Understanding The Efficacy of Texas Top Ten Percent Law in Presence of School Resource Disparity

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13. Navigating College Preparation and Admission Processes

Abstract

Students’ college access and outcomes are often associated with their high school’s (HS) college-conducive resources (CCR), directly influencing their college readiness and application package. Thereby, HS resources can explain the relative disadvantage that minority and low-income students face in accessing highly selective colleges. Texas Top Ten Percent (TTP) law aims to bridge this gap by considering students’ class rank in admission decisions, which effectively accounts for the schooling differences. However, when HSs are drastically different, students come to highly selective, hence competitive colleges, with lower college readiness than their peers. This can dilute the benefits from TTP, as many students from lower-resourced HSs look less prepared, lowering their academic self-concept. Using Texas state-administrative data for the years 2002-2016, I classify HSs in five groups based on their college acceleration programs, teacher quality, college-going culture, and exit test performance. Then I describe the factors associated with these differences, and their implications for sending patterns into the state’s two most selective public universities – UT Austin and Texas A&M University. Finally, I highlight the association between HS resources, students’ relative position in college, and their major area of concentration. Consistent with the Policy Complementarity framework, my findings highlight the need for adequate investment in schooling resources that maximize the gains from college access policies.

Author

• Tasneem Sultana, The University of Texas at Austin