News: The battle over college admissions compliance continues

Monday, September 11, 2023

The battle over college admissions compliance continues

Sep 11, 2023

By Bianca Quilantan and Mackenzie Wilkes

Presented by Sallie Mae®

COLLEGE ADMISSIONS COMPLIANCE — In the months following the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down race conscious admissions, several battles have been waged over just how far the ruling goes — and they're far from being over.

— Edward Blum, president of Students for Fair Admissions, the group that sued over race-conscious admissions, has been pushing schools and law firms to ensure his group’s interpretation of the Supreme Court’s June opinion is followed. SFFA has sent letters to 150 schools demanding compliance with the ruling, and Blum’s other group, American Alliance for Equal Rights, has sued two law firms over their diversity fellowships. Some Republicans have also taken aim at scholarships reserved for underrepresented students. And civil rights groups are urging the Education Department to take down legacy admissions at elite schools.

— Assistant Education Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon in July urged schools to follow her office’s guidance and said that the Education and Justice departments are in charge of notifying schools what the law says. Civil rights groups and education advocates have also been warning against an over interpretation of the opinion that only applies to college admissions.

— But SFFA’s decision to drop its admissions lawsuit against Yale University last week gave greater insight into how schools are responding to the pressure. Yale agreed to update its admissions training materials and take “technological steps” to ensure no one involved in admissions decisions has access to race data or a race “check-box.” It will also not run reports that would provide any aggregate data of the racial composition of admitted students during the admissions cycle.

Here’s what the experts have to say about how this is shaking out so far:

— “In my 44 years at five private institutions — even highly selective — and at UCLA, race has never been used to admit a student,” Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, former vice provost for enrollment management at UCLA, told your host at the Education Writers Association Higher Education Seminar. “Race provides context. I was surprised in the Harvard case that they actually had a step in their process where they used race, and I think that's what got them into trouble. But, it's important that we get the word out that admissions offices around the country are not sitting there and saying, ‘She's Latinx or he's Korean.’”

— “There's lots of extra space to continue to do DEI work to diversify your campuses,” added Zakiya Smith Ellis, a principal at EducationCounsel. “What there is less space to do ... is to use race in an explicit way to confer a benefit or do something that is perceived as a harm so explicitly in admissions. But I tell you, there's going to be a lot more lawsuits.”

IT’S MONDAY, SEPT. 11. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Let’s catch up over coffee. Reach me at bquilantan@politico.com. Send tips to my colleagues Mackenzie Wilkes at mwilkes@politico.com, Juan Perez Jr. at jperez@politico.com and Michael Stratford at mstratford@politico.com. And follow us on Twitter: @Morning_Edu and @POLITICOPro.

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The MINI Q&A

ADDRESSING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM — Schools are trying to figure out how to get students back in the classroom as educators and lawmakers look to address chronic absenteeism as the pandemic wanes. Between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years, an additional 6.5 million students became chronically absent, according to recent research out of Stanford University. Morning Education’s Mackenzie Wilkes spoke with Phyllis Jordan, who has been writing and researching about attendance for 14 years.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MORNING EDUCATION: Some states are defining chronic absenteeism as missing 10 percent of the number of school days within a year. What’s the sort of significance there in having a set definition?

PHYLLIS JORDAN: Ten percent of the school year, according to research, seems to be the tipping point for when absenteeism starts to really impact achievement. Obviously, any days you miss could impact your achievement, but there's a lot of research that ties that 10 percent figure to when students start to have trouble.

Some places were saying well, let's just say 80 days or 15 days, but by doing 10 percent you give yourself a way to measure it throughout the year. You can go after two months and say who's missed four days, that's 10 percent of two months worth of school. And you could say these 10 kids have missed four days and you can start focusing on them right then and there.

ME: What are some common misconceptions that either education leaders or policymakers have about chronic absenteeism?

JORDAN: There's two main misconceptions. One is that we're talking about truancy, that this is some politically correct way to see truancy and it's a different measure altogether. Truancy is when kids are skipping school or missing school without an excuse. Chronic absenteeism counts up all the absences all the days of absences and sees who's missing 10 percent of the school year.

Tracking [chronic absenteeism] is not supposed to be used to punish kids. It's supposed to be sort of a flashlight, who might be falling behind or why they might be falling behind.

The other misconception, which is related to that, is for a long time, schools have taken what's called picking the roll, basically average daily attendance. And they'll say, “Oh, 95 percent of our kids showed up today. That's great.” But it doesn't tell you anything about who's missing in school and how much they missed.

ME: Something that I found really interesting was that seeing something like free school meals improved attendance. I'm wondering what other out-the-box methods should schools be considering when trying to get kids in the classroom?

JORDAN: School breakfast and school lunch are really important, especially the breakfast when parents know that their kids can get breakfast if they get them to school on time. It helps improve attendance and on-time attendance.

There's a practice called positive greetings at the door — which a principal can do it at the front door or the school or a teacher can do it at the classroom — just greeting students, saying their name, sometimes you'll have a special little handshake. Just giving a student a sense that they belong there, that they're welcome there, that they're part of a group can be really effective.

There are some places that have started putting laundry machines in schools because they find one of the barriers to kids getting to school is that they don't have any clean clothes. This is especially true in schools with uniforms.

In Congress

FIRST LOOK — The National Women’s Law Center is leading hundreds of organizations, child care advocates and providers in a new letter to congressional appropriators and leadership urging lawmakers to “provide at least $16 billion per year in emergency child care dollars.”

— “Without these federal funds, we are once again creeping towards another child care crisis that would carry major economic consequences,” the letter says.

— Dozens of lawmakers in both chambers previously urged President Joe Biden to support $16 billion in emergency child care funding — in line with what the National Women’s Law Center and other advocates previously requested — ahead of the Sept. 30 expiration of child care stabilization fund dollars from the American Rescue Plan. The Biden administration has urged Congress to ensure “continued funding” for child care programs.

— Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray signaled her resolve to support the child care sector ahead of the impending child care cliff last week. When discussing government spending, Murray emphasized the need for bipartisan action on child care. But, it remains to be seen if a Congress divided on spending can get anything done on child care.

— “I hope we can all come together, Democrats and Republicans, to address the child care crisis, as critical dollars for that are set to expire at the end of this month,” Murray told reporters last week.

A message from Sallie Mae®:

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

— Blanchi Roblero was awarded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Young Alumnus Award. Roblero currently serves as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs at the Education Department.

Syllabus

— Virginia went to war over history. And students actually came out on top: POLITICO Magazine

— Gov. Youngkin pardons Loudoun County dad Scott Smith after arrest at school board meeting: WJLA

— States step in to pay for school meals for all kids: CNN

— After conservative overhaul, New College of Florida faces federal civil rights investigation: Sarasota Herald-Tribune via USA Today

A message from Sallie Mae®:

More than 70% of families don’t know when the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) becomes available, and 30% said they didn’t complete the form because it was too complicated, or they didn’t have the needed information. This confusion has real consequences — about $3.6 billion in Pell Grants, funding for lower-income students, went unclaimed last year because eligible students didn’t complete the FAFSA. Learn what students and families know — and don’t know — about paying for college and how we can simplify the process.