Texas Top Ten Percent Plan: How It Works, What Are Its Limits, and Recommendations to Consider
- Author(s):
- Flores, Stella M.; Horn, Catherine L.
- Publication Year:
- 2017
- Report Number:
- RR-17-40
- Source:
- Orfield, Gary (ed.) Alternative Paths to Diversity: Exploring and Implementing Effective College Admissions Policies (RR-17-40). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service, 2017, p14-25.
- Document Type:
- Chapter
- Page Count:
- 11
- Subject/Key Words:
- Texas, College Admissions, Affirmative Action, Minorities, Racial Bias, Higher Education, University of California, College Enrollment, Student Participation, Percent Plans, California, Florida
Abstract
In this report, we endeavor to contribute to efforts to implement college admissions strategies appropriate within the nation’s developing law by examining percent plans, an alternative race-neutral path to college admissions in Texas, California, and Florida. We seek to do four things: (a) summarize the broad contributions to students’ opportunities to access college; (b) describe the three state percent plans currently in place and the important role demography plays in their implementation; (c) synthesize what is known empirically about percent plans, their value, strengths, and limitations; and (d) provide empirically based considerations related to institutions considering the implementation of alternative admissions plans. As the higher education community contemplates percent plans as possible mediators of the equity crisis, this report finds that there is much to be learned from the rigorous research available on these plans to date and much work left to be done to cultivate their success.