The Color Line in College Prep: Disparate Impact and the Underrepresentation of Black and Latino Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: Legal Justice and Students' Rights: Critically Examining Racial and Ethnic Equity in Education

Abstract

This paper examines the utility of disparate impact theory in addressing the underrepresentation of Black and Latino students in college preparatory classes. Using critical race theory as a theoretical framework, I conduct a legal and policy analysis of the theory and it’s application through the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. By focusing on a recent OCR resolution in the context of recent disparate impact jurisprudence and legal scholarship, the paper assesses the ideological origins and limitations of race-neutral remedies in response to the structural and social causes of unequal representation of Black and Latino students. In closing, the paper advocates overtly race conscious policies to address the fundamental structural causes of racial and ethnic inequity.

Author

• Alexios Rosario-Moore, University of Illinois at Chicago