The Top 100: interpreting the data - Top 100 Degree Producers, 2000-2001

Black Issues in Higher Education, June 20, 2002 by Victor M.H. Borden

With each passing year, more than 200,000 people of color, including more than 100,000 African Americans, attain a bachelor's degree in higher education. Add to that tens of thousands who earn post-baccalaureate degrees and you can start to appreciate the increasing intellectual capital among people of color in the United States. This increase in human capital is accompanied by social, economic and political benefits that continue the nation's progress toward a more equitable social fabric. But is the progress fast enough? This year's publication of the Top 100 lists continues Black Issues' efforts to keep this issue in the forefront of public policy. This year we present data on degrees awarded between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001. In most ways, this year's publication closely parallels those of the previous 10 years. We still present ordered lists of the numeric totals of degrees conferred to students of colon We feature listings for all minorities as well as for each racial/ethnic minority group. The source for these data--the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)--continues to gain in accuracy and timeliness. Astute readers will recall that last year's analysis was not able to include percentage increases from the prior year, due to changes in the way data were collected by the National Center for Education Statistics. The percentage increases are back again this year.

This year's analysis also includes the expanded "reporting universe" surveyed by the Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This expansion not only reflects a change in collection procedures, it also reflects the increasing diversification of the postsecondary landscape in the United States. Postsecondary degrees now are conferred through a broader variety of institution types than in previous years. As in previous years, we still restrict our reporting to institutions located within the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

We also continue this year the practice of reporting "preliminary" data for these lists. With the move to a Web-based data collection system, NCES is able to obtain complete data for the majority of institutions far more quickly than in previous years. The data for every institution included in the 2000-2001 preliminary file are considered complete and accurate. However, the file does not have data for some institutions. In our experience, the preliminary data files include complete and accurate data for virtually all four-year colleges and universities.

The institutions appearing in the published lists are ranked according to the total number of degrees awarded to minority students across all disciplines and in specific disciplines. The lists include a breakdown of 2000-01 graduates by gender. The final two columns of the lists show two percentages. The first percentage indicates how the number of the minority category degree recipients compares to all degree recipients at that institution within that discipline. For example, in the listing of baccalaureates conferred to African Americans in business and management, the percentage indicates the proportion of all business and management baccalaureate degree recipients at that institution who were African American. The second of these columns indicates the percentage change in that minority group's number of graduates at that institution from last year (1999-2000).

SOURCE OF DATA

The data for this study come from the U.S. Department of Education. It is collected through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) program completers survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The survey requests data on the number of degrees and other formal awards conferred in academic, vocational and continuing professional education programs. Institutions report their data according to the Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) codes developed by NCES. CIP codes provide a common set of categories allowing comparisons across all colleges and universities.

A student's minority status typically is determined by a self-reported response from the student during his or her college career. Students are offered a set of categories from which to choose. The number and labels of these categories differ from one institution to another. However, when reporting enrollment or degrees to the federal government, institutions must "map" their categories to the standard federal categories: non-resident alien; Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Hispanic; White, non-Hispanic; and race/ethnicity unknown. The "minority" categories--Black, non-Hispanic; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; and Hispanic--include only U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

Most readers probably are aware that federal government agencies are in the process of moving to a new method for collecting information on race/ethnicity. However, this method has not yet been implemented as part of these postsecondary surveys. In future years, students will be able to select any combination of racial/ethnic categories but the single category selection method will be a part of the degree completion data for at least four or five years.