Cloaking Inequity

In the post “Merit” Apartheid: Forces Determined to Segregate Higher Education? I wrote: It appears more and more that there are forces that are determined to re-segregate higher education in Texas and elsewhere. The desegregation of higher education is currently inevitable in places like Texas under existing policies such at the Top Ten Percent Plan because of the rapidly […]

Well, I am back from AERA. Had the great pleasure of hanging out with Kennet Santana, my freshman college roommate at the University of Michigan. He is an ELD teacher in the Bay Area (check out his classroom yearbook here on Youtube), and a hero of a school tragedy they never became one because of […]

It appears more and more that there are forces that are determined to re-segregate higher education in Texas and elsewhere. The desegregation of higher education is currently inevitable in places like Texas under existing policies such at the Top Ten Percent Plan because of the rapidly changing racial demographics of students in K-12 (Note: We examined […]

Julian Vasquez Heilig gave an interview about “college” and “career” readiness to Veronica Zaragovia from KUT News. We briefly discussed the education bills passing through the Texas Legislature that are stirring debate on impact to students, especially minorities. See my earlier post Career and Tech: “Show me the money!” for thoughts on funding for career programs and the implications tracking students […]

Legislators would have you believe that college tuition costs are soaring because institutions of higher education are “inefficient” and/or us faculty are just too darn lazy, why aren’t professors in the classroom teaching 8 hours per day? (myopic view of what we actually do…) Why aren’t graduate school classes 100 students instead of 15-20? (ask […]

Is it racist to think you are more qualified because of your ancestors? It seems that Abigail Fisher and her lawyers made an error assuming she was discrimininated against because of her “skin color.” She and her lawyers are preying upon the insecurity and insidiousness of racism that has sadly permeated our society for centuries. […]

Texas politicians continue to be interested in finding elegant ways to reduce funding for public schools. Now they are aiming at the gems of our educational system— our colleges and universities. No Child Left Behind is coming to a Texas college and university near you. Yes, the Legislature that birthed NCLB wants to apply their […]

When you think of school choice, what comes to mind? Vouchers? Charters? Intra- and Inter- district choice? Magnet schools? Today I received a forwarded email request from a senator that was gathering information in response to pressure for “school choice” bills at the Texas Legislature. I have been pondering “school choice,” and why it is […]

Citation: Reddick, R. J., Heilig, J. V., & Valdez, P. L. (2012). Bridging a Black-Brown Divide: Black Male Students at Hispanic-Serving Institutions In A. A. Hilton, J. L. Wood, & C. W. Lewis (Eds.), Black males in postsecondary education: Examining their experiences in diverse institutional contexts, (pp. 183-208). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Link to pre-published draft. What […]

Reblogged from A "Fuller" Look at Education Issues: IDEA Charter School markets itself as a college preparatory education organization with goals of enrolling 100% of graduates in four-year universities and have 100% persistence and graduation rates in college.[1] Indeed, in the introduction of the most recent annual report, Dr. Tom Torkelson, CEO of IDEA Public […]

Race and Racism. Is there a topic we struggle with more in the United States relative to public policy and education? I recently had an extended discussion with a long-time friend on Facebook regarding race, and what i perceived as a “racist” statement. We debated how racism should be defined… So what is exactly racism? […]

NEPC recently released a report entitled  Democracy Left Behind: How Recent Education Reforms Undermine Local School Governance and Democratic Education.  The press release states: “Local control” has been a bedrock principle of public schooling in America since its earliest days, but a new report concludes the concept “has all but disappeared” in discussions of education policy. […]

The official press release is now available for the Texas vs. California vs. New York vs. Nation educational outcomes policy report. You the readers of Cloaking Inequity saw it here first. Note to editors and news producers: University Communications at The University of Texas at Austin is providing the following news release in the form of text […]

Currently, Fisher v. Texas is being decided at the US Supreme Court. As I was thinking about the case today, I recalled an issue that we had with the Journal of Equity and Excellence in Education (E&EE) regarding a manuscript about the Top 10% plan and the historical access of Latina/os to UT-Austin. We sought out […]

Students of color are again under attack in the Fisher v. Texas case currently being decided in the US Supreme Court. For past attacks see Bakke, Hopwood, Grutter and Gratz. Considering that Grutter upheld race as one of many factors under a decade ago, conservatives on the court appear to be determined to strike down race/ethnicity […]

Today we are pleased to release the report Is Texas leading its peers and the nation?: A Decadal Analysis of Educational Data. The Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis at the University of Texas at Austin commissioned a policy this report in the spring of 2012 to examine education data for the state of Texas, […]

Vasquez Heilig, J., Rodriguez, C., & Somers, P. (2011). Immigrant DREAMs: The Texas 10% admissions plan, ELL student college choice and academic success. Journal of Latinos and Education, 10(2), 106-126. English learners (ELs) are facing unique issues in higher education that remain largely unexplored. This research focuses on college choice, enrollment and graduation of high-achieving ELs who were […]

Vasquez Heilig, J., Reddick, R., Hamilton, C. & Dietz, L. (2011). Actuating equity?: Historical and contemporary analyses of African American access to selective higher education from Sweatt to the Top 10% Law. Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy, 27(1), 11-27. This article examines key events, contexts and policies in the history of selective higher education admissions and […]