From UCLA Higher Education Research Institute October 2007

Beyond Myths: The Growth and Diversity of Asian American College Freshmen, 1971-2005 (Mitchell J. Change, Julie J. Park, Monica H. Lin, Oiyan A. Poon, and Don T. Nakanishi) –
The first-year student trends examined in this report help to address some common characterizations of Asian American students, particularly with respect to their educational success, that are often overstated and taken out of context. The examined trends do not support popular claims that Asian Americans are enjoying unprecedented, collective (or universal) academic success in U.S. higher education. The findings here suggest that Asian Americans still have to overcome a number of obstacles, such as levels of family income and financial aid, to earn a coveted spot in higher education. This report features data collected from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's (CIRP) Freshman Survey. It is based on the 361,271 Asian/Asian American first-time full-time college students from 1971-2005, representing the largest compilation and analysis of data on Asian American college students ever undertaken.
Visit: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/pr-display.php?prQry=8

From Excelencia in Education 2007

VOCES (Voices): A Profile of Today’s Latino College Students (Deborah A. Santiago, Excelencia in Education) –
This report presents the challenges and complexities of college opportunity from the perspective of Latino students.  It includes an updated analysis of Latino college-going trends, as well as a set of first-person accounts from Latino students on how cost and affordability issues have shaped their college decisions.  Excelencia in Education aims to accelerate higher education success for Latino students by providing data-driven analysis of the educational status of Latino students, and by promoting education policies and institutional practices that support their academic achievement.
Visit: http://www.edexcelencia.org/pdf/Voces2007.pdf

From Institute for Higher Education Policy December 2007 and The Chronicle of Higher Education December 12, 2007

From Aspirations to Action: The Role of Middle School Parents in Making the Dream of College a Reality (IHEP) –
Parents of adolescent students are in a unique position to help ensure their children’s success in postsecondary education. Overwhelming majorities of all the groups studied had college expectations, reflecting a widespread belief that a college education is necessary to get ahead in today’s world.  When, however, it comes to taking the steps necessary to plan to finance a college education and make sure their children will be academically prepared for college, many parents admit to dropping the ball.  The report recommends, among other things, that “information about college options should be a standard part of any life-skills curriculum taught in middle and high school, and schools should offer college-planning workshops to parents well before students begin the application process.”
Visit: http://www.ihep.org/assets/files/publications/a-f/From_Aspiration_to_Action.pdf

 From Public/Private Ventures Brief October 2007

Mentoring, Policy and Politics (Gary Walker) –
In this policy brief, former P/PV President Gary Walker reflects on the impact and appeal of mentoring, addresses various critiques of the movement, and suggests future directions for mentoring’s application.
Visit: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/224_publication.pdf

Chance Favors the Prepared Mind: Mathematics and Science Indicators for Comparing States and Nations (Gary W. Philips, American Institutes for Research) –
This paper describes state and international education indicators for mathematics and science using state data collected by the 2005 and 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and international Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in grade 8.  Data from the two studies are expressed in the same metric through statistical linking.  States within the United States can use TIMSS results as international benchmarks to monitor progress over time.
Visit: http://www.air.org/publications/documents/phillips.chance.favors.the.prepared.mind.pdf

From American Council on Education February 7, 2008

On the Pathway to the Presidency: Characteristics of Higher Education’s Senior Leadership (American Council of Education) –
This report seeks to determine whether higher education can expect a wave of retirements among other senior campus leaders and whether the pool of individuals who might ascend to fill presidential vacancies is more diverse in terms of gender and race/ethnicity.  Among their findings, women make up nearly half of senior administrators at universities, but the proportion of members of minority groups who are in such positions is much smaller.  The study recommends that institutions reach out to the relatively small pool of current senior administrators of color, attract more minority faculty into administrative positions, and increase the number of minority faculty so that the base of individuals who might someday ascend to the presidency grows.
Visit: http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pubInfo.cfm?pubID=398

From UCLA Bunche Center January 2008

Gaming the System: Inflation, Privilege, and the Under-Representation of African American Students at the University of California (Robin N. Johnson, Cynthia Mosqueda, Ana-Christina Ramon, and Darnell M. Hun, Bunche Research Report) –
The admission rate of African Americans has declined in the UC system, most severely at its top institutions, since 1996 when Proposition 209 was passed in California, banning the consideration of race in admissions at state institutions.  As a response, the UC system implemented “comprehensive review,” which is designed to consider a full range of student accomplishments while also taking into account a student’s experiences and circumstances.  The latest Bunche Research Report examines how each UC campus has operationalized comprehensive review and, more specifically, how each campus’ admissions process affects African American access to the UC system.  The report also presents recommendations on what the UC system, each UC campus, and the community can do to increase and preserve diversity on each campus.
Visit:  http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/publications/Bunche_Research_Report_January%202008.pdf

 From CPST Comments February 20, 2008

Women in Technology: Maximizing Talent, Minimizing Barriers (Heather Foust-Cummings, Laura Sabattini, and Nancy Carter, Catalyst) –
Technology companies are making progress at creating more diverse work environments, according to the latest Catalyst report examining the climate for women working in technology and technical fields.  Women surveyed were less likely to perceive barriers compared to those surveyed earlier in the decade.  Despite the positive findings, women in the high-tech workforce still face barriers to advancement such as a lack of role models, mentors, and access to networks.  Women in technology expressed particular concern around supervisory relationships and around company decisions and opportunities to voice opinions during decision-making processes.  These issues represent substantial obstacles in the increasingly competitive war for talent in the high-tech industry, and companies that do not address them will lose out on valuable and well-qualified employees who serve as assets to their organizations.
Visit:  http://www.catalystwomen.org/files/full/2008%20Women%20in%20High%20Tech.pdf
(via www.cpst.org/hrdata/documents/pwm13s/C452W043.pdf)

From EurekAlert! February 18, 2008

Where will we find the next generation of engineers? (Greg Schuckman, University of Central Florida) –
A new study that examines the number of engineering graduates coming out of our nation’s engineering schools reveals a mixed picture of how prepared each state is for meeting the need for high-tech workers in the coming years.  “Over the past 20 years, the number of students earning bachelors degrees in engineering has declined by almost 3 percent nationally,” says Schuckman.  “While that statistic may not seem significant by itself, the decline comes at a time when the number of students receiving bachelors degrees overall in the United States has increased by more than 50 percent. 
Visit: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/uocf-www021808.php#

From RAND Corporation January 23, 2008

Managing Diversity in Corporate America (Jefferson P. Marquis, Nelson Lim, Lynn M. Scott, Margaret C. Harrell, and Jennifer Kavanagh, RAND Corporation) –
Managing diversity has become a primary concern of top U.S. corporations. In this paper, the authors develop a fact-based approach to modeling diversity management. They use the model to determine whether diversity-friendly corporations really do stand out from other companies by analyzing the strategies pursued by 14 large U.S. companies recognized for their diversity or human resource (HR) achievements. Finally, to understand whether best practices alone make a company diversity-friendly, they compare a number of characteristics of best diversity companies, best HR companies, and other companies, using quantitative and qualitative methods. They find that firms recognized for diversity are distinguished by a core set of motives and practices that resemble those presented in the best-practices literature, but that best practices per se may not enable a company to achieve a high level of diversity. Contextual factors, such as industry affiliation and company size, may be as significant as strategic factors in influencing the extent of a company’s diversity.
Visit:  http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP206