research paper on minority students

Integrating Minorities in the Classroom: The Role of Students, Parents, and Teachers

We develop a multi-agent model of the education production function where investments of students, parents, and teachers are linked to the presence of minorities in the classroom. We then test the key implications of this model using rich survey data and a mandate to randomly assign students to classrooms. Consistent with our model, we show that exposure to minority peers decreases student effort, parental investments, and teacher engagement and it results in lower student test scores. Observables correlated with minority status explain less than a third of the reduced-form test score effect while over a third can be descriptively attributed to endogenous responses of the agents.

We thank Ly-yun Chang, Kuan-Ming Chen, Jan Feld, Maggie Jones, Zi Le, Elaine Liu, Jin-Tan Liu, Su-mei Lo, Markus Nagler, Jonah Rockoff, Bruce Sacerdote as well as the seminar and conference participants at Emory University, University of Iowa, National Taiwan University, the Family and Education Workshop, the 6th Empirical Microeconomics Workshop in Banff, the CESIfo Economics of Education Meeting, the Step Up Education Conference in Sydney, the Indigenous Economics Study Group Seminar, the 25th Australian Labour Econometrics Workshop, and the NBER Education Meeting for helpful comments. This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Project ID CE200100025). The financial support from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project DP200102547 is gratefully acknowledged by Yves Zenou. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Discrimination and academic (dis)engagement of ethnic-racial minority students: a social identity threat perspective

• Published: 23 January 2019
• Volume 22 , pages 267–290, ( 2019 )

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• Maykel Verkuyten   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0137-1527 1 , 2 ,
• Jochem Thijs 1 &
• Nadya Gharaei 3  

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In this paper we discuss the social identity processes by which discrimination can have an impact on ethnic-racial minority group students’ academic engagement. After considering the forms, targets and sources of discrimination, we argue that discrimination implies social identity threat. Threats to ethnic/racial identity compromise specific social identity needs (belongingness, esteem, control) which relate to important motives for academic engagement and performance. Minority students seek to cope with their threatened ethnic/racial identity, and increased engagement as well as protective disengagement with the academic domain, at both the individual level and the group level, are discussed as coping strategies. We also briefly consider the possible moderating roles of individual differences in the subjective importance of one’s ethnic or racial group membership, and of three classroom characteristics: classroom composition, student–teacher relation, and multicultural education. We conclude by providing directions for future research and consider some practical implications.

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Verkuyten, M., Thijs, J. & Gharaei, N. Discrimination and academic (dis)engagement of ethnic-racial minority students: a social identity threat perspective. Soc Psychol Educ 22 , 267–290 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-09476-0

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Improving Underrepresented Minority Student Persistence in STEM

Mica estrada.

1 Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118

Myra Burnett

2 Office of the Provost, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA 30314-4399

Andrew G. Campbell

3 Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912

Patricia B. Campbell

4 Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc., Groton, MA 01450

Wilfred F. Denetclaw

5 Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132

Carlos G. Gutiérrez

6 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8202

Sylvia Hurtado

7 Education Department, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1521

Gilbert H. John

8 Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078

John Matsui

9 Biology Scholars Program, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-3140

Richard McGee

10 Faculty Affairs, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611

Camellia Moses Okpodu

11 Department of Biology, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA 23504

T. Joan Robinson

12 Division of International Affairs, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251

Michael F. Summers

13 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815

14 Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21250

Maggie Werner-Washburne

15 Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

MariaElena Zavala

16 Department of Biology, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, CA 91330-8303

Members of the Joint Working Group on Improving Underrepresented Minorities (URMs) Persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), utilizing Kurt Lewin’s planned approach to change, describe five recommendations to increase URM persistence in STEM at the undergraduate level.

Members of the Joint Working Group on Improving Underrepresented Minorities (URMs) Persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)—convened by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute—review current data and propose deliberation about why the academic “pathways” leak more for URM than white or Asian STEM students. They suggest expanding to include a stronger focus on the institutional barriers that need to be removed and the types of interventions that “lift” students’ interests, commitment, and ability to persist in STEM fields. Using Kurt Lewin’s planned approach to change, the committee describes five recommendations to increase URM persistence in STEM at the undergraduate level. These recommendations capitalize on known successes, recognize the need for accountability, and are framed to facilitate greater progress in the future. The impact of these recommendations rests upon enacting the first recommendation: to track successes and failures at the institutional level and collect data that help explain the existing trends.

INTRODUCTION

The United States’ inability to achieve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce diversity goals has long been attributed to the failure of the academic “pipeline” to maintain a steady flow of underrepresented minority (URM) students. While there have been some gains, national data continue to show that the disparity in STEM degree attainment for URM students (i.e., African American, Hispanic or Latino/Latina, American Indian, and Alaska Natives) increases at each degree level, compared with white and Asian students (see Figure 1 ). We propose that deliberation about why the “pipeline” leaks more for URM than white or Asian students should be expanded to include a stronger focus on the institutional barriers that need to be removed and the types of interventions that “lift” students’ interests, commitment, and ability to persist in STEM fields.

Current percentages of underrepresented minority, white and Asian/Pacific Islander populations with STEM degrees. URM includes African American, Hispanic or Latino/Latina, American Indian, and Alaskan Native. In this analysis, “STEM degrees” includes degrees categorized by the NSF as “Science & Engineering” (but excludes degrees in psychology and social sciences) in data tables prepared by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics based on data from the U.S. Department of Education’s IPEDS 2010 Completions Survey. Sources: population: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Summary File 1, tables PCT12H, PCT12I, PCT12J, PCT12K, PCT12L, PCT12M, PCT12N, and PCT120; degrees: NSF, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, special tabulations of U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Completions Survey, 2001–10; and faculty: National Science Foundation statistics.

As members of the Joint Working Group on Improving URM Persistence in STEM—convened by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)—our charge was to review current literature and explore barriers to undergraduate URM STEM persistence from a fresh perspective and enable constructive, innovative thinking regarding solutions. The committee was composed of educators with deep experience in addressing URM persistence in STEM, who convened for several multiday formal meetings and sustained ongoing conversations over the course of the past 3 years. Despite committee members’ diversity in culture, training, and professional experiences, we strongly converged around the belief that 40 years of intervention experience supported by NIGMS, HHMI, National Science Foundation (NSF), and other funders, coupled with more recent experimental research, has given us sufficient knowledge to address the disparity in STEM fields much more effectively. As a starting point, we address the pervasive pattern wherein URM students plan to undertake STEM majors in college at the same rate as do white students but do not graduate with STEM degrees at that same rate ( Hurtado et al. , 2009 ; Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology [PCAST], 2012 ). The main problem now appears to be that there has not been a national commitment to enact and sustain the institutional initiatives necessary to capitalize on what we know and systematically track successes and failures as we move forward.

Planned Approach to Change

In the 1940s, Kurt Lewin proposed a now classic planned approach to change involving the concepts of field theory, action research, and a three-step model ( Lewin, 1946 , 1947 ). His theory (and method) for change provides a context in which to place the proposed recommendations of the working group. According to field theory, a variety of forces maintain the status quo through contextual and individual inputs such as culture, values, norms, and roles. Change begins by recognizing the fields of influence in a situation and identifying the points at which there are “gatekeepers” that impede the flow of change in a system.

According to Lewin, group, organization, or social system change does not occur by simply shifting individual behavior but requires the larger system to shift as well. Lewin’s three-step model, which dominated the field of change management for nearly 40 years and continues to be discussed as relevant (see Burnes, 2004 ), provides an approach for creating system change. Lewin’s model describes the backbone to many change theories ( Sarayreh et al. , 2013 ) and shares elements with Elrod and Kezars’ (2015) newer, more detailed Keck/PKAL model for institutional change or Austin’s (2011) description of how to promote evidence-based change. First, as Lewin describes it, a system or organization must become unfrozen , which can occur from destabilization or from creating awareness that the status quo no longer is functional to achieve the aims of the group, institution, or larger social system ( Lewin, 1947 ). Second, the system experiences moving , which for Lewin involved an iterative process of engaging action research (see Figure 2 ). Action research classically is a spiral process that operates similarly to how a physician repairs a broken bone and includes the following steps: a) evaluate : collect information about the state of the situation; b) diagnose : use knowledge attained regarding the state of the situation and knowledge of what has worked in the past to identify the gatekeepers (aka barriers) and opportunities to improve the syst em; c) plan : create a plan of action; and then d) take action . After action is taken, return to “a” and reassess the situation—are things better or getting worse? Then one continues through the iterative process of adjusting the plan and implementations until the data show improvement. Importantly, this theory of change cannot occur without good data to inform the progress of change. Finally, when the system is in a new, functional, and perhaps thriving state, step 3, refreezing , occurs, which includes adopting the systems’ newer culture, policies, and practices ( Cummings and Huse, 1989 ) and new norms and roles. The classical approach to action research recognizes the expertise of all persons involved in the system and encourages their active contribution to the change process.

Action research model.

With regard to addressing the issue of broadening participation, there was wide agreement that unfreezing (step 1) is occurring because the status quo is clearly not resulting in equity and broadening of the workforce ( National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, 2007 , 2010 , 2011 ; PCAST, 2012 ; Carnevale and Strohl, 2013 ; Witham et al. , 2015 ). What follows are recommendations for how to move the system by using an action research methodology, and as Lewin suggests, a key component to this is having data to inform us about the current state of the situation and provide evidence of change (or nonchange) as we move forward. Thus, the first recommendation is focused on acquiring quality information to create accountability. The latter four recommendations describe how to move the system by establishing new practices that shift the culture of science education. The goal is then to refreeze and gain the results that so eloquently describes: “To be stable … change must, in short, be a change in the ‘cultural atmosphere,’ not merely a change of a single item” ( Lewin, 1943 , p. 46).

ESSENTIAL FIRST RECOMMENDATION FOR PROMOTING CHANGE: TRACK AND INCREASE AWARENESS OF INSTITUTIONAL PROGRESS TOWARD DIVERSIFYING STEM

According to Lewin’s theory of change, iterative improvements of a group, system, or institution are greatly facilitated by clearly evaluating the state of the system to assess when change occurs (or not) and inform the diagnosis. Within the field of applied psychology, there is strong evidence that feedback promotes changes in behavior and can increase motivation for attainment of goals, because it creates accountability ( Kluger and DeNisi, 1996 ). Consistent with this orientation, the Joint Working Group strongly recommends that decreasing URM and gender disparity begins with institutional accountability. Currently, there is no requirement for higher education institutions at the undergraduate level to know the ethnic identities of the students who enter, drop, or complete their degree programs. Because of this, such institutions that are successfully narrowing the STEM gap are not always identifiable; nor are institutions that are failing diverse students, perhaps miserably, held accountable. To establish institutional benchmarks and encourage greater progress, institutional-level tracking by program of student ethnicity and performance outcomes must begin to occur in a uniform manner, such that comparisons can be made across time, departments, and institutions. What is now opaque can be made visible by systematically tracking the number of degree candidates and earners in STEM disciplines across demographic categories and making those numbers publicly available on institutional websites. In so doing, we 1) enable researchers and practitioners to identify institutions that are making progress (or not) and 2) allow for more careful data-driven analysis of what constitutes effective practices that can be adapted. Federal and private funding agencies should require this information from institutions that receive support in a standardized format that identifies disparity and equity. In addition, annual reports of institutional STEM data could be included in accreditation reviews. Most importantly, colleges and universities themselves stand to benefit from better institutional data on student performance and retention ( Burnett, 2006 ; Hurtado et al. , 2009 ).

In addition to tracking student performance in STEM, institutional data should include time to degree, existing funded and unfunded URM intervention programs at the institution, and participation in research training experiences for URM and non-URM students. These data would considerably enhance educators’ and researchers’ ability to identify the characteristics of institutions with programs successful at recruiting and retaining URMs. Institutional data would complement current social science findings that show how empowering URMs with the skills, scientific identity, and values of scientists results in students experiencing greater integration into the scientific community and increases the likelihood of their persistence ( Hurtado, 2010 ; Estrada et al. , 2011 ).

Some efforts have begun but are not comprehensive. For example, the National Center for Education Statistics conducts aggregate tracking of persistence in STEM across all colleges and universities in the United States. Their report on undergraduate attrition finds that 48% of the students who enter college with STEM majors leave those majors before graduation ( Chen and Soldier, 2013 ). According to NCES, African-American students are the most likely ethnic group to leave STEM majors by dropping out of college (29%) or switching to a non-STEM degree (36%). There are relatively few reports of institutional-level tracking of STEM performance and persistence and fewer that provide analysis by ethnicity, although the NIH-funded Diversity Program Consortium seeks to track institutional data from multiple institutions from across the United States. Additionally, some institutions have begun internal tracking to understand their programs in relation to persistence and completion in STEM ( Mercia 2010 ; Rask, 2010 ; Hill et al. , 2014 ), sometimes across multiple institutions. These initiatives share the aim of improving STEM outcomes for students.

FOUR ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MOVING THE SYSTEM

Capitalizing on known successes and working toward greater progress in the future, the Joint Working Group put forth four additional recommendations to increase URM persistence in STEM at the undergraduate level as mechanisms for creating force for change (see Table 1 for summary). However, the impact of these recommendations rests upon the first recommendation to evaluate successes and failures in reducing disparity at the institutional level and collect data that help provide evidence-based intervention choices by using the previously described action research approach to change.

Summary of recommendations to increase the diversity of undergraduate STEM disciplines

The following recommendations draw on more than 40 years of federal and private funding and tracking of programs aimed at narrowing URM educational achievement gaps (see Table 2 for a list of programs with evidence of long term success). In some cases, these activities helped stimulate broad institutional changes that have led to marked, quantitative improvement in student outcomes, including retention in STEM fields, improvement in academic performance, and matriculation to graduate and professional schools ( Okpodu and Maclin, 2009 ). While local efforts have resulted in some examples of institutional success, effective strategies for moving the system have not permeated the higher education landscape in a broad, lasting manner that might lead to refreezing in an improved state. At this juncture, targeted intervention to improve URM student retention in STEM is both justified and an urgent national priority. In addition to institutional accountability, the committee found strong agreement that there is evidence that the following strategies increase URM persistence at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Types of programs and levels of intervention to increase URM in STEM

Programs listed were chosen because of their national reputations for increasing retention and/or persistence of URM STEM students across several years. This list is not exhaustive.

Create Strategic Partnerships

To expand the impact of programs with successful outcomes, strategic partnerships should be formed between accomplished programs such as the ones cited in Table 2 (all of which have reported consistent above-average retention and/or persistence rates across many years) and programs that are (or could be) working with similar student populations. A benefit of strategic partnerships is that programs successful in increasing URM persistence can be modeled or adapted to suit institutional conditions, resources, and existing states of change. This recommendation rests on years of research showing that humans are able to accelerate learning by observing others’ successes and failures ( Bandura, 1977 , 1986 ). For decades, program directors have been “learning” through a process of trial and error. However, this is no longer necessary. STEM programs that are willing to adapt their approaches can find examples on the higher education landscape of data-driven interventions that impact the individual and create institutional contexts in which students thrive. Commitment to forming strategic partnerships to ignite institutional transformation is an essential factor in improving outcomes for URM STEM students and may be the most important factor for producing systemic change ( Elrod and Kezar, 2015 ).

To begin the process of forming strategic partnerships, we must identify and understand successful programs, which the committee divided into two categories. As illustrated in Table 2 , some successful programs have focused primarily on the highly skilled, prepared, and motivated URM students ( Summers and Hrabowski, 2006 ; Okpodu and Maclin, 2009 ). Other programs have worked with a broader range of students who have motivation, interest, and talent, but do not enter undergraduate studies well prepared ( Matsui et al. , 2003 ). Similar to how a doctor creates a diagnosis based on his or her knowledge or previous experience, diagnosing how to improve a program or institution’s persistence rates begins with knowing the attributes of successful programs at a range of institutions, including flagship research universities, liberal arts colleges, and comprehensive state universities.

Current research has started to identify the characteristics of programs that do and do not result in short- and longer-term positive outcomes ( Estrada, 2014 ; Linn et al. , 2015 ). The findings, largely drawn from qualitative and quantitative, theory-driven studies, identify two levels of contribution to program success: individual (person-level) and contextual (institutional/environmental) interventions. For example, program interventions that support and develop students’ science efficacy, identity, motivation, and values have been found to promote persistence ( Chang et al. , 2011 ; Chemers et al. , 2011 ; Syed et al. , 2011 ; Hernandez et al. , 2012 ; Graham et al. , 2013 ). One example is Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, whose students are URMs in gender and ethnicity, and which has been the top producer of African-American women STEM undergraduates who go on to receive science doctorates since 2008 ( National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2015a , b ). In response to Spelman being identified as a model institution for excellence in undergraduate science and mathematics education, Thompson and Scriven (2008) have documented Spelman’s successful approach to STEM education, dating back to 1972, which includes a pre–freshman summer science program, on- and off-campus research experiences for students, and strong faculty mentoring. Encouraging students to realize their academic potential by embracing their ethnic and gender identity has resulted in more than 22% of graduates obtaining advanced STEM, medical, and allied health degrees ( Jackson and Winfield, 2014 ).

Another example is the University of Maryland–Baltimore County Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which has found success in preparing URM students through a 14-component model that combats factors shown to compromise success in STEM among high-achieving URM students. The Meyerhoff Scholars Program includes elements such as participation in a summer bridge program, building networks of peer support, tutoring, and personal advising ( Summers and Hrabowski, 2006 ; Lee and Harmon, 2013 ). A key aim of the program is to reduce student isolation and low motivation that may result from unsupportive learning environments. As a consequence of its comprehensive approach, the Meyerhoff Program has produced more than 1000 STEM undergraduates since 1989, 209 of whom have received PhDs, and 70% of whom are from URM groups.

In contrast to the Meyerhoff Program, the Biology Scholars Program (BSP) at the University of California, Berkeley, has an individualized approach that combines emphasis on reinforcing students’ identity as scientists with a supportive and challenging environment of faculty and other mentors committed to student success. BSP selects students based on their passion for science, resilience, persistence, authenticity, willingness to seek and give help, and ability to restrategize and regroup in the face of failure. Traditional measures of success, such as grade point average and Scholastic Aptitude Test scores are not determining factors. BSP reports that, over a 20-year period, their 2080 graduates included 60% URMS, 70% women, and 80% from low-income backgrounds. Across repeated studies, the retention and persistence of BSP students has been shown to be on par with (if not exceeding) rates of high-achieving students ( Matsui et al. , 2003 ).

California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), and San Francisco State University (SFSU), both minority-serving and comprehensive state universities, have established very successful training programs to support the development of undergraduate and master’s students committed to pursuing a PhD ( Slovacek et al. , 2011 ; Hernandez et al. , 2012 ). Each program is tailored to its campus, but they share similarities. These institutions identify motivated minority talent and provide programs (Minority Opportunities in Research [MORE] at Cal State LA; Student Research Opportunities Programs [SROP] at SFSU) to develop this talent to a high level through deliberate cocurricular activities that include strong opportunities for research participation; participation in special workshops, seminars, and courses; careful academic and career advisement; and incorporation into the campus scientific community through the interaction with science faculty, academic and industrial scientists, and other successful science students. Emphasis is on student development of solid skills in the sciences, in research, and the English language in preparation for high achievement in demanding PhD programs. The Cal State LA MORE and SFSU SROP programs have together sent hundreds of students to top PhD programs nationwide, and those students have completed these doctoral programs at rates higher than national averages for all students. NSF has listed both institutions in the top 50 of U.S. institutions whose Hispanic graduates earned science PhDs. Among baccalaureate and master’s institutions in the continental United States, Cal State LA is listed as number 1 ( National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2015a , b ).

Each of the programs described focuses largely on student factors to increase persistence and graduation in STEM for talented students who otherwise may have chosen a different pathway through their undergraduate careers. According to Lewin’s model of change, such individual variables are important, but insufficient, to produce a widespread improvement in the number of URMs who persist in STEM careers. A second approach of programs successful in increasing URM persistence also aims to change institutional-level variables that may impede student success, such as faculty and institutional expectations, support, departmental diversity, and climate ( Anderson et al. , 2011 ; His Horse is Thunder, 2012 ; Slovacek et al. , 2012 ). Current initiatives have been launched with both the Meyerhoff and BSP programs to promote institutional change. Specifically, the Meyerhoff Program is being embraced and adapted for implementation at two new institutions. BSP, on the other hand, has launched a program designed to broaden its impact across its current institution. Both the Meyerhoff and BSP program expansions entail deepened institutional commitment and model how to develop strategic partnerships.

Unleash the Power of the Curriculum and Active Learning

Science education that imbues students not only with scientific factual knowledge but also the ability to use the scientific research process to promote “a lifetime of learning” is strongly needed for all students, but URMs in particular ( Anderson et al. , 2011 ). The science curriculum—which includes course content, course sequence, discipline competencies, language, and norms—must also shift to better respond to this new age of technology, information, and rapidly advancing scientific findings. For instance, Mount Sinai School of Medicine developed a postbaccalaureate program of “systematic coaching,” an intensive skills-development process to encourage persistence in biomedical careers beyond the undergraduate level ( Krulwich, 2009 ). Several efforts, such as the Partnership in Undergraduate Life Sciences Education ( www.pulsecommunity.org ), initiated through a collaborative effort between HHMI, NSF and NIGMS, and the Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative ( https://stemedhub.org/groups/aau ), are advancing collective institutional efforts to implement new models for STEM curricula to respond better to technological and theoretical advances. At the level of single colleges and universities, many successful models exist to inform the efforts of peer institutions.

One of the most dramatic examples of curricular change is Harvey Mudd College located in Claremont, California. With interventions such as a restructured introductory computer science course, early exposure to research, and regular introduction to women computer science professionals, Harvey Mudd quadrupled the number of women in computer science from 10 to 40% over a 5-year period ( Corbett and Hill, 2015 ). An important element of its success was to counteract students’ feelings of being “imposters” who were not sufficiently capable of achievement in STEM fields. Harvey Mudd also modified its Introduction to Computer Science course to focus on creative problem solving, making it more attractive to students who did not have strong backgrounds in computer programming. Once engaged in the major, students were assigned summer research projects and taken to the Grace Hopper Conference for women in computer science.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) also are emerging as cutting-edge ways to infuse entry-level classes with hands-on research experiences for science students ( Auchincloss et al. , 2014 ). While there are a variety of types of CUREs, they hold in common the placement of “authentic” research experiences in the context of undergraduate courses. There is growing evidence that CUREs result in greater retention of interest and persistence in science. Several institutions are now adopting CUREs that have been shown to be efficacious, such as the SEA–PHAGES program developed initially at the University of Pittsburgh or the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) at the University of Texas, Austin. These types of curricular changes have been shown to impact knowledge acquisition and psychosocial outcomes and persistence for students, ( Shear and Simmons, 2011 ; Brownell et al. , 2012 ; Alkaher and Dolan, 2014 ; Bangera and Brownell, 2014 ; Jordan et al. , 2014 ). Exposure to authentic research experiences for URMs during the academic year particularly has been shown to increase persistence ( Hurtado et al. , 2009 ; Schultz et al. , 2011 ; Rodenbusch et al. , 2016 ).

Address Student Resource Disparities

There is strong evidence that URM undergraduate students are more likely than white or Asian students to come from low-income households, be first-generation college students, and experience financial strain while attending college or university ( Kuh et al. , 2006 ; Cullinane and Leewater, 2009 ). Other evidence of financial strain is contained in the 1996 NSF report Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering ( National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2015a ), which reports that URM science and engineering students are more likely to come from families in poverty. The lack of financial resources hinders the ability of undergraduates to engage fully in their studies and disproportionately impacts URM students, who are overrepresented in low socioeconomic status categories. Poor students, whether enrolled full time or part time, are more likely to work, resulting in less time to study, do internships in research laboratories, participate in STEM organizations, and attend summer STEM preparation programs. The impact of work on academic achievement, particularly work in off-campus locations, has been shown to have a deleterious impact on student performance ( Thompson and Scriven, 2008 ). Institutions that are able to provide student financial support will produce stronger persistence and higher levels of student performance. This systemic element must not be overlooked in the universe of factors that impact the success of URM students in STEM.

We strongly encourage federal and private agencies to provide greater financial resources to low-income STEM students to reduce the significant barriers that impede URMs from fully engaging in the sciences . The inequity, of course, is embedded in the national economic landscape that exists within and beyond academic institutions, which ultimately requires action but is beyond the scope of this paper. Regardless of the source of the economic disparity, it is clear that financial strains can deeply impact URM STEM students’ career trajectories. Likewise, there is also strong evidence that, even when financial resources are similar between URM and majority students, URMs are more likely to drop out of science-track educational pursuits ( National Research Council, 2005 ). While addressing the economic disparities is essential, it is not sufficient to bridge the gap completely.

Fire Students’ Creative Juices

When career scientists are informally asked to describe why they do science, quite often they describe how doing science is a creative and meaningful process for them. Current research on the adoption of academic and scientific values, whether stimulated in a classroom, an internship, work, a training program, or mentorship relationship, suggests that URM students are more likely to pursue a science career if they internalize the values of the scientific community—such as believing that it is important to work to discover knowledge using the scientific method or that scientific research can solve many of today’s global challenges ( Estrada et al. , 2011 ). The value of STEM skills and learning vary from person to person (values are subjective) and influence motivation to persist in an activity. Research in the learning sciences show that a person’s value of a task is actually a stronger predictor of task motivation and creativity than expectancies for success ( Xiang et al. , 2003 ; Wigfield et al. , 2009 ). This suggests that motivation is more likely to be sustained when the work being done is meaningful and consistent with personal (and perhaps cultural) values. On the basis of this research evidence and experience, we recommend rallying URM students around grand valued challenges of national and global significance—renewable energy, clean water, health, and climate change—that provide long-term positive contributions to society and their ethnic communities. Being invested in the research outcomes is an important factor in increasing enthusiasm for STEM academic achievement and long-term career choices. Also, providing interventions within or outside the classroom that help students connect the learning of science to held values can serve to shift interest in STEM topics.

Judith Harackiewicz’s ( Harackiewicz et al. , 2013 ) research has provided empirical evidence that connecting course work to a student’s values can impact academic success and persistence, serving as a means to ignite interest. Specifically, she randomly assigned biology undergraduates to 1) affirm personal values and later to 2) focus on the relevance and utility value of their biology course material (or not). Results showed improved course grades, semester grades, and persistence for first-generation students (relative to continuing-generation students). These results suggest that including activities that connect learning to what students value could potentially impact course selection and persistence in difficult STEM courses. One simple effective intervention, which could easily be incorporated into introductory STEM courses, is to have students write about the relevance of course topics to their own lives ( Hulleman and Harackiewicz, 2009 ; Hulleman et al. , 2010 ). The use of undergraduate research experiences (UREs), which commonly occur outside the classroom, stimulates students’ sense of discovery and appears to impact cognitive gains and contribute to greater retention ( Laursen et al. , 2010 ; Lopatto and Tobias, 2010 ). Future research is still needed to verify whether ignited creativity and meaning mediate these outcomes, but anecdotal evidence suggests this hypothesis deserves future study.

There is a plethora of methods for igniting the creative juices of students, but for URM students, it may be particularly important that collectivistic values (common to Latino, Native American, and African-American cultures), which emphasize actions that benefit their communities, are favored over more individualistic cultural values that celebrate individual success and accomplishment ( Triandis, 1993 ). More recent research on communal goals has shown that URM students in STEM more highly endorse communal goals ( Smith et al. , 2014 ; Thoman et al. , 2015 ). And there is increasing evidence that URM motivation and persistence in STEM fields must address cultural issues such that the goals of STEM fields are more congruent with student prosocial goals (shaped by their cultural experiences; Allen et al. , 2015 ). Further, research on communal goal affirmation provides empirical evidence that URMs and women are more likely to engage in science for altruistic reasons and in pursuit of valued social causes ( Seymour and Hewitt, 1994 ; Miller et al. , 2000 ). Ultimately, successful STEM professionals are those who find their work satisfies creative needs and adds meaning, which occurs when a student connects scientific discovery with what really matters given their life and cultural experiences.

While the members of the NIGMS–HHMI Joint Working Group come from many different disciplines and bring with them a diversity of academic institutional experiences, the committee has wide consensus regarding the recommendations for moving STEM disciplines toward broader participation. Understood within the theoretical framework of Kurt Lewin (1946) , the recommendations provide a map for 1) how to better evaluate the state of institutions and track progress, resulting in greater institutional accountability; and 2) how to better use existing knowledge and experiences to iteratively diagnose and create a plan of action to move the system through creating strategic partnerships, unleashing the power of the curriculum, addressing student resource disparities, and firing students’ creative juices to sustain progress in STEM. For moving the academic system through reducing disparity and capitalizing on the strengths of the ethnic diversity of the U.S. population (using an action research approach), two guiding principles are recommended. First, build on what works . All members of the advisory group touted the fact that we have examples of programs that are exceptionally effective at supporting URM persistence in STEM and that the characteristics of those programs that create “lift” for URM STEM students must continue to be systematically identified, empirically tested, and widely applied across science programs nationwide. At this time, successful programs are defined by both national reputation and evidence that the retention and/or persistence rates of students consistently exceed the average for that department, school, university, or nation.

Second, be guided by data, proven theory, and effective practice . Effective programs and approaches will gain the greatest momentum if we can see the amount of progress or disparity that exists at the institutional level, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Likewise, at the program level, successes and failures in specific interventions should continue to be rigorously assessed using behavioral and social science research designs, and refined as needed, based on evidence. Future research on activities that involve program adaptations, curricular reform, reducing economic disparity, and igniting greater “fire” should include the following when possible: 1) comparison groups; 2) prospective, longitudinal tracking of short-, medium-, and long-term impacts; 3) large enough sample sizes to draw statistical conclusions (achieved through collecting similar data across multiple institutions or like programs when possible); and 4) collection of information that both tracks important outcomes (such as retention and persistence) and helps us to understand why these outcomes occurred.

The committee of experts on URM education in STEM fields concluded that, when institutions, science educators, and funders commit to these five recommendations (guided by the two basic principles just described), the system will move positively and significantly toward accomplishing increased equity and better celebrate the successes of institutions that achieve parity. Through innovation and creation of supportive environments that are excellent and inclusive, all students will garner greater lift and thrive.

Acknowledgments

The convening of the working group was supported by the HHMI. The authors also want to acknowledge the invaluable contributions from Drs. Cynthia M. Bauerle and Shawn Gaillard to the manuscript-writing process.

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New Research Shows Impact of Covid & Systemic Racism on Black Students

New research shows impact of covid & systemic racism on black students, offers policy recommendations, in a study led by sonya douglass horsford, the black education research collective breaks new ground in understanding how the trauma of 2020 has affected black students and suggests policy changes to advance racial equity.

A new study by the  Black Education Research Collective (BERC) at Teachers College is the first of its kind to offer evidence to quantify the devastating repercussions of Covid-19 and police killings on the education of Black children in schools across the country, with a focus on six major metropolitan areas.

The long-anticipated BERC research report, Black Education in the Wake of Covid-19 & Systemic Racism: Toward a Theory of Change and Action , also offers a detailed agenda for racial equity, and what the authors call the keys to “building the trust between educational systems and Black families” to “support student safety, learning and success.”

“The research speaks to the magnification of the historic systemic failures affecting Black students, families, and communities deepened by the triple pandemics of Covid-19, the resulting economic recession, and heightened racial violence,” said Sonya Douglass Horsford , Associate Professor of Education Leadership and Director of BERC. Horsford also served as Principal Investigator of the study, leading a research team of current students, alumni and postdoctoral scholars, with whom she co-authored the report.

“It stands as further testimony to the tough conversations and critical work that awaits in the months and years ahead, and why education must be at the helm of leading change in post-pandemic America.”

[Read a New York Times report on the groundbreaking research from the College’s Black Education Research Collective.]

Sonya Douglass Horsford, Associate Professor of Education Leadership and Director of the Black Education Research Collective. (Photo: TC Archives) 

In the report, researchers examined how the “triple pandemics of Covid-19, the pandemic recession and racial violence” continue “to shape Black life in America and the conditions under which Black students learn.” 

During a five-month period beginning in January, BERC collected data from an online survey of 440 Black Americans in communities across the U.S and through 19 focus groups, conducted via Zoom, with 82 Black high school students, parents, school administrators and community leaders ranging in age from 14 to over 70 residing in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, New York, Detroit and Boston.

This report is the first in a series of publications examining the impact of COVID-19 and systemic racism on Black education with future research briefs reporting more detailed findings from the focus groups conducted in Las Vegas, Washington, DC, New York and Atlanta.

“Participants expressed concern over the fact that schools are ill-equipped to meet the social, emotional, and academic needs of their children,” BERC reported in the study. “And that COVID-19 and increasing racial violence have revealed further their lack of capacity or willingness to meet the educational needs of Black students or expectations of Black parents.”

Figure 4: Impact of COVID-19 on Social and Economic Well-Being

MENTAL HEALTH CHECK Nearly one-third of participants indicated that Covid had negative impacts on their mental health. (Photo: Courtesy of BERC)

The study’s examination of how the pandemic has affected the education of Black students is further contextualized by key data points from the Center for Disease Control, which has found that Black Americans through the pandemic have been hospitalized at twice the rate of White Americans. Black people, proportionately, are also twice as likely to die from the virus.

As a Boston respondent told researchers: “It all feels so urgent, and it was urgent before COVID, it was urgent before Trump, so the urgency just continues to build on top of each other. This system hasn't served the well-being [of] Black and Brown folks for centuries. It just continues to be a compounding issue, and in Boston, it really just angers me at my core.”

The report outlines five areas of “significant consensus” among survey participants:

• The “disproportionate and traumatic” impact of Covid, racism, white supremacy and racial violence on Black families and communities: nearly one-third of survey respondents lost a family member, friend, or community member to Covid-19.
• About one-third of participants reported job insecurity and difficulty paying bills as a result of the pandemic (Figure 4). Nearly 60% of participants had a member of their household who was an essential or frontline essential worker working in unsafe conditions.
• The major implications of increased racial trauma and mental health issues for teaching and learning: The majority of respondents were both affected and worried about police and white supremacist violence (Figure 3 in study), the vast majority of respondents (85%) indicated their mental health and wellness was negatively impacted by COVID-19 (Figure 5).
• The erosion of trust in schools and institutions by the governmental and institutional response to Covid, police brutality, anti-Black violence and resulting uprisings, and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
• The inability of “ill-equipped schools” to respond to the “social, emotional and academic needs of Black students”: A majority recognized the necessity of holding educational and policymakers at every level of government accountable for ensuring the future “educational needs of Black students” are met.

To address the five areas of concern, the report recommends:

• National, state, and local initiatives to “defend the rights of Black students to receive an appropriate and equitable education in a safe, welcoming, and affirming learning environment”;
• Significant investments in counseling and mental health services to address the impact of racial trauma as part of post-pandemic education;
• Targeted investments in professional development programs that help teachers and school administrators address the “social, emotional and academic needs of Black students”;
• Modernizing curriculum, pedagogy and student assessment to affirm the academic ability of all students and prepare them for participation in civic life by teaching the truth;
• Investments to bolster and support the number of “culturally relevant educators” serving Black students, schools, and communities; and
• Restoring community trust by “engaging Black students, families, educators, researchers, and community leaders as experts and equal partners in education.”

The study, one of 20 research projects funded last summer by The Spencer Foundation out of 1,369 proposal submissions, also received funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

Founded in 2017, BERC is a consortium of TC faculty, scholars, students and alumni, focused on the crossroads where Black history, culture, politics and leadership intersect with educational research.

BERC’s report provides important insights and guidance to local school districts as they consider how to spend Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds that they will receive as part of the post-pandemic American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. The report has been shared with members of Congress, policymakers and stakeholders.

“As states and local school districts conduct community input and consultation sessions across the country for their ESSER expenditures as required by ARP, it is important that the needs and interest of Black students, parents, families, and communities be among those prioritized given the resounding calls and commitments to advancing racial equity and social justice in our nation’s schools and school systems,” the authors write.

“This includes the building of a new and inclusive civic infrastructure that ensures our schools are equipped both physically and professionally to meet the needs of our ethnically and culturally diverse schools and communities.”

— Steve Giegerich

Tags: Education Policy COVID-19 Diversity Education Leadership Education Policy Social Justice

Programs: Education Leadership Urban Education Leaders Program

Departments: Education Policy & Social Analysis

Published Thursday, Jul 22, 2021

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Expert Commentary

Minority teachers: How students benefit from having teachers of same race

This collection of research explores how students benefit from having teachers of the same race or ethnicity.

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Denise-Marie Ordway, The Journalist's Resource May 22, 2017

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/education/minority-teachers-students-same-race-research/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, education leaders are pushing for greater diversity among public school teachers. A growing body of research suggests children benefit in many ways from having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity. Published studies, for example, suggest black students do better in reading and math and are less likely to be suspended from school when they have black teachers.

While the overwhelming majority of U.S. teachers are white, the proportion of minority teachers has grown from 13 percent in 1987-88 to 18 percent in 2011-12, according to a 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Education.

Journalist’s Resource has pulled together a sampling of academic studies that explore how a teacher’s race or ethnicity may influence students in areas such as academic performance, classroom discipline and self-confidence. Toward the bottom of this page, we also provide links to other helpful resources, including data on student and teacher demographics and reports that explain some of the challenges school districts face in recruiting more teachers of color.

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“Exposure to Same-Race Teachers and Student Disciplinary Outcomes for Black Students in North Carolina” Lindsay, Constance A.; Hart, Cassandra M. D. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , 2017. DOI: 10.3102/0162373717693109. Abstract: “Using student-level administrative data from North Carolina, we explore whether exposure to same-race teachers affects the rate at which Black students receive exclusionary discipline, such as out-of-school suspensions, in-school suspensions, and expulsion. We find consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers is associated with reduced rates of exclusionary discipline for Black students. This relationship holds for elementary, middle, and high school grade ranges for male and female students, and for students who do and do not use free and reduced-price lunch. Although we find reductions in referrals for a number of different types of offenses, we find particularly consistent evidence that exposure to same-race teachers lowers office referrals for willful defiance across all grade levels, suggesting that teacher discretion plays a role in driving our results.”

“A Kindergarten Teacher Like Me: The Role of Student-Teacher Race in Social-Emotional Development” Wright, Adam; Gottfried, Michael A.; Le, Vi-Nhuan. American Educational Research Journal , 2017. DOI: 10.3102/0002831216635733. Abstract: “Our nation’s classrooms have become increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. Given these demographic changes, many policymakers and practitioners have expressed the need for increased attention to how teacher diversity might be linked to reducing racial/ethnic differences in teachers’ ratings of social-emotional skills for students of color. Using the most recent nationally representative data, we investigated whether kindergarteners have different social-emotional ratings when they had a teacher whose racial/ethnic group was the same as their own. We found that having a teacher of the same race was unrelated to teachers’ ratings of children’s internalizing problem behaviors, interpersonal skills, approaches to learning, and self-control. However, students whose teachers’ race/ethnicity matched their own had more favorable ratings of externalizing behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of implications for school disciplinary policies.”

“Teacher and Principal Diversity and the Representation of Students of Color in Gifted Programs: Evidence from National Data” Grissom, Jason A.; Rodriguez, Luis A.; Kern, Emily C. The Elementary School Journal , 2017. DOI: 10.1086/690274. Abstract: “Students of color are significantly underrepresented in gifted programs relative to their White peers. Drawing on political science research suggesting that public organizations more equitably distribute policy outputs when service providers share characteristics with their client populations, we investigate whether representation of students of color in gifted programs is higher in schools with racially/ethnically diverse teachers and principals. In a nationally representative sample of elementary schools created by merging two waves of data from the Civil Rights Data Collection and the Schools and Staffing Survey, we find that schools with larger numbers of Black teachers or a Black principal have greater representation of Black students in gifted programs. We find a similar relationship for Hispanic teachers and representation of Hispanic students. Further evidence suggests that a critical mass of teachers of color is necessary for teacher race/ethnicity to be associated with higher representation of students of color in gifted programs.”

“Who Believes in Me? The Effect of Student–Teacher Demographic Match on Teacher Expectations” Gershenson, Seth; Holt, Stephen B.; Papageorge, Nicholas W. Economics of Education Review , 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2016.03.002. Abstract: “Teachers are an important source of information for traditionally disadvantaged students. However, little is known about how teachers form expectations and whether they are systematically biased. We investigate whether student–teacher demographic mismatch affects high school teachers’ expectations for students’ educational attainment. Using a student fixed effects strategy that exploits expectations data from two teachers per student, we find that non-black teachers of black students have significantly lower expectations than do black teachers. These effects are larger for black male students and math teachers. Our findings add to a growing literature on the role of limited information in perpetuating educational attainment gaps.”

“Teacher-Child Racial/Ethnic Match within Pre-Kindergarten Classrooms and Children’s Early School Adjustment” Downer, Jason T.; Goble, Priscilla; Myers, Sonya S.; Pianta, Robert C. Early Childhood Research Quarterly , 2016. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.02.007. Abstract: “Using a large, longitudinal data set that represents 701 state-funded pre-k classrooms and over 2,900 children enrolled in 11 states, the current study examined two hypotheses: (1) children would be perceived to be better adjusted at the beginning of pre-k when rated by a same-race teacher than by a different-race teacher, and (2) children would demonstrate greater gains during the pre-k year when in the classroom of a same-race teacher. Children rarely experienced a teacher with a different race/ethnicity from themselves, except in the case of African American or Latino children attending Caucasian teachers’ classrooms. When examining the school readiness outcomes of African American or Latino children matched or mismatched racially/ethnically with their teacher, racial/ethnic match demonstrated significant associations with the direct assessment of academic skills for Latino children only. However, teachers’ initial perceptions of children and teacher reported social and academic gains were significantly associated with racial/ethnic match for African American children.”

“The Importance of Minority Teachers: Student Perceptions of Minority Versus White Teachers” Cherng, Hua-Yu Sebastian; Halpin, Peter F. Educational Researcher , 2016. DOI:10.3102/0013189X16671718. Abstract:   “The demographic divide between teachers and students is of growing public concern. However, few studies have explicitly addressed the common argument that students, and particularly minority students, have more favorable perceptions of minority versus White teachers. Using data from the Measure of Effective Teaching study, we find that students perceive minority teachers more favorably than White teachers. There is mixed evidence that race matching is linked with more favorable student perceptions. These findings underscore the importance of minority teacher recruitment and retention.”

“Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teachers on Student Achievement” Egalite, Anna J.; Kisida, Brian; Winters, Marcus A. Economics of Education Review , 2015. DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2015.01.007. Abstract: “Previous research suggests that there are academic benefits when students and teachers share the same race/ethnicity because such teachers can serve as role models, mentors, advocates, or cultural translators. In this paper, we obtain estimates of achievement changes as students are assigned to teachers of different races/ethnicities from grades 3 through 10 utilizing a large administrative dataset provided by the Florida Department of Education that follows the universe of test-taking students in Florida public schools from 2001-2002 through 2008-2009. We find small but significant positive effects when black and white students are assigned to race-congruent teachers in reading (.004-.005 standard deviations) and for black, white and Asian/Pacific Island students in math (.007-.041 standard deviations). We also examine the effects of race matching by students’ prior performance level, finding that lower-performing black and white students appear to particularly benefit from being assigned to a race-congruent teacher.”

“Does It Matter if Teachers and Schools Match the Student? Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Problem Behaviors” Bates, Littisha A.; Glick, Jennifer E. Social Science Research , 2013. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2013.04.005. Abstract: “Black youth often lag behind their non-Hispanic white peers in educational outcomes, including teacher-evaluated school performance. Using data from four waves of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort, the analyses presented here identify the extent to which children receive different evaluations from their teachers depending on the racial/ethnic match of teachers and students. This study is distinct from previous work because we examine the assessment of an individual child by multiple teachers. The results indicate that Black children receive worse assessments of their externalizing behaviors (e.g. arguing in class and disrupting instruction) when they have a non-Hispanic white teacher than when they have a Black teacher. Further, these results exist net of school context and the teacher’s own ratings of the behavior of the class overall.”

Other helpful resources:

• A 2016 report from the U.S. Department of Education, “The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce,” offers detailed data on the demographics of students, teachers and school principals.
• The National Center for Education Statistics provides detailed reports on teacher demographics, including race, age, education level and years of teaching experience.
• The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education monitors who enrolls in and graduates from teacher education programs as well as colleges’ efforts to attract individuals to the field.
• A 2016 paper published in Community College Journal of Research and Practice looks at how community colleges are helping address shortages of minority educators.
• This 2014 report from the national teachers’ union, the National Education Association, explains the organization’s view on faculty diversity.

About The Author

Denise-Marie Ordway

University of Notre Dame

Fresh Writing

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Minority Student Clubs: Segregation Or Integration?

By Gabriela Moro

Published: July 31, 2016

Minority representation on college campuses has and is expected to increase significantly in the coming years: "By 2015, undergraduate enrollment is projected to expand by 2.6 million, 80 percent of these being minority students. White undergraduate enrollment is projected to decrease from 70.6 percent in 1995 to 62.8 percent in 2015 (Carnevale & Fry, 2000), with a corresponding increase in the percentage of minority students from 29.4 percent in 1995 to 37.2 percent in 2015" (U.S. Census Bureau). Universities have made it a priority to increase diversity, or the representation of racially or ethnically underrepresented groups, on their campuses in order to prepare students for a culturally diverse U.S. democratic society (Hurtado, Ruiz 3-4). To complement this increase, universities across the U.S. have implemented minority student clubs to provide safe and comfortable environments for minority students to thrive in their academic and social lives with peers who have similar backgrounds. However, do these minority groups amplify students' tendency to self-segregate with peers similar to themselves? Do minority groups inhibit students from engaging in diverse relationships, which is a major goal in higher education?

Many view minority student programs to be positive and integral to minority students' college experience; however, some feel that these clubs are not as productive in promoting cultural immersion and diverse interaction. Self-segregation is common among college students who experience a racially diverse campus for the first time (Martin 7; vol.55 p.720). Beyond this, minority student clubs promote a type of cultural loyalty that may lead to self-segregation:

Although some participants acknowledged limited cross-cultural collaboration and interaction, most participants noted that racial segregation, including the segregation among student organizations, was problematic. This could be an indication that the extent to which institutions support interaction and collaboration among student organizations may, in part, determine the extent to which it fosters cross-cultural skills among its minority students, but this requires further inquiry. (Museus 6; vol. 49 p.581).

Julie J. Park, Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maryland, organized a study in which she examined how participation in college student organizations and development of interracial friendships are related. Park suggests "if students spend the majority of time in such groups [Greek, ethnic, and religious student organizations], participation may affect student involvement in the broader diversity of the institution" (Park 7; vol.55 p.642). If minority students form all of their social and academic ties within their minority group, the desired cultural immersion among the study body could suffer. However, minority clubs have proved to be beneficial to minority students who enter a campus climate that is less racially and ethnically diverse than others. The entire student body of a university would benefit from increased cultural competency if campuses also implemented multicultural advocacy clubs rather than just selective minority clubs.

To frame my discussion in terms of the two sides of my argument, I will use an article from the College Student Journal that distinguishes two types of students: one student that believes minority clubs are essential for minority students to stay connected with their culture, while the other student believes minority clubs isolate minorities and increase the lack of diverse interaction among students. To pursue the question of whether or not minority student groups segregate minorities from the rest of the student body and increase a lack of cultural awareness, I will use perspectives from minority students to show that minority programs are especially helpful for first-year students. I will also use other student perspectives to provide direct insight into student experiences of self-segregation and to show that when taken too far, minority groups can become self-segregating and defy what most universities claim to be their diversity goals. Statistical and sociological studies of both majority and minority student experiences, such as developing diverse friend groups on college campuses, will contribute to a better understanding of the role minority clubs play on college campuses and offer a complete answer to my question about the actual productiveness of minority programs.

Ingram, Assistant Dean of Multicultural Affairs, Chaudhary, Master of Extension Education, and Jones former vice provost for educational equity (all at Pennsylvania State University) conducted a study that explored how biracial students interact with others on the college campus. The three authors concluded that there are two definite groups of people who view race-oriented student services (ROSS) differently: "Although some argue that these race-oriented student services (ROSS) are divisive and damage White-minority relations (Stem & Gaiter, 1994), others support these services as providing a safe place and meeting the needs of minority students to develop a sense of racial pride, community and importance (Patton, 2006)" (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 298). I will start by examining the point of view of those who associate minority clubs with positive outcomes.

Minority student clubs provide familiar and approachable environments for minority students to thrive in their academic and social lives with peers who have similar backgrounds. These programs are instrumental for minority students to stay connected with their culture when they go college. Minority student programs are especially important for first-year students. They help ease first-year minority students' transition into the college environment. Ethnic student organizations help students adjust and find their place at universities that have a predominately White student body (Museus 6; vol.49 p.584). Museus, Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Massachusetts Boston Graduate College of Education, concluded that universities should stress the importance of racial/ethnic groups and develop more opportunities for minority students to make connections with them. This way, students can find support from their minority peers and work together to face academic and social challenges and share in their experiences. Museus' findings suggests that minority student groups play a positive role in minority students' college experiences and are essential for these students to preserve and foster their own cultures that their university as a whole may not provide.

Hall, Cabrera and Milem conducted and examined a study that evaluated the differences between minority students and non-minority students in their predispositions to take part in diversity activities and communication with racially/ethnically diverse peers at a predominantly White university. The three agreed, "engagement with diverse peers is a learned behavior" (Hall). Students who engaged with diverse students before going to college were more likely to interact with diverse peers by the end of their sophomore year. Minority students were more predisposed than their White peers to interact with diverse peers during their freshman year (Hall). This is an indicator that minority study clubs can be helpful for first-year minority students who have not previously engaged with other minority students to do so in college, especially if the university has significant majority representation.

Professors and scholars are not the only ones who heavily support minority clubs. For example, Andrea Delgado, Denzel, and Kami Fafowora (all Harvard College Students) give their perspective on student life and multicultural identity on campus to incoming students via YouTube. The students explain how positive and influential the minority programs are on campus and how they have helped them assimilate into the college environment as a first year student: "I thought [cultural clubs were] something I maybe didn't needed but come November, I missed speaking Spanish and I missed having tacos, and other things like that. That's the reason why I started attending meetings more regularly. Latinas Unidas has been a great intersection of my cultural background and my political views" (Andrea Delgado). The experiences these minority student shared, in addition to the information provided in the studies mentioned above, support the idea that minority clubs are important for incoming students to aid in their assimilation into a very new and often intimidating environment.

While the benefits of minority student clubs are quite evident, there are several problems that arise from minority alliances. The most recognized limitation to such organizations is self-segregation. Self-segregating tendencies do not exclusively belong to minority students. College students overall possess or develop self-segregating tendencies as they enter an unfamiliar college environment for the first time: "Today, the student bodies of our leading colleges and universities are more diverse than ever. However, college students are increasingly self-segregating by race or ethnicity (Saenz, Ngai, & Hurtado, 2007)" (Martin 7; vol.55 p.720). Several studies and student opinions suggest that minority student clubs amplify students' inadvertent inclination to self-segregate. Students become comfortable with their minority peers. These students may no longer desire or feel the need to branch out of their comfort zone.

Self-segregation as a result of minority student groups not only puts those participating minority students at a disadvantage, but it also disrupts campus unity (Li). Li, a columnist for The Dartmouth College Newspaper, discusses the issue of minorities self-segregating themselves from the rest of the student population. Li agrees that these groups have positive effects, but he urges students to not get too caught up in their own minority organization that they lose cultural awareness. He indicates that ethnic self-obsession takes away from the unity of students on campus (Li). Li's observations further support the point of view that minority student clubs can be counter-productive in promoting cultural immersion on college campuses.

Three faculty members from Pennsylvania State University, Ingram, Chaudhary, and Jones, conducted a study that reveals some students feel race-oriented clubs are unnecessary, while others maintain the belief that such clubs have positive benefits. Their study, published in the College Student Journal, examines the social interactions of biracial students in U.S. colleges as of 2014, focusing on the level of interactions, which occur between biracial and mono-racial students, and highlighting recommendations by biracial students for improving inclusivity on campuses (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 299). Participants of the online survey, the method of collecting data for this study, were asked to respond in an opened ended question about what they think universities should do to create a more inviting environment for biracial students (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 303). Multiple students responded with opinions opposing the formation of both biracial and multiracial clubs: "I feel instead of having biracial and multiracial clubs the colleges should have diversity clubs and just allow everyone to get together. All these "separate'' categorizing of clubs isn't that just separation of groups?" "Having a ton of clubs that are for specific races is counter-productive. It creates segregation and lack of communication across cultures. (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 304-305)

The main concern these students voice is that these clubs can cause unnecessary separatism on campus. On the other hand, some participants "supported the creation and existence of biracial [and multi-racial] programs" (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 305-306). These students considered the benefits of bi-racial and multi-racial students coming together to form bonds and strengthen cultural ties. Other students offered suggestions for the formation of multicultural activities: "Encourage more racial integration to show students races aren't so different from each other and to lesson stereotypes." "Hold cultural events that allow students of different races to express/share their heritage." Ingram, Chaudhary, and Jones concluded that, while creating biracial and multiracial student organizations are helpful in establishing an inviting college environment for these students:

Creating a truly inclusive environment, however, requires additional efforts (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 308): these include multicultural awareness training for faculty, staff, and students, and incorporation of multicultural issues into the curriculum (White, 2006; Gasser, 2002). In addition to the creation of biracial/ multiracial clubs and organization, the students in this study want to increase awareness of the mixed heritage population among others on college campuses. (Ingram 2; vol.48 p. 308)

The presence of two very different opinions regarding the creation and existence of race-oriented clubs on college campuses reported in this study contributes to the needed recognition of the issue minority student programs can formulate and suggests ways to resolve them. Now that both viewpoints of minority student clubs have been established and evidence from both former research and student perspectives confirm that these clubs, while beneficial to minority students' experiences, can inhibit cultural immersion, I will continue with my original thought that the entire student body of a university would benefit from increased cultural competency if campuses also implemented multicultural advocacy clubs, rather than just selective minority clubs.

In order to understand why initiating diverse interaction among students is a major topic of discussion among universities, it is helpful to recognize the comprehensiveness of the three terms of diversity Patricia and Gerald Gurin, Dey, and Hurtado identify in their article published in the Harvard Educational Review . The first term defined is structural diversity , "the numerical representation of diverse [racial/ethnic] groups" (Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Peterson, & Allen, 1999 ). Nonetheless, the existence of structural diversity alone does not assure that students will develop valuable intergroup relationships (Gurin 3; vol.79 p.333). Classroom diversity , the second term, involves gaining "content knowledge" or a better understanding about diverse peers and their backgrounds by doing so in the classroom (Gurin 3; vol.79 p.333). The third type of diversity, informal interactional diversity refers to "both the frequency and the quality of intergroup interaction as keys to meaningful diversity experiences during college" (Gurin 3; vol.79 p.333). Students often encounter informal interactional diversity in social settings outside the classroom or lecture hall such as "informal discussions, daily interactions in residence halls, campus events, and social activities" (Antonio, 1998; Chang, 1996). Informal interactional diversity covers the scope of my research and aids in supporting the idea of encouraging colleges to establish social events and organizations that allow all students to experience and appreciate the variety of cultures present on campus.

The three types of diversity build the foundation for Patricia and Gerald Gurin, Dey, Hurtado's theory of educational and democratic outcomes diverse interactions in higher education produce. Even with diverse racial/ethnic groups present on campus and regular communication among students formally and informally, these researchers contend that it is not enough to provide students with the full benefits diverse interactions offer for their life after college. A greater push from educators is encouraged:

"Classroom diversity, diversity programming, opportunities for interaction, and learning across diverse groups of students in the college environment now constitute important initiatives to enhance the education of all students" (Gurin 3; vol.79 p.362). "However, in order to foster citizenship for a diverse democracy, educators must intentionally structure opportunities for students to leave the comfort of their homogenous peer group and build relationships across racially/ ethnically diverse student communities on campus" (Gurin 3; vol.79 p. 363).

These suggestions serve as an implication that reaching desired cultural immersion results from a combination of participation inside and outside minority student clubs, with the intention that both minority and majority students enjoy the benefits of their higher education.

Dr. Clayton-Pedersen, who has conducted research in Diversity in Higher Education and Musil, former Senior Vice President of Office of Diversity, Equity, and Global Initiatives for the Association of American Colleges and Universities, analyzed and published an article in the Encyclopedia of Education on multiculturalism in higher education. They reviewed the ways in which universities have incorporated diversity studies into their core curriculum over a span of years from the mid to late twentieth century to the early twenty-first century. There have been significant increases in the amount of diversity courses offered and required that have the goal of preparing students for a democratic society rich in diversity (Clayton-Pederson 2; vol.5 p.1711, 11714). However, Clayton-Pederson and Musil recommend that institutions need to take a more holistic approach to their academic curriculum in order to purse a higher education program that prepares students to face "complex and demanding questions and pose and answer as they are challenged to use their new knowledge and civic, intercultural capacities to address real-world problems"(Clayton-Pederson 2; vol.5 p.1714). In accordance with Clayton-Pedersen and Musil's suggestions, I agree that a more holistic approach to the importance of diversity studies in the college curriculum and multicultural advocacy clubs is necessary in order to prepare all students, not just minority students, for the diverse world and society ahead of them.

The results the of reported research show that minority student clubs can increase self-segregation among minority students and contribute to fewer ethnically diverse interactions on college campuses. However, throughout the process of evaluation, I found that the two-sided view of how minority student clubs influence the lives of minority college students serves as an implication that a balance between providing support for minorities and avoiding segregation of these groups from the rest of the student body needs to be reached. Both sides of the argument have valid reasons for supporting or opposing aspects of minority student clubs. Ignoring the concerns of both sides would be unfair to the student body as a whole. Colleges and universities can implement multicultural events and activities for all students to participate in, especially during the freshman year, in addition to minority student programs. This is a positive initiative that will enhance the diverse interactions that occur on campuses, promote cultural immersion, and close the gap between the two perceptions of minority student clubs.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, in her book Can We Talk about Race: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation, explains three fundamental approaches to fostering a truly inclusive college environment and presents an example of a freshman program at the University of Michigan that embodies these approaches in an effective way. Affirming identity, building community, and cultivating leadership are the three approaches Tatum justifies. Affirming identity has to do with providing historically underrepresented groups with resources to develop their identity on campus such as cultural groups and centers (Tatum 114). Even so, these cultural resources "despite an institution's best efforts, are alienating at times" (Tatum 115). To relieve some of the alienating tendencies, Tatum proposes building community, which encourages appreciation of diverse interactions. She assures that "affirming identity is not a contradictory to but a prerequisite for building community. Learning to build community, to think inclusively, to cross borders, is both a challenge and a benefit of being apart of a diverse campus community" (Tatum 115). The last approach, cultivating leadership, is best explained by the Intergroup Relations Program (IGR) at the University of Michigan. The IRG Program "offers a course for first-year students that incorporates five key conditions: the presence of diverse others, a change from pre-college experiences, equality among peers, discussions under guidelines of civil discourse, and normalization and negotiation of conflict" (Tatum 117). This is a program that works to bring students together to stimulate cultural awareness in the first year with the hopes of the students' awareness developing further during their following years in higher education.

Beyond the reach of this evaluation, further research should be conducted, specifically on the types of cultural events that are most effective in promoting cultural awareness and meaningful diverse interactions among the student body. By examining different multicultural organizations from both public and private universities and comparing student experiences and participation in those programs researchers can suggest an ideal multicultural program to provide an optimal student experience.

Works Cited

Carnevale, A. P., & Fry, R. A. (2000). Crossing the great divide: Can we achieve equity when generation Y goes to college? Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 443907).

Clayton-Pedersen, Alma R., and Caryn Mctighe Musil. "Multiculturalism in Higher Education." Encyclopedia of Education . Ed. James W. Guthrie. 2nd ed. Vol. 5. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 1709-1716. Gale Virtual Reference Library . Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

Gurin, Patricia, Eric L. Dey, Sylvia Hurtado, and Gerald Gurin. "Diversity and Higher Education: Theory and Impact on Educational Outcomes". Harvard Educational Review 72.3 (2002): 1-26. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

Hall, Wendell, Alberto Cabrera, and Jeffrey Milem. "A Tale Of Two Groups: Differences Between Minority Students And Non-Minority Students In Their Predispositions To And Engagement With Diverse Peers At A Predominantly White Institution." Research In Higher Education 52.4 (2011): 420-439. Academic Search Premier . Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

Harvard College Admissions & Financial Aid. "Student Voices: Multicultural Perspectives." Online video. YouTube . YouTube, 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Hurtado, Sylvia, and Adriana Ruiz. The Climate For Underrepresented Groups And Diversity On Campus . 1st ed. Los Angeles, California: The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA (HERI); The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

Ingram, Patreese, Anil Kumar Chaudhary, and Walter Terrell Jones. "How Do Biracial Students Interact With Others On The College Campus?" College Student Journal 48.2 (2014): 297-311. Academic Search Premier . Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

Li, Johnathan. "Li: Inadvertent Self-Segregation." The Dartmouth College Newspaper . Dartmouth Inc. 13 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.

Martin, Nathan D., William Tobin, and Kenneth I. Spenner. "Interracial Friendships Across the College Years: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study". Journal of College Student Development 55.7 (2014): 720-725. Academic Search Premier . Web. 16 March. 2015.

Museus, Samuel D. "The Role of Ethnic Student Organizations in Fostering African American and Asian American Students' Cultural Adjustment and Membership at Predominantly White Institutions." Journal of College Student Development 49.6 (2008): 568-86. Web. 26. Feb. 2015.

Park, Julie J. "Clubs and Campus Racial Climate: Student Organizations and Interracial Friendship in College". Journal of College Student Development 55.7 (2014): 641-660. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 March. 2015.

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Can We Talk about Race? : And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation . Boston, MA, USA: Beacon Press, 2008. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 28 March 2015.

Gabriela Moro

Gabriela Moro, born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, is member of the University of Notre Dame Class of 2018. As a Neuroscience and Behavior Pre-Health major, Gabriela aspires to pursue a career in medicine through which she hopes to make a lasting impact on the communication between physicians and patients. Her research paper was inspired by her experience as a first-year college student exposed to both minority and multicultural student clubs. The decision of whether to choose the minority affiliated club or non-affiliated club questioned Gabriela's understanding of the purpose behind minority student clubs and their effectiveness. Gabriela would like to especially thank her Writing and Rhetoric professor, Elizabeth Capdevielle, for guiding her through the process of writing a well-developed research paper and for being an insightful mentor.

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St. Olaf student named Goldwater Scholar

St. Olaf College student Paola Diaz ’25 has been awarded the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship for the 2023-24 academic year.

The Goldwater Scholarship is a prestigious national competition for undergraduates who have shown significant achievement and potential in the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering. The scholarships provide up to $7,500 per year for sophomores and juniors from across the country.

Since 1995, 37 St. Olaf students have been named Goldwater Scholars.

Diaz is majoring in biology and environmental studies, and has conducted research in several labs at St. Olaf. 

Diaz’s primary work has been in the lab of Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Physics Anne Gothmann. Her research focuses on corals as a tool for paleoclimate reconstruction. Since the rate that corals build their skeletons depends on water conditions, corals can be used to gain understanding about past ocean temperatures. 

“I most enjoy how what is seemingly a simple animal can provide such an immense variety of knowledge,” Diaz says. “This work is valuable to me as I am able to contribute new knowledge to an ever-changing world. I am able to provide a foundation for what’s to come and how drastic these future climate changes will be. It is also important to me since as climate continues to change, it disproportionately affects minority communities. Being a part of this research allows me to give back to my own communities.”

“This work is valuable to me as I am able to contribute new knowledge to an ever-changing world.” Paola Diaz ’25

Diaz has also conducted research with Assistant Professor of Biology Takashi Maie on functional morphology patterns across waterfall-climbing fish. Understanding similarities in fin and bone structure can help show how these fish are able to climb heights, contributing to their conservation. 

On campus, Diaz is involved with the Food Recovery Network at St. Olaf, an organization that works to help reduce food waste and support the Northfield community by working to redistribute unused food from the campus dining hall.

After graduating, Diaz hopes to attend veterinary school and earn both a DVM and Ph.D. She is drawn to animal science because of the opportunities to support both animal and human health. 

“The animal science field continues to not only help the welfare of animals but the livelihoods of people as medicine utilizes the knowledge produced from animals,” she says. “This can further advance my goal of giving back to my communities and those who are unable to advocate properly within health, finance, and climate issues.”

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Students in Virginia county protest inadequate school facilities for Black students

Megan Pauly

Part of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision concerned dilapidated schools for Black students. Decades later some schools with large minority populations are again in need of repairs.

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Call for High School Projects

Machine learning for social impact .

The Thirty-Eighth Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS 2024) is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together researchers in machine learning, neuroscience, statistics, optimization, computer vision, natural language processing, life sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and other adjacent fields. 

This year, we invite high school students to submit research papers on the topic of machine learning for social impact.  A subset of finalists will be selected to present their projects virtually and will have their work spotlighted on the NeurIPS homepage.  In addition, the leading authors of up to five winning projects will be invited to attend an award ceremony at NeurIPS 2024 in Vancouver.  

Each submission must describe independent work wholly performed by the high school student authors.  We expect each submission to highlight either demonstrated positive social impact or the potential for positive social impact using machine learning. Application areas may include but are not limited to the following:

• Agriculture
• Climate change
• Homelessness
• Food security
• Mental health
• Water quality

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• Faculty & Staff

Congratulations to the Class of 2024! LEARN MORE ABOUT THE OMA&D GRADS!

Thank You – Your Support Made a Difference

Last night was an incredible evening! It was wonderful to be in community with so many, and to see in real-time the number of people who made a choice to support OMA&D and our Educational Opportunity Program students through giving. As I said last night, your presence was a welcome reminder that we are not alone in our work.

Through corporate, community and campus partners, combined with your generosity, we were able to raise over $468,000!

The donations will provide financial scholarships and support to help students achieve their academic goals. OMA&D advising and other programs serve over 6,500 American Indian/Alaska Native, low-income, first-generation, underrepresented minority students and students who have experienced foster care or homelessness. Each year, that number grows, and student financial needs increase. On behalf of the Friends of the Educational Opportunity Program Board of Trustees and OMA&D, I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support of our students.

In the coming weeks, you will receive another email with photos and videos of the evening. Until then, if you haven’t yet had a chance to make a gift, there is a link at the bottom of this email where you can invest in student excellence.

With gratitude,

Rickey Hall Vice President, Minority Affairs & Diversity University Diversity Officer

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Letter of Recommendation

What I’ve Learned From My Students’ College Essays

The genre is often maligned for being formulaic and melodramatic, but it’s more important than you think.

By Nell Freudenberger

Most high school seniors approach the college essay with dread. Either their upbringing hasn’t supplied them with several hundred words of adversity, or worse, they’re afraid that packaging the genuine trauma they’ve experienced is the only way to secure their future. The college counselor at the Brooklyn high school where I’m a writing tutor advises against trauma porn. “Keep it brief , ” she says, “and show how you rose above it.”

I started volunteering in New York City schools in my 20s, before I had kids of my own. At the time, I liked hanging out with teenagers, whom I sometimes had more interesting conversations with than I did my peers. Often I worked with students who spoke English as a second language or who used slang in their writing, and at first I was hung up on grammar. Should I correct any deviation from “standard English” to appeal to some Wizard of Oz behind the curtains of a college admissions office? Or should I encourage students to write the way they speak, in pursuit of an authentic voice, that most elusive of literary qualities?

In fact, I was missing the point. One of many lessons the students have taught me is to let the story dictate the voice of the essay. A few years ago, I worked with a boy who claimed to have nothing to write about. His life had been ordinary, he said; nothing had happened to him. I asked if he wanted to try writing about a family member, his favorite school subject, a summer job? He glanced at his phone, his posture and expression suggesting that he’d rather be anywhere but in front of a computer with me. “Hobbies?” I suggested, without much hope. He gave me a shy glance. “I like to box,” he said.

I’ve had this experience with reluctant writers again and again — when a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously. Of course the primary goal of a college essay is to help its author get an education that leads to a career. Changes in testing policies and financial aid have made applying to college more confusing than ever, but essays have remained basically the same. I would argue that they’re much more than an onerous task or rote exercise, and that unlike standardized tests they are infinitely variable and sometimes beautiful. College essays also provide an opportunity to learn precision, clarity and the process of working toward the truth through multiple revisions.

When a topic clicks with a student, an essay can unfurl spontaneously.

Even if writing doesn’t end up being fundamental to their future professions, students learn to choose language carefully and to be suspicious of the first words that come to mind. Especially now, as college students shoulder so much of the country’s ethical responsibility for war with their protest movement, essay writing teaches prospective students an increasingly urgent lesson: that choosing their own words over ready-made phrases is the only reliable way to ensure they’re thinking for themselves.

Teenagers are ideal writers for several reasons. They’re usually free of preconceptions about writing, and they tend not to use self-consciously ‘‘literary’’ language. They’re allergic to hypocrisy and are generally unfiltered: They overshare, ask personal questions and call you out for microaggressions as well as less egregious (but still mortifying) verbal errors, such as referring to weed as ‘‘pot.’’ Most important, they have yet to put down their best stories in a finished form.

I can imagine an essay taking a risk and distinguishing itself formally — a poem or a one-act play — but most kids use a more straightforward model: a hook followed by a narrative built around “small moments” that lead to a concluding lesson or aspiration for the future. I never get tired of working with students on these essays because each one is different, and the short, rigid form sometimes makes an emotional story even more powerful. Before I read Javier Zamora’s wrenching “Solito,” I worked with a student who had been transported by a coyote into the U.S. and was reunited with his mother in the parking lot of a big-box store. I don’t remember whether this essay focused on specific skills or coping mechanisms that he gained from his ordeal. I remember only the bliss of the parent-and-child reunion in that uninspiring setting. If I were making a case to an admissions officer, I would suggest that simply being able to convey that experience demonstrates the kind of resilience that any college should admire.

The essays that have stayed with me over the years don’t follow a pattern. There are some narratives on very predictable topics — living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, or suffering from depression in 2020 — that are moving because of the attention with which the student describes the experience. One girl determined to become an engineer while watching her father build furniture from scraps after work; a boy, grieving for his mother during lockdown, began taking pictures of the sky.

If, as Lorrie Moore said, “a short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage,” what is a college essay? Every once in a while I sit down next to a student and start reading, and I have to suppress my excitement, because there on the Google Doc in front of me is a real writer’s voice. One of the first students I ever worked with wrote about falling in love with another girl in dance class, the absolute magic of watching her move and the terror in the conflict between her feelings and the instruction of her religious middle school. She made me think that college essays are less like love than limerence: one-sided, obsessive, idiosyncratic but profound, the first draft of the most personal story their writers will ever tell.

Nell Freudenberger’s novel “The Limits” was published by Knopf last month. She volunteers through the PEN America Writers in the Schools program.