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EJS
NOTE: The following
press release resulted in an article by the Los Angeles Times
titled 'Study
Links UC Entry, Social Class'.
Wealthy
Background a Big Asset in Admission to University of California,
Study Finds
BERKELEY,
CALIF. (November 19, 2003) – A new study of California high
schools finds that graduates of affluent suburban districts fared
far better than those of poor urban and rural districts in admission
to the University of California’s eight campuses in the period
immediately prior to “comprehensive review.”
The
study, authored by Isaac Martin of the UC Institute for Labor
and Employment, UC Berkeley sociologist and Rockridge Institute
Senior Fellow Jerome Karabel, and Los Angeles attorney Sean Jaquez,
looked at 1,069 public and private California high schools, or
nearly 80% of all applicants to UC in 1999. The study integrated
data from the California Department of Education and the UC Office
of the President, and will be published in the next issue of the
State of California Labor, a publication of the UC Institute for
Labor and Employment.
Dr.
Martin, the principal author, concluded, “We found staggering
inequalities between California high schools: 42% of graduates
from the top 50 public schools were admitted to UC, but less than
2% of graduates were admitted from the bottom 50 public schools.
We believe the recent controversy over UC’s admission of
a small number of students with low SATs under comprehensive review
is a tempest in a teapot by comparison,” he added, referring
to the recent controversy sparked by UC Regent Chair John Moores’
confidential report on UC Berkeley admissions that was leaked
to the media.
The
results of the study are striking. For example, Arcadia High School
had 370 UC admits out of 799 graduates. Three public high schools
in Compton -- Centennial, Compton, and Dominguez Hills –
had 789 graduates combined but only 11 UC admits. The bottom 50
high schools, with mostly Latino and African American student
bodies, only had 191 UC admits combined out of 9,600 graduates.
Co-author
Sean Jaquez, an attorney with Jones Day, began work on the study
as a Berkeley undergraduate, explained, “Our study documents
why comprehensive review and outreach are so critical. More, not
less, needs to be done in this area.”
Victor
Viramontes of MALDEF responded, “As a publicly-financed institution,
UC needs to ensure that the dream of a UC education is attainable
for the son of a Fresno farmworker and the daughter of a Compton
bank teller.” Viramontes was referring to the finding that
UC admitted none of the 255 graduates of Washington High in Fresno
and only one of 227 graduates of Centennial High in Compton.
“Comprehensive
review is necessary so that disadvantaged students who demonstrate
a clear potential to succeed at UC are not overlooked,” Jaquez
charged. “Too many qualified students from the Central Valley
were shut out of UC.”
Graduates
from high schools where African Americans and Latinos were 0-8%
of the student body were nearly three times more likely to be
admitted to UC compared to graduates from high schools where African
Americans and Latinos were 81-100% of the student body.
“The
vast disparities in access to UC reflect profound socioeconomic
differences in the lives of California’s youth,” professor
Karabel said. “For example, 49% of students at high schools
where more than half of the parents had graduate education were
admitted to UC, compared to an admission rate of only 7% for students
from high schools where fewer than one-in-twenty parents had graduate
degrees.”
The
study reported that among public high schools, a single factor
-- the percentage of parents in a school with graduate-level education
-- explained nearly 70% of the variance in the proportion of high
school graduates admitted to UC. The availability of AP courses
at each high school also correlated significantly with admission
to UC.
“This
study shows that the playing field to UC is decidedly unequal,”
said William Kidder of the Equal Justice Society. “Looking
beyond measures of wealth like the SAT is necessary to create
a better learning environment at UC and a better future for all
Californians.” The Equal Justice Society recently issued
a report with a dozen Berkeley professors showing that SAT scores
strongly correlated with social class, but that students with
low SAT scores at elite universities like Berkeley did well academically.
Martin,
Karabel, and Jaquez also found significant differences between
public and private high schools: 13% of the graduates of the average
California public high school were admitted to UC, compared to
28% of private high schools, and 38% for private college preparatory
high schools.
A preliminary
version of “Unequal Opportunity: California High Schools
and Access to the University of California” is now on the
web at http://www.ucop.edu/ile/scl/2003/chapter4.pdf
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PRESS
CONTACTS:
Isaac
Martin, Ph.D.
UC Institute for Labor and Employment
UC Berkeley
(510) 643-1694
iwmartin@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Victor
Viramontes
MALDEF
(213) 629-2512 ext. 103
vviramontes@MALDEF.org
William
Kidder
Equal Justice Society
(415) 288-8700 ext. 213
bill_kidder@yahoo.com
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