CERPP Conference 2019 Program (click to download)

Please click on each day for the conference blog, which provides a summary of each session. All available presentations are linked to as PDFs.

Conference Blog: Day 1 (January 27)

Welcome
Jerome A. Lucido, Professor of Research; Associate Dean for Strategic Enrollment Services; Executive Director, Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Opening Keynote. Race & Identity: Why It Matters
Darnell Cole, Associate Professor; Co-founding Director of the Center for Education, Identity and Social Justice; Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

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Conference Blog: Day 2 (January 28)

Session 1. Does Whiteness Equal Meritocracy in Admissions?
Julie Posselt, Assistant Professor. Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Session 2. Identity Formation and Intersectionality
Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro, Dean’s Professor and Chair of the Department of Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of Southern California

Session 3. Workshop: Identity in Holistic Review
Panelists:

• Richard Shaw, Dean of admission, Stanford University
• Marie Bigham, Director of College Counseling, Isidore Newman School
• Kedra Ishop, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Session 4. The Salience of Racial Identity
Sylvia Hurtado, Professor of Education; former Director of the Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

Session 5. Workshop: Training to Avoid Implicit Bias
Panelists:

• Rakin Hall, Executive Director of Admission, University of Utah
• Joyce Balak, Director of Admission and Financial Aid, Laguna Blanca School
• Kasey Urquidez, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions,  University of Arizona

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Conference Blog: Day 3 (January 29)

Session 6. What Does Research Tell Us About the Consideration of Race?
Stella Flores, Associate Dean and Associate Professor; Director of Access and Equity at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University

Session 7. Workshop: Considering Race in Admissions: Practical Lessons from the Courts
Panelists:

• Art Coleman, Managing Partner and Co-founder, EducationCounsel LLC
• Jamie Lewis Keith, Partner, EducationCounsel LLC
• Kedra Ishop, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management, University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Institute for Immigration, Globalization and Education, UCLA and ACT Center for Equity in Learning (2017). The Racial Heterogeneity Project: Implications for educational research, practice and policy. Retrieved from https://equityinlearning.act.org/research-doc/racial-heterogeneity-project-implications-educational-research-practice-policy/ A recent report sponsored by the ACT Center for Equity in Learning looks at the importance of data disaggregation and provides recommendations for education advocates, practitioners and policymakers. The Racial Heterogeneity Project aims to address:

• How the current, broad racial categories are a unique challenge for each racial/ethnic subpopulation
• How inaccurate data practices hinder the ability for practitioners and policymakers to understand and respond to the unique needs of each racial/ethnic population
• Approaches and strategies that should be considered to better support each racial/ethnic population
• Implications for policy and practice to better understand and respond to racial heterogeneity.

Bastedo, M.N., Bowman, N.A., Glasener, K.M., Kelly, J.L. (2018). What are we talking about when we talk about holistic review? Selective college admissions and its effects on low-SES students. The Journal of Higher Education, 89(5): 782-805. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2018.1442633 This mixed-methods study used open-response survey data, focus groups, and an experimental simulation to explore how 311 admissions officers defined and used concepts of holistic review in selective college admissions. We found that 3 distinct definitions of holistic review predominate in the field: whole file, whole person, and whole context. We explored these concepts qualitatively and used the coded data to predict decision making in an experimental simulation. We found that admissions officers with a “whole context” view of holistic review were disproportionately likely to admit a low socioeconomic-status applicant in our simulation.

Bastedo, M.N. & Bowman, N.A. (2017). Improving admission of low-SES students at selective colleges: Results from an experimental simulation. Educational Researcher, 46(2): 67-77. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17699373 Low-socioeconomic status (SES) students are underrepresented at selective colleges, but the role that admissions offices play is poorly understood. Because admissions offices often have inconsistent information on high school contexts, we conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether providing detailed information on high school contexts increases the likelihood that admissions officers (n = 311) would recommend admitting low-SES applicants. Admissions officers in the detailed-information condition were 13 to 14 percentage points (i.e., 26%–28%) more likely to recommend admitting a low-SES applicant from an underserved high school than those in the limited-information condition, although the limited-information condition provided significant details about family SES and high school context

Bowman, N.A. & Bastedo, M.N. (2018). What role may admissions office diversity and practices play in equitable decisions? Research in Higher Education, 59(4): 430-447. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9468-9 This study examined a unique national sample of 311 undergraduate admissions officers who work at selective institutions to explore this issue. Among the descriptive findings, more than half of respondents reported that they consider applicants’ demonstrated interest in attending their institution when making a recommendation, about two-thirds review at least 100 applications during busy weeks, and almost half were working at their alma mater. Moreover, in a simulation of admissions scoring, admissions officers from historically underrepresented groups were more likely to admit low-SES applicants, whereas participants with more work experience and who were employed at their alma mater provided less equitable recommendations.

Bowman, N. A., & Felix, V. (2017). It’s who I am: Student identity centrality and college student success. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 54(3): 235–247. https://doi.org/10.1080/19496591.2017.1331853 This article proposes the concept of student identity centrality, which is defined as the extent to which being a student is important to one’s self-image or identity. This study found student identity centrality was positively related to goal commitment, institutional commitment, and intent to persist, even when controlling for precollege attributes and college experiences.