Bridging The Gap: An Analysis on the Effects of Affirmative Action on Minority Graduation Rates

Abstract

Do states with greater minority populations have policies that could potentially benefit them? More specifically, do states with higher black and Latino populations have more schools that consider race in the admissions process to even out the social playing field? Do states with higher black and Latino voter turnout see a similar phenomenon? More importantly, how do these policies translate over to minority success? Do states with these policies enjoy higher minority graduation rates? Much research has been done on the effect of affirmative action bans on university systems and comparing the before and after effects, but not as much has been done on the state to state effect of university systems that have greater or fewer schools that consider race in the admissions process. With that in mind, I set out to address the following six hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: States with higher black populations will have more affirmative action policy (higher percentage of schools that consider race within a state). Hypothesis 2: States with higher Latino populations will have more affirmative action policy (higher percentage of schools that consider race within a state). Hypothesis 3: States with higher black turnout will have more generous affirmative action policy. Hypothesis 4: States with higher Latino turnout will have more generous affirmative action policy. Hypothesis 5: States with higher percentages of schools with affirmative action policies will have higher black graduation rates. Hypothesis 6: States with higher percentages of schools with affirmative action policies will have higher Latino graduation rates.

Explanation of the variables and proxies: To assess this, I use a measure of several variables: Black and Latino population (measured by the proportion in each state), Black and Latino turnout rate, Black and Latino poverty rate, policy rating in each state(the raw percentage of schools within a public university system that considers race in admissions), state spending on education (proportion of the state budget put towards K-12 education), and composition of the state legislature (measured by the proportion of seats in the Senate and House held by Democrats from 2010-2016).

Considering the historical importance of education attainment and its’ relationship with opportunity and social mobility, findings of this sort will be paramount to understanding how we address racial disparities as a nation looking onward.