The Role of Institutional Research in Equitable Access and Success:

Data, Power and Privilege

2011 Strategy Institute

Tonya Benton (Facilitator), IR DirectorHighline Community College, Des Moines, WA

Cathy Almquist, Director of IR and AssessmentTrident Technical College, Charleston, SC

Mary Millikin, Director of Planning and IRTulsa Community College, Tulsa, OK

Wilma Dulin, VP, Instruction & Student Svcs Yakima Valley Community College, Yakima, WA

2/9/2011

Academic Context/ Brief DialogueData stories from panelistsAudience Discussion of Stories/ Questions

Summary remarks from panelists

Presentation Format

Learning Objectives

Identify colleagues for continued networking toward improved structural equity

Identify biases due to IR privilege in data collection, analysis and reporting

Discuss how individual biases can impact IR’s role in a college’s progress toward structural equity

2/9/2011

Power, Privilege and Data

2/9/2011

Sociology 101“Social constructions” vs. “natural

constructions”Power: unearned dominancePrivilege: unearned benefit

“Dominant Culture”“Privileged member of society”

Proposed Process: How Privilege becomes Bias

2/9/2011

Visible “dominance” P

RIV

ILEG

E

Differential treatment

PR

IVIL

EG

E

IndividualWorldview

PR

IVIL

EG

E

Bias in information processing

PR

IVIL

EG

E

One white IR director’s story…

2/9/2011

Transfer (18-24 yrs) 2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2007  District HCC District HCC District HCC

African/Black 10% 12% 9% 11% 9% 11%Asian/PacIslander 13% 24% 14% 23% 14% 22%Hispanic/Latino 10% 2% 10% 2% 10% 3%White 59% 53% 60% 55% 60% 56%Prof-Tech (18-24 yrs) 2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2007  District HCC District HCC District HCC

African/Black 10% 12% 9% 11% 9% 11%Asian/PacIslander 13% 20% 14% 22% 14% 19%Hispanic/Latino 10% 2% 10% 2% 10% 3%White 59% 55% 60% 56% 60% 61%

“further study is needed”

2/9/2011

Does reporting these data perpetuate inequities?

What responsibility do I have in IR to effect change on these issues?

How have other CCs in “new Latino destinations” measured access?

What defines a “new Latino destination”?WHO is doing the defining? Does it matter?

FOR LOVE OF NUMBERS

A Cautionary Tale About Bias

Attitude Counts

IR people are, by nature, number lovers.

Numerophiles.

Attitude Counts

Some folks at our colleges are not number lovers.

Numerophobes.

Attitude Counts

What attitudes and biases do numerophiles have about numerophobes?

Their capability? Their competency? Does that affect the

way you look at results from their programs?

Isn’t that bias?

Example – Minority Mentoring

MOMAHSMentoringOur Minority African American and Hispanic Males

2007 - TTC had no significant difference in retention rates of white students and minority students. (Really.)

Retention Committee investigating “best practices” on campus.

MOMAHS reported a 90% annual retention rate.

But they only had 19 participants. And no graduates. How did they get a 90% retention

rate?!?

Raw Data – What IR Would Do

Starting Fall Cohort Following Fall

19 9

9/19 = 47.4%

Raw Data – What the Program Did

Starting Fall Cohort Following Fall

19 – 9 = 10 9

9/10 = 90%

Attitude Counts

What attitude did I (a numerophile) have have of the numerophobes?

It did affect the way I looked at results from their program.

I was dismissive. That IS bias!

Attitude Counts

Initial Reaction: They really don’t have a clue what they’re doing.

Realization: Yes, they made a mistake. But the result of that mistake is masking a real problem.

Time to take action: Look deeper at retention rates of minority males. Are they equivalent to minority

females? Is there a problem here we haven’t

uncovered yet? What’s my role here?

Moving Forward

The retention rate of minority males is not equivalent to other groups.

We do have a problem.

My role: help the people who directly support students understand and interpret data.

Lessons in Unbiased Qualitative Data Collection

Mary A. MillikinDirector of Planning & Institutional Research

Tulsa Community College

Qualitative Data Collection:Focus Groups

TCC trained in structured focus group facilitation by data coach, Dr. Ken Gonzalez Focus group facilitators volunteered rather than

were appointed Year 1 of ATD: Persistence focus groups

All facilitators white females Student participants representative of student body

Qualitative Data Collection:Focus Groups

In Year 3, TCC conducted persistence focus groups specifically of African American male students Data Coach advised us to use African American male

faculty and staff only. Training ensued.

Although I didn’t hesitate to follow the advice of our data coach, I couldn’t help wondering if I couldn’t be just as effective 20 years of conducting (unstructured) focus groups Egocentrism?

What we found

Students relayed similar persistence barriers as we found in general focus groups

Except when a non-African American male (AA male) facilitated! AA male students did NOT mention AA male-

specific barriers with non-AA male focus group facilitator (Data Coach for training purposes and Year 1 focus groups)

Students mentioned AA male-specific barriers only when facilitators were AA males and when only AA male students were in the groups.

What were the barriers?

(24 barriers)

AA Male Experience

(17 barriers)

Institutional

(69 barriers)

Managing College Life and Goals

Managing College Life and Goals: time management, work and family issues, transitioning to college

AA Male Experience

Negative Peer, Community, and Family Influences (12)

Not seeing others of the same race/gender (6)

Stereotyping (6)

Institutional barriers: college resources such as navigating campuses and textbooks.

In Summary

AA male students more candid with AA male facilitators

Literature tells us this is true with other non-white groups (Guiffrida, D.A. , 2010; Padilla, R. V., Trevino, J., González, K. P., & Trevino, J.,1997)

Begs the question: What other data and information do I miss through a “one size fits all” approach to data collection, analysis, and reporting?

References

González , K.P. (2009) Using Data to Increase Student Success: A Focus on Diagnosis Principles and Practices of Student Success. Lumina Foundation for Education: Indianapolis, IN.

Guiffrida, D.A. & Douthit, K.Z. (2010) The Black Student Experience at Predominantly White Colleges: Implications for School and College Counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-230150805.html

Padilla, R. V., Trevino, J., González, K. P., & Trevino, J. (1997). Developing local models of minority student success in college. Journal of College Student Development, 38, 125-135.

From Faculty to Research to Faculty

Lessons learned about the power of data in changing the

institution’s ability to have difficult conversations

Preface to Wilma Dulin’s Comments

Faculty member

OIE Director

Program Director

What informed me?Bennett’s Intercultural Sensitivity Stages:

1. Denial or parochialism2. Defense and assumptions of

superiority3. Minimization or trivialization of

acknowledged cultural differences4. Acceptance, respect for differences5. Adaptation or empathic

understanding of others’ world views

6. Integration, including contextual relativism

What informed me?Racial Identify Models

Focused on changing how individuals perceive themselves with respect to race

Some models focus on separating groups for training

Other models assume that either or all groups are influenced by the same activities but that their cognitive explanations may differ

What I knew about faculty…

I realized that my peers were not mean people

I acknowledged that none of us had THE answer

I knew that scholarly research was more likely to be tolerated

I knew that numbers, data could be helpful

The Value of Drilling Deeper: Myth Busting

Initial Data •Disaggregated for multiple characteristics•Questions about why this is so?

Drill Deeper •Disaggregate further•Pathway analyses

Drill Deeper •Ask questions – surveys and focus groups•Authentic assessment + data

What’s changed as a result?

More open dialogue within the college• Students, Faculty, Staff, Administrators• How can we explain this finding?

More open dialogue with our communities• Stakeholders, concerned citizens, Board

Members• What guidance do you have?• Let us show you what we are trying to do!

But I still need to be on guard, to change me…

Dangers of researcher-ese and a White bias towards following research rules

References to “small n’s” may imply negative importance

References to “significance” in statistical findings may imply negative importance

Preference for “data” over anecdotes may miss the point of the story as teacher