and musculoskeletal care among Black and other URM applicants through endorsement of a musculoskeletal education curriculum for medical students. Early exposure to orthopaedic surgery fosters more interest in the field, particularly among minorities and women22,23. Bernstein et al. reported that medical schools that required instruction in musculoskeletal medicine had significantly higher rates of application to orthopaedic residency programs26. This difference was even more pronounced among female and URM medical students. On a broader scale, increasing the diversity of orthopaedic faculty has downstream implications in the growth of diversity in residency programs. Okike et al. reported that URM medical students who attended medical school at institutions with high URM representation among orthopaedic faculty (>8.8%) or orthopaedic residents (>10.5%) were more likely to apply into orthopaedics than those with low URM representation among orthopaedic faculty (<4.0%) and orthopaedic residents (<6.1%)27. We would also submit that simply hiring Black faculty is not sufficient to move the needle toward a more diverse workforce. To improve racial equity and inclusion, there needs to be a concerted effort to support and advocate for Black faculty in leadership roles within orthopaedic departments and on a national level. We also suggest that orthopaedic department leadership become actively involved in diversity-related orthopaedic organizations such as the JRGOS and Nth Dimensions. This offers opportunities to interact with the majority of Black residents, fellows, and faculty within the orthopaedic specialty nationwide, and goes a long way toward improving a culture of inclusion within the field. Nearly every medical school in the U.S. has local chapters of medical student URM groups such as the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA). Sponsorship of an SNMA or LMSA meeting by the affiliated orthopaedic department provides a rich opportunity to interact with Black and other URM students and provides exposure to the orthopaedic specialty. This also allows faculty to interact with more Black students, developing critical mentorship and sponsorship opportunities for these students that not only foster a more inclusive environment within that orthopaedic program but develop critical pipelines for future Black faculty recruitment and development. In "Ten Key Steps for Chairs, Program Directors, and Faculty to Serve as Allies During This Racial Crisis," Ross et al. highlighted the importance of developing transparent nationwide metrics on racial diversity in orthopaedics28. This concept mirrors that of the value-based care philosophy that links financial incentives to surgeon performance on a set of defined measures29. The JRGOS has the most comprehensive database of Black orthopaedic surgeons in the U.S. Based on their data, a diversity ranking was created for the 2020-2021 academic year30. Of the 56 orthopaedic residency programs that had Black residents this academic year, the following programs were ranked in the top 5 in terms of the highest percentage of Black residents: Howard University (70%), Tulane University (27%), Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center (20%), New York University (15%), and Stanford University (14%). One argument against ranking metrics such as these is that they could potentially foster competition between programs for a small finite population of qualified Black applicants. However, the counterargument to this would be that the applicant pool is not truly finite. Poon et al. evaluated orthopaedic applicants between 2005 and 2014 and found that 5.7% were Black applicants and 71% were White applicants8. However, during that same period, only 3.8% of orthopaedic matriculants were Black while 74.7% of orthopaedic matriculants were White (an acceptance rate of 46% versus 73%). As established diversity pipeline initiatives increase the number of Black and other URM applicants into orthopaedic surgery, there needs to be an increase in the acceptance and retention of these students among a broader group of residencies. Recruitment of Black and other URM applicants must be an active and sustained effort. Diversity metrics such as the JRGOS rankings allow residencies that lack diversity to objectively compare themselves with more diverse programs on a granular level. However, we would further argue that program-level information on underrepresented populations in orthopaedics should be readily available through national orthopaedic associations such as the AAOS or the American Orthopaedic Association (AOA). Furthermore, programs should perform an objective and critical analysis of negative factors that have impeded the recruitment and retention of Black residents and faculty at their programs. These factors could contribute to the outward perception of a noninclusive, even hostile, environment, which could deter Black applicants from considering a program. Exploring the root causes that impede diversity may not achieve immediate gains in recruitment, but may help prepare a program for future Black applicants. These applicants will eventually recognize concerted efforts by a program for achieving inclusive culture, and they may choose to attend a program that may not historically have been diverse. The successful recruitment of Black applicants into the field of orthopaedic surgery also requires that the resident selection process eliminate unconscious biases in the screening of potential applicants. One means of achieving a diverse selection pool is to modify the screening criteria of potential applicants. Blind screening of potential candidates has been proposed as a way to mitigate racial, ethnic, gender, and medical school bias in the screening process28,31. Fadem et al. found a significant correlation between the income level of a medical student's parents and that student's Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and USMLE scores for both minorities and nonminorities32. A study evaluating general surgery applicants found that discrete USMLE cutoffs eliminated URM applicants at a higher rate than non-URM applicants33. The concept of "distance traveled" is another screening process that is used in the technology and corporate sectors as a means of mitigating unconscious bias in hiring practices, which have favored more privileged and homogeneous applicants34,35. The "distance-traveled" concept factors in where a job candidate came from and how many obstacles he or she had to overcome to get to where he or she is currently. Recently, medical schools have used "distance-traveled" metrics to admit a more racially/ethnically, culturally, and financially diverse group of medical students while deemphasizing reliance on standardized test scores in screening practices36,37. As the USMLE Step-1 shifts to a pass/fail format from the numerical score format that has been perceived as disadvantageous to minority students38, use of a "distance-traveled" screening measure may allow for the prioritization of candidates from diverse backgrounds who demonstrate higher levels of resilience and "grit," which are considered desirable traits among successful orthopaedic residents39,40. Furthermore, we recommend that all selection committee members at residency programs should complete bias/allyship training prior to the selection process. In a study by Capers et al., investigators evaluated the value of identifying bias in medical school admissions41. All 140 members of the Ohio State University College of Medicine (OSUCOM) admissions committee were administered the Black-White Implicit Association Test (IAT) prior to the 2012-2013 application cycle. All of the groups surveyed, particularly male members and medical school faculty, demonstrated a significant White male preference. The IAT results were released to the participants, with 48% admitting that they were conscious of their individual results when interviewing candidates during the next application cycle. This information resulted in measurable change: the class that matriculated following the IAT exercise was the most diverse in OSUCOM's history at that time. The implementation of comparable bias training programs within orthopaedic residencies may achieve a similar effect. Summary Orthopaedic surgery has the lowest percentage of Black representation of any specialty, and there has been minimal to no improvement on this front over the last 2 decades. As racial and ethnic inequities in America are increasingly highlighted, it is clear that orthopaedic surgery as a field has fallen short regarding diversity. Orthopaedic surgery can improve its racial diversity with concerted effort and the active engagement of future applicants of color. We recommend active recruitment of Black applicants with the utilization of established pipeline programs and organizational resources. Furthermore, strategies to increase the number of Black applicants to orthopaedic residency programs require paradigm shifts in medical students' perception of orthopaedics as a viable career path and strategic preparation of residency program environments for URM-resident recruitment. Most importantly, programs must take a proactive role in creating a safe and fair working environment for their URM residents. Our hope is that these strategic collaborations can contribute to measurable change in racial diversity in orthopaedics over the next decade.

Introduction Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were established during the segregation period of U.S. history in response to the demand for education by Blacks who did not have access to White educational institutions. As a group, Blacks share a common historical experience of segregation that was characterized by relatively limited educational resources to meet the demand of the black population for higher education. Currently there are 103 HBCUs (53 private and 50 public institutions), representing approximately 3% of the total U.S. institutions of higher education and about 2% of the total U.S. college enrollment (National Center for Education Statistics, 1996). Collectively, these institutions have also been undergoing, over the past three decades, a declining share of black high graduates' enrollment in higher educational institutions. Despite federal desegregation policies, such a relative decline has not been compensated by a corresponding increase in HBCUs' relative share of the total population of non-Black high school graduates' enrollment in higher education. Although most HBCUs experienced enrollment growth during the periods of educational expansion in the U.S., overall their share of national enrollment has declined because of two factors: the increase in community colleges and the Adams court decisions desegregating higher education in the south (Hauptman & Smith, 1994). Table 1 shows that the total enrollment in HBCUs expanded by about 18.69% from 222,613 students in 1976 to 273,472 in 1998. Despite the modest increase in the number of non-Black students attending HBCUs, the level of diversity in terms of race and ethnicity has remained almost unchanged. Hence, Black students have consistently represented about 81% of the total annual enrollment at HBCUs during that period. Table 2 indicates that the total U.S. enrollment of Blacks 14 to 34 years of age in postsecondary educational institutional institutions increased significantly by 66% from 996,000 in 1980 to 1,640,000 in 1998. Consequently, the total Black enrollment in all colleges and universities rose from 9.78% in 1980 to 12.75% in 1998. However, as a group, HBCUs' relative share of the total Black enrollment in higher educational institutions declined from 18.18% in 1980 to 13.70% in 1998. In contrast, Black students' enrollment in other institutions of higher education, as a percentage of the total Black enrollment in the U.S., rose from 80.82% in 1980 to 86.3% in 1998. While Black students' enrollment in other colleges and universities rose by 76% from 805,011 in 1980 to 1,415,255 students in 1998, the enrollment of non-Black students in HBCUs rose only by 16.82% (from 42,568 to 49,727) during the same period. Several factors may have contributed to the decline of HBCUs' relative share of total Black student enrollment in postsecondary educational institutions, and there is no empirical evidence about their effects in the literature. The survival and growth of many HBCUs depend on their ability to maintain or improve their relative share of Black students, who traditionally represented their major source of enrollment. The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical analysis of the determinants of Black student enrollment in HBCUs. Such information may be useful for policy decisions. An overview of the factors influencing Black enrollment in higher education and a description of the methodological framework as well as the data used in this study are provided in the next section. Methodology and Data Collection The Determinants of Enrollment Demand The literature provides a large body of information on the various factors that have been influencing the demand for higher education by Black high school graduates in the U. S. Demographic trends affect the demand for higher education as well as the supply of high school graduates who attend the various postsecondary institutions. …

While college enrollment rates have increased over the last 40 years, gaps still exist across groups. College enrollment rates are lower for high school graduates whose parents have not attended those with low-incomes, as well as Black and Latino/a students than for other high school graduates (Baum & Ma, 2007; Ellwood & Kane, 2000; NCES, 2007; Thomas & Perna, 2004). Widening gaps in income and health insurance coverage between high school and college graduates (Baum & Ma, 2007) suggest the economic and social imperative of working to increase college-going rates among these underrepresented groups. One source of differences across groups in college-related outcomes is knowledge about college and financial aid. Research shows that the more information and guidance a student has, the more likely the student is to enroll in college (Berkner & Chavez, 1997; Hossler, Braxton, & Coopersmith, 1989; Hossler, Schmit, & Vesper, 1999; King, 2004; Perna, 2004; Plank & Jordan, 2001). But, research also shows that a lack of knowledge about specifically financial aid, is prevalent in society today (Cunningham, Erisman, & Looney, 2007; De La Rosa, 2006; Grodsky & Jones, 2004; Horn, Chen, & Chapman, 2003; Perna, 2004; Venegas, 2006). Often this lack of knowledge is most pronounced among Latino and Black students and parents (Grodsky & Jones, 2004; Horn et al., 2003; Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, 2004), low-income parents (De La Rosa, 2006) and parents who have no direct personal experience with college (Brouder, 1987; Cunningham et al., 2007; Hossler, Schmit, & Bouse, 1991), and students who aspire to attend a two-year versus a four-year institution (Goff, Patino, & Jackson, 2004). The limited available existing research focuses on describing the sources and timing of information about financial aid and college prices (Perna, 2004). This paper builds on prior research by exploring not only the sources of students' knowledge of college prices and financial aid, but also the nature and sources of other college-related knowledge and how this knowledge varies by school and state context. Specifically, our research extends prior work by assessing differences in student knowledge of financial aid, costs, college preparation and education needed, as well as the sources of this knowledge. We also examine how students' college-related knowledge varies based on particular aspects of the context, including the average SES of students served by schools and the state policy environment. Drawing on a multi-level model of college enrollment (Perna, 2006a) and data from descriptive case studies of 15 high schools, this study explores the following guiding questions: 1. What do 9th and 11th grade students know about college, including college prices, financial aid, academic requirements, and the type and amount of postsecondary education needed to fulfill their specific career aspirations? 2. How do 9th and 11th grade students acquire college-related information? 3. How do college-related knowledge and sources of information vary across high schools and states? Literature Review Students and parents tend to lack information or have mis-information about college. Students and parents tend to overestimate college prices (De La Rosa & Tierney, 2006; Grodsky & Jones, 2004; Horn et al., 2003; Ikenberry & Hartle, 2000), and large percentages of parents and high school students are unaware of sources of financial aid (Immer-wahr, 2003; Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, 2004) or underestimate the amount of financial aid available (De La Rosa & Tierney, 2006). Immer-wahr (2003) also found that Latino students often had bad or misinformation about careers, and the amount of education needed for specific careers. Research has shown that students with lower levels of information about especially information focused on cost and aid are less likely to expect to attend college (Flint, 1993; Horn et al. …

Using four cohorts of first-time 9th -grade students in Missouri public high schools, we investigate how degree attainment trajectories diverge by race/ethnic-by-gender groups, pre-college academic readiness, and college selectivity. We find large racial/ethnic academic readiness gaps. Overall college enrollment rates are higher for Black students with average readiness and below, but this advantage disappears for degree completion. Hispanic-White gaps emerge earlier with high school graduation and college enrollment. Given academic readiness, Black students are much less likely to choose community college for their initial college enrollment favoring competitive four-year colleges. Among community college enrollees, Black students are less likely to complete any degree even among academically strong students, but they are equally likely to attain a bachelor’s degree. After controlling for college readiness and FRL, overall bachelor’s degree attainment for Black and Hispanic females are similar to, or higher than White females. Importantly, well-prepared Black and Hispanic male students have much lower degree completion rates than other well-prepared students, and their gaps in bachelor’s degree completion are particularly pronounced in competitive and very competitive institutions. We discuss policy implications.

High school role models and minority college achievement

Black students' college enrollment has increased considerably over the past few decades. Higher enrollment has not translated into an increased representation of Black students across all institutional types as community colleges, and less-selective 4-year institutions experienced the most growth. This dissertation drew on Hossler and Gallagher's (1987) three-stage model of the college choice process by focusing on the model's final stage, choice, where students select the college they will attend. Perna's (2006) conceptualization of the multiple and overlapping contexts within which the college choice process takes place was also used to conceptualize secondary schools' influence as an essential context influencing the choice stage. Lastly, this dissertation utilized Kasse Freeman's (2005) categorization of Black students' college aspiration typology to examine the influence of aspiration type on Black students' college destinations. Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, this dissertation investigated the influence of secondary schools on Black students' college destinations. Specifically, this study used multinominal logistic regression to model the influence of college-going culture in secondary schools on Black students' college destinations as moderated by aspiration type (i.e., knowers and seekers), geographical location, and bounded aspiration. I used confirmatory factor analysis to identify college-promoting resources and norms and latent profile analysis to create a typology of high school college-going cultures. Findings suggest that schools with high college-going culture have Black students that are less likely to attend two-year institutions but did not significantly affect the likelihood of Black knowers and seekers attending highly selective versus moderately selective four-year institutions. Additionally, results indicatethat being a rural student does not influence the relationship between the college-going culture of secondary schools and Black students' college destinations. Finally, it appeared that the desire to remain close to family and community did not affect the relationship between the secondary school's college-going culture and the type of college Black students attend immediately after high school. Results suggest that Black students who aspire to attend a four-year institution achieve their goal irrespective of their high schools' college-going culture, geographical location, or possessing a bounded aspiration. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed.

The between minority youth and the majority population in the United States is well documented (Johnston & Viadero, 2000). In order to reduce this and avail children of poverty of the most effective educational techniques, Project Follow Through was conducted in the 1960's. The research that compared a variety of educational approaches found Direct Instruction techniques to be the most effective along all measures. Since that time there have been numerous studies that have demonstrated the great benefit of Direct Instruction procedures for the education of minority youth. Yet, few school systems use the procedures. The article discusses arguments for and against the adoption of Direct Instruction techniques and makes a plea for minority educators to lead a movement that will lead to widespread espousal of the procedures. Key words: direct instruction, academic achievement, dissemination, inner - city students. THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM Since the 1970's the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--also popularly known as the Nation's Report Card--has been assessing K-12 students throughout the U.S. in their skills across common academic disciplines. These scores are then differentiated by subgroups such as age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender to show comparative trends in academic performance. From the time these and other similar assessments have been enacted, a significant disparity has been apparent between the academic of White students and students in minority groups--Black, Latino, and Native American, specifically. This achievement gap has been well-documented and tracked carefully over the years; the 1970's and 80's showed marked progress in narrowing the in several important subject areas, but this relative progress has since stalled (Johnston & Viadero, 2000; National Center for Education Statistics, NCES, 2001). Kober's (2001) analysis of the points out that the 1999 NAEP statistics in both trend assessments and main assessments reveal a persistent disparity between the academic of White majority students and Black, Latino, and Native American minority students. At every age and subject level, Black and Latino students trailed White students--sometimes by several equivalent academic years or grade levels. In the 1998 NAEP main writing assessment, 8% of Black 4th graders and 10% of Latino 4th graders scored at a Proficient level, compared to the 27% of White 4th graders. Similarly, the NCES reported in 2001 that Black students overall had lower math and reading scores than White students at every grade level. Even within integrated, middle-class suburbs the Black-White has been documented to persist (Johnston & Viadero, 2000). At the same time, Black and Latino students are making up a larger and larger percentage of the school-age population. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Black and Latino children will make up 34% of the school-age population in 2010. In many urban school districts, these groups already comprise more than 80% of the student population (Kober, 2001). Furthermore, elementary and high school academic scores have been shown to correlate strongly with high school completion, college enrollment, and labor market outcomes (Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Johnston & Viadero, 2000; NCES, 2001). Recent studies have found that the academic between Blacks and Whites could statistically account for most of the eventual wage differential between the two groups (NCES, 2001). Johnston & Viadero cite data compiled by the RAND Corp. that found Latino children will be 2.6 times more likely to grow up in poverty than White children in the year 2015, a ratio that has steadily increased over the past decade. These repercussions are compounded by the changing marketplace, which demands more educated workers for a society revolutionized by technological changes and worldwide globalization. …

High School Role Models and Minority College Achievement

It is hypothesized that Black families and other kinship networks serve an integral role in supporting Black college students on predominately White campuses. The subjects for this study were a random sample of 50 Black undergraduate college students at a large, coeducational, academically selective, urban university. This study investigated whether family involvement among Black college students promotes social and intellectual competence, adaptation to and involvement within the University, and decreased stress among these students. It was found that Black family support was significantly important in decreasing stress and providing and emotional outlet for the participants. THE VALUE OF EDUCATION IN BLACK FAMILIES It is widely known that for Black families, education is viewed as the path to liberation and success in the American society. Over the past 20 years, we have seen a marked increase in both the high school graduation rate of Black children, as well as an increase in the college participation rates. The American Council on Education (ACE, 2002) reports that in the year 2000, 77% of Black children graduated from high school. In 1999, the college participation rate of Blacks 18-24 years old was 39.4% (ACE, 2002). Wilds (2000) reports that 40% of Black college students graduate within six years of entering the institution. Past studies on Black students at predominately White universities have concentrated on attrition and its causes. Citing academic underpreparedness (Loo & Rolison, 1986), socioeconomic status (Ottinger, 1991), and negative campus climate (Mabry, 1991) as factors that contribute to attrition, these authors have sought to provide an explanation for reasons why African American students are retained at a rate less than their White counterparts. More recently, researchers have focused less on attrition and more on the those factors that facilitate persistence through to graduation (Choy, 2002; Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002). It is this latter body of literature to which this article seeks to contribute. Faegin and Sikes (1995) report increased struggles and recurring crises among Black students attending predominately White colleges and universities. Jung and Khalsa (1989) surveyed the correlation between stress, social support, coping strategies, and depression among African American and White students. In their study, African American students reported a higher number and severity of daily hassles than White students. This greater number of hassles was positively correlated with the level of depression for these students. Also, perceived family support among these students was related to lower depression (although actual support received was not statistically significant). Finally, those students who perceived greater support were more likely to use help-seeking behavior as a means of coping with problems. Students who perceived less support were more likely to use avoidance coping mechanisms. In seeking to understand the coping abilities of successful Black students (those who persist to graduation), researchers have focused on the impact of family support on the successful adjustment of these students to the college environment. Family support and interaction has been found to significantly correlate with social adjustment and institutional attachment (Kenny & Stryker 1996); self-confidence and independence (Sedlacek, 1987); grade point average (Cutrona, Cole, Colangelo, Assouline, & Russell, 1994); and persistence (Gloria, Robinson-Kurplus, Hamilton, & Russell, 1999) of college students. Studies also show that students are more likely to contact peers or parents in times of stress or crisis (Henton, Lamke, Murphy, & Haynes, 1980; Martin & Burkes, 1985) and that students who maintain warm relationships with their parents during at least the first year of college form better relationships, seek out help, and are generally more integrated socially in university life (Bell, Avery, Jenkins, Feld, & Schoenrock, 1985; Kenny, 1987, 1990). …

National reports recognize a growing gender gap in postsecondary enrollment as a major challenge impacting the lives of young men, particularly African Americans. Previous gender and race specific research is largely inconclusive. It is, for example, unclear from previous research how persistent the gender gap is across various school contexts, student demographics, and process characteristics. Drawing data from National Educational Longitudinal Study, the present study uses Hierarchical Generalized Liner Modeling (HGLM) to examine both student and school level characteristics that explain variations in college enrollment among African American men and women (with Caucasians included as a contrast group). Results showed that student level characteristics including gender, socioeconomic status, and race were all significant predictors of postsecondary enrollment. Furthermore, home process characteristics (including students' consistency of postsecondary expectations and parental involvement) significantly explained college enrollment when controlling for student home background factors. When considering school level variables, only the percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch and the percentage of minorities in the school were significant predictors of college enrollment above and beyond what was contributed at the student level, that is, student background and home process factors.Keywords: gender, college access, African AmericansINTRODUCTIONNational reports spark concerns that the proportion of young women enrolled in college is exceeding those of men, and such gap has widened over time (Snyder, Dillow, & Hoffman, 2009). Men enjoyed the college enrollment advantages over females in the 1960s and the early parts of the 1970s, but the trend has shifted toward women since the 1980s (King, 2000). Evidence suggests that the economic changes, and the financial hardships felt by middle class families during the 1980s, influenced young men either to avoid college entirely or to drop out of college to pursue immediate financial and employment opportunities (King, 2000).The college enrollment gaps are even larger in recent years. Between the years 1999 and 2009, for example, women's college enrollment increased by 63%, while the college enrollment of men increased only by 36% (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). Women have also slightly surpassed men in degree attainment. Between 1999 and 2009, women increased bachelor's degree attainment by 34% while men increased by 32% (U.S. Department of Education, 2010).Statistics further indicate that although the disparity in college enrollment is consistent along racial and ethnic lines, the gender gap is highest for African Americans in comparison to Caucasians (King, 2000; Peter & Horn, 2005). Peter and Horn (2005) found that while Caucasian men and women of traditional college age differ in college enrollment by just two percentage points (49% for men to 51% for women); the difference among African Americans is 26 percentage points (37% men to 63% women). Given the social and economic benefits a college education provides, including gainful employment, improved quality of life, and becoming an informed and democratic citizen (Baum & Payea, 2004; Laura, 2005), African American men's disadvantages in college attainment when compared to their female counterparts is concerning.BackgroundResearch in higher education has provided ample evidence of the differences among men and women on college enrollment and degree attainment. The research evidence, however, is unclear about which factors contribute to this gender gap and what strategies help reduce the gaps.Educational research suggests that gender socialization, along with objective factors, such as the family's socioeconomic status (SES), may contribute to variations in educational outcomes between African American men and women (Brown, Linver, Evans, & DeGennaro, 2008; Hill, 2001). …

Public elite and specialized high schools in New York City have a very low enrollment of Black and Latino students. Project 2011 is an intensive preparatory instructional program to improve acceptance rates for Black and Latino children to the eight specialized public high schools in New York City. Initiated and funded by District 17 and 18 of the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) and supported by Kaplan K12 Learning Service, Project 2011 offers curriculum and training for the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), which is the only eligibility criterion for acceptance to New York City specialized high schools. Pre-test and post-test assessments that were administered to participating students indicated that the program significantly improved students' performance on a practice test. Implications for student achievement and factors that influence their scores on the SHSAT, standardized tests, and school work are discussed.Keywords: specialized high schools, SHSAT, high schools, high school admissions process, equal educational opportunityLITERATURE REVIEWSince the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruling over half a century ago, concerns over equal educational opportunity continues to be widespread (Muller, Riegle-Crumb, Schiller, Wilkinson, & Frank, 2010). Many studies reveal circumstances that restrict access to education in academically competitive public high schools due to the use of a singular assessment to determine placement. New York City (NYC) Public School system's elite and specialized high schools are strongly impacted by inequality and access to education (Gootman, 2006; Mazie, 2009; Santos, 2012). The resulting impact on Black students is strongly evident in the research (Banchero, 2012; Deresiewicz, 2008; Muller et al., 2010).The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 addresses the issue of equal access to education and calls for a movement to increase academic standards (Mazie, 2009). In accordance with NCLB, many cities, like New York City, have been recognized for addressing the racial achievement gap in early education. However, they have not been as successful at the high school level, particularly at their top public schools, which require an entrance (Gootman, 2006). According to Dobbie and Fryer (201 1), exam schools make up over half of U.S. News and World Report's top 100 American high schools, and 20 out of 21 high schools designated as the 'public elite' by Newsweek (p. 1). Governments, such as China, Malaysia, Romania, Singapore, and Turkey, also use entrance exams to determine admission into their secondary schools (Dobbie & Fryer, 2011). The existence of exams schools in the U.S. has sparked intense debate on issues of educational inequality, particularly among political philosophers who are knowledgeable of public education systems and recognize the need to move beyond discussions of civic education to promoting educational parity (Mazie, 2009).Equal educational opportunity for all students is particularly important because research shows a direct correlation between academic success in high school and SES of future generations (Muller et al., 2010). Muller et al. (2010) recognized stratification in educational opportunity that extended beyond expected socioeconomic status (SES) differences to race. Specifically, the study mentions African American and Latino students' differential educational opportunities in comparison to their White counterparts. Furthermore, unequal public funds for education have always been a problem in the United States. Even private funds raised by the parent-teacher associations (PTAs) are impacted by the socioeconomic status of their communities (Mazie, 2009). Schools in lower SES communities are often deprived of basic and necessary educational materials. Compounding matters, Johnson, Richeson, and Finkel (2011) posit that students from lower SES environments, which are disproportionately Black and Latino, also encounter negative psychological influences. …

BackgroundIn a nationally representative sample of South Korean adults, we investigated the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and physical activity level, and whether this association varied by age group.MethodsWe used data from 5065 subjects aged ≥19 years who participated in the 6th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Weighted logistic regression examined the SES-physical activity association. Using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire short form, physical activity level was categorized into two groups: meeting the guideline (≥150 min/week of moderate intensity physical activity) and not meeting the guideline. Annual household income quartile (first quartile = highest income) and education (elementary, middle school, high school, and college graduates) were used as SES indicators. Sociodemographic covariates included in the adjusted models were marital status, town type (rural/urban), dwelling type, perceived health, federal allowance support (yes/no), and working- and sleeping-hours.ResultsIn unadjusted models, low income and low education were both associated with significantly lower odds of meeting the physical activity guideline. The income-physical activity association was moderated by age group in both unadjusted and adjusted models. Specifically, among those age < 45 years, those in the third quartile group had 41% higher odds (p < 0.01) of meeting the physical activity guideline compared with the first quartile group, after adjusting for covariates. In contrast, among those age ≥ 45 years, those in the third quartile group had 16% lower odds (p < 0.01) of meeting the physical activity guideline compared with the first quartile group, after adjusting for covariates. Furthermore, the education-physical activity association was moderated by age but only in the adjusted model. Specifically, among those age < 45 years, high school graduates had a 21% higher odds of meeting the physical activity guideline compared with college graduates (p = 0.08). In contrast, among those age ≥ 45 years, high school graduates had a 23% lower odds of meeting the physical activity guideline compared with college graduates (p = 0.01).ConclusionFuture policies that aim to address SES-related health disparities in physical activity among adults in South Korea should consider the different patterns of physical activity in accordance with SES and age.

This study is a randomized controlled trial that assessed the impact of Early College High Schools on students’ high school graduation, college enrollment, and college degree attainment, as well as students’ high school experiences using extant data and survey data. The study included 10 Early Colleges that enrolled students in Grades 9 to 12 in 2005 through 2011 and used a lottery for admissions, and 2,458 students who participated in those admission lotteries. The study time frame covered Grade 9 through 2 years post high school for all students and 4 years post high school for the oldest student cohort. It found that Early Colleges had positive impacts on college enrollment and college completion as well as students’ high school experiences.

Using data from the Education Longitudinal Study, the author investigates racial disparities in high school graduation, four-year college enrollment, and bachelor’s degree completion. In addition, the author considers how conditionally relevant college and early adult variables shape bachelor’s degree completion. The results indicate that although comparable numbers of black and Hispanic students obtain bachelor’s degrees, their educational career trajectories differ substantially. Compared with white students, black students are more likely to end their educational careers after starting college without completing a bachelor’s degree, whereas Hispanic students are more likely to end their educational careers without entering a four-year college. Moreover, early adult and college-specific variables have a substantial impact on bachelor’s degree completion and explain black-white disparities in bachelor’s degree attainment. This research shows the continuing significance of race in shaping the educational outcomes of young adults at all stages of their educational careers.

Antoine M. Garibaldi, Howard University* In this, the 18th annual Charles H. Thompson lecture, Dr. Garibaldi charts African Americans' forward and backward movement in education since the 1954 Brown decision, noting both the obstacles and success factors that have shaped the contemporary Black experience in U.S. schools, colleges, and universities. He provides a sweeping review of K-12 data, examining the relationships between race, poverty, school location, course-taking patterns, and parental expectations on Black students' academic achievement. He also assesses African Americans' standardized achievement and college admissions test performance, college enrollment, and postsecondary and graduate degree attainment, highlighting the significant role of historically Black colleges. Over the last four decades, notable progress has been made in the educational attainment and achievement of African Americans. More African Americans are attending elementary and secondary schools; African Americans are graduating from high school at higher rates; more African American students are attending college, graduate, and professional schools; and there are more African American professionals in leadership roles as a result of expanded educational opportunities. Those positive results are due in large measure to the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. That celebrated case was argued by Howard University alumnus Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, and a host of other legal and educational scholars who were determined to reverse the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision. The Brown decision not only opened the nation's school doors wide, it also provided the impetus for the elimination of separate-but-equal laws in employment, housing, voting rights, and related civil rights areas. Ironically, however, as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the integration of de jure segregated schools such as Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, most of our nation's public schools are more segregated than they were 40 years ago; and legislative attacks on affirmative action threaten the numerous gains in educational opportunity and civil rights made possible by Brown. Thus, there are fewer reasons to celebrate because of the perplexing signs of missed educational opportunities; declines in educational performance; lower than expected four-year college-going rates; and uneven undergraduate, postgraduate and first-professional degree attainment by gender for African Americans. Today I will describe the status of educational attainment of African Americans four decades after Brown, with an attempt to balance the gains and declines in progress so that prescriptions can be developed to remedy the educational problems that exist in our schools and communities. SCHOOL ENROLLMENT DEMOGRAPHICS As shown in Table I, the total U.S. public school enrollment during the 1993-94 school year was 43.5 million students, and the total private school enrollment was approximately 5 million students. Ninety-four percent (94%) of African American students, or almost 7.2 million young people, were enrolled in the nation's public schools, while the remaining 6%, or close to a half-million students (462,105), attended private schools (Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, 1997). African American students represented 16.5% of all public school enrollments, and they accounted for 9.3% of private schools' student bodies. Though African Americans' 16.5% share may seem small when compared to the 66% of White students enrolled in public schools, it is important to note that approximately 30% of Black public school students are enrolled in schools in large central cities with populations of more than 400,000 people, and more than half of all Black public school students (56.2%) live in the South (Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute, 1997). …