Perception Conception: Exploring High School Students' Perceptions of Flagship Admissibility in an Era of Percent Plans

• In Event: 16.058 - Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: 16.058-11 - The Significance of Institutional Optics and Actions in the Postsecondary Pipeline

Abstract

Social policies like the Texas Ten Percent Plan (TTPP) are important policy levers for ensuring every student has access to public higher education; regardless of the high school he/she attends. While scholars have thoroughly examined how TTPP has affected application and enrollment behavior, it is unclear what effect it has had on students’ perceptions of admissibility at Texas’ flagship campuses. Using survey data collected from 12,084 seniors in 96 public high schools, we combine clustering techniques with multilevel modeling to explore the extent to which perceptions differ. Additionally we identify groups and contexts in which (un)favorable conceptions persist. Our findings begin to delineate how perceptions of admissibility can affect choice and limit the reach of equity-driven policies.

Authors

• Tanya Chirapuntu, University of California - Los Angeles

• James Ellis, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill