Poster #117 - Understanding The Efficacy of Texas Top Ten Percent Law in Presence of School Resource Disparity

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

Students’ college readiness, access, and outcomes are often linked to their high school’s (HS) college-conducive resources (CCR). Thereby, HS CCR can explain much of the relative disadvantage that racial minority and low-income students face in accessing highly selective universities with higher graduation rates. The Texas Top Ten Percent (TTP) law aims to bridge this gap by considering class rank in admission decisions, which effectively accounts for schooling differences. This law automatically qualifies the top decile of HS graduates to attend any state public university, including the state’s two most selective, state flagship universities – UT Austin and Texas A&M University. However, when HSs differ drastically, many students come to highly selective, hence competitive universities, with lower college readiness than their peers. This can dilute the benefits of TTP, as many students from lower-resourced HSs seem less prepared, hampering their academic self-concept and subsequent college trajectory. Motivated by these facts, I investigate how Texas HSs differ in CCR, which exogenous factors are correlated with CCR differences, and if these differences reflect in HSs’ flagship feeder pattern, attendees’ baseline position relative to college cohort average, and university major.

Using Texas state-administrative data for 2000-2024, I quantify CCR differences by classifying HSs in quintiles based on college acceleration programs, teacher quality, college-going culture, and exit test performance. I descriptively analyze the demographic and location factors correlated with these differences. Then I employ Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) method to analyze how CCR relates to flagship feeder patterns, in presence of HS controls. Finally, I use multilevel modelling (MLM) to analyze whether CCR difference reflects in students’ baseline position and major.

The findings reveal CCR varies substantially across HSs, especially for college acceleration programs – advanced placement (AP) and dual credit (DC) course availability and uptake, and college-going culture measured by SAT/ACT uptake and HS-average scores. Greater CCR schools serve more White and Asian students, while lower CCR schools serve more Hispanic and low-income students. In more than two decades of TTP, schools improve overall college-conduciveness, but the gap between highest (Q5) and lowest (Q1) CCR quintiles too widens. The OLS model reveals, each quintile of additional CCR is associated with almost 2 additional students sent, such that Q5 schools send 9 additional students over Q1 schools, on average. Additionally, higher CCR schools are more likely to send to both flagships and every year under observation, whereas those with lower CCR are less active. The MLM results indicate, students graduating from lower CCR HSs are more likely to rank below the college-cohort average and are less likely to enroll in Engineering and Natural Science majors.

The findings highlight wide differences among Texas HSs that directly translate to flagship feeder patterns, students’ relative position in college, and major, which eventually matter for college completion and labor market outcomes. Thereby, TTP alone as a college access policy is not sufficient to attenuate the gap in life opportunities generated by HS differences. Instead, investment towards HS resource equity acts as a policy-puller that strengthens the TTP policy lever.

Author

• Tasneem Sultana, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author