College in Black and White

African American Students in Predominantly White and in Historically Black Public Universities

Edited by Walter R. Allen, Edgar G. Epps, and Nesha Z. Haniff

Subjects: African American Studies
Series: SUNY series, Frontiers in Education
Paperback : 9780791404867, 342 pages, July 1991
Hardcover : 9780791404850, 342 pages, July 1991
Out of print (Hardcover)

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Table of contents

Foreword
Edgar G. Epps

Acknowledgments

Introduction
Walter R. Allen

PART I: ORIENTING PERSPECTIVES TO THE STUDY OF BLACK STUDENTS IN U. S. HIGHER EDUCATION

1. Winners and Losers: A Regional Assessment of Minority Enrollment and Earned Degrees in U. S. Colleges and Universities, 1974-84
Donald R. Deskins Jr.

2. Focus on Equity: Race and Gender Differences in Degree Attainment, 1975-76; 1980-81
William T. Trent

3. Assessing the College Major Selection Process for Black Students
Gail E. Thomas

4. Racial Similarities and Differences in the Predictors of College Student Achievement
Michael T. Nettles

PART II: THE UNDERGRADUATE YEARS: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH FINDINGS

5. Race, Gender, and Academic Performance in U. S. Higher Education
Walter R. Allen and Nesha Z. Haniff

6. Personal Traits, Institutional Prestige, Racial Attitudes, and Black Student Academic Performance in College
A. Wade Smith

7. Institutional and Individual Factors Affecting Black Undergraduate Student Performance: Campus Race and Student Gender
Kenneth W. Jackson and L. Alex Swan

8. Social Support Networks and Undergraduate Student Academic-Success-Related Outcomes: A Comparison of Black Students on Black and White Campuses
Robert Bob Davis

PART III: THE GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL YEARS: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH FINDINGS

9. Correlates of Academic Performance among Black Graduate and Professional Students
Jomills Henry Braddock II and William T. Trent

10. The Demographic Fallacy of the Black Academic: Does Quality Rise to the Top?
Roslyn Arlin Mickelson and Melvin L. Oliver

11. Determinants of Success for Black Males and Females in Graduate and Professional Schools
Westina Matthews and Kenneth W. Jackson

PART IV: PRACTICAL ISSUES IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF BLACK AMERICANS

12. Toward Effective Desegregated Schools
Bruce R. Hare

13. Intervention Can Make a Difference: The Impact on Standardized Tests and Classroom Performance
Henry T. Frierson

14. Tackling the Fear of Science: The Impact of a Computer-Based Study Center on Minority Student Achievement in Biology
Lewis J. Kleinsmith and Jerome Johnston

15. Epilogue
Nesha Z. Haniff

PART V: APPENDICES

A. Black College Students in U. S. Higher Education: A Selected Bibliography
Jo Anne Hall, Cheryl Presley, and Ruby Gooley

B. Data Sources and Description
Walter R. Allen

Notes and References

Contributors

Index

Description

This book reports findings from the National Study of Black College Students, a comprehensive study of Black college students' characteristics, experiences, and achievements as related to student background, institutional context, and interpersonal relationships. Over 4,000 undergraduates and graduate/professional students on sixteen campuses (eight historically Black and eight predominantly White) participated in this mail survey. Using these and other data, this book systematically examines the current state of Black students in U. S. higher education. Until now, our understanding has been limited by inadequate data, misguided theories, and failure to properly interpret the Black American reality. This volume challenges our assumptions and contributes to the growing body of knowledge about Black student experiences and outcomes in higher education.

Walter R. Allen is Professor of Sociology at UCLA. Edgar G. Epps is Professor in the Department of Education at the University of Chicago. Nesha Z. Haniff is Assistant Professor in the Center for Afro-American and African Studies and Lecturer in the Women's Studies Program at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

"The National Study of Black College Students (NSBCS) is the most comprehensive data base on Black college students that has been collected. This book presents in one volume several major studies using this rich data base and ties them together with a theoretical and methodological overview. Its strength lies in its comprehensiveness, its impressive richness of data, and its keen insights into the differences between Black students' experiences and those of their non-Black peers on college campuses. "--Reginald Wilson, Ph. D., Senior Scholar, American Council on Education, Washington, DC

"This impressive book successfully brings together sound, empirical research to test a number of assumptions about the experiences of Black students in higher education. Each chapter is methodologically sophisticated and moves beyond descriptive statistics to intensive statistical analyses of a plethora of data. " -- James E. Blackwell, University of Massachusetts, Boston