Research & Studies

Researchers from Columbia University and the University of Texas at Dallas gave a puzzle to a diverse group of participants. Each person was able to see how their peers solved the same puzzle and could choose whether to learn from them. They found that participants were 33 percent more likely to pay attention to and learn from White peers compared to Black ones.

In 2020, the median Black household income was 61.2 percent of the median income of non-Hispanic White families. This is an increase from 59.7 percent in 2019. However, with only minor fluctuations, the racial gap in median income has remained virtually unchanged for more than a half-century.

The study found no racial differences in concentric left ventricular hypertrophy among college football athletes that played on the offensive or defensive lines. But for skilled position players - quarterbacks, receivers, and running backs - a higher percentage of Black collegiate football players were more likely to develop concentric left ventricular hypertrophy than White football players.

There were 2,331,529 Black or African American students enrolled in higher education last fall. In the fall of 2019, there were 2,474,200 Black students enrolled. Thus, Black enrollments were down nearly 6 percent. This is four times the drop for students as a whole. In 2010, more than 3 million Black students were enrolled in higher education.

For students who graduated from college in the 2007-8 academic year, Whites, on average, were more likely than Blacks to hold full-time jobs and worked more hours per week a decade later. The average salary for Whites who had full-time jobs was $82,170. For African American college graduates who had full-time jobs, the average salary was $65,104.

Most colleges and universities were test-optional this past year due to the pandemic but some students still reported their scores. Only 31 percent of students from underrepresented minority groups reported test scores this past year, compared to 43 percent of all students who used the Common App.

There were 224 hate crimes in elementary or secondary schools that were reported to the FBI in 2020. There were only 116 reported hate crimes on college campuses. But remember that a large majority of college campuses were shut down for a good portion of the year due to the pandemic.

The Campaign for College Opportunity found improvements in degree completions for Black Californias at all levels of the state higher education system. But the data also shows there are major gaps between not only Blacks and Whites but also Black men and Black women.

Studies have shown that African American college students are less likely than their White peers to participate in binge drinking. But a new study has found that for those African American college students who are subjected to racial discrimination, they are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms and engage in problem alcohol consumption. 

Chronic poverty is defined as being below the poverty income threshold for the entire four years that were surveyed. Some 5.6 percent of the U.S. Black population was poor for the entire four-year period. This was true for only 1.7 percent of the non-Hispanic White population.

Nearly half of surveyed students believe that their school should require all students, faculty, and staff to participate in DEI training. An additional 46 percent of respondents believe that their schools should require all students to participate in a semester-long course on the history and root causes of the unequal distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges in society.

HBCU students are much more likely than the national sample to favor limits on the press’ First Amendment rights to cover campus protests. Fifty-six percent of HBCU students — double the percentage in the national sample — think college students should be able to prevent reporters from covering campus protests.

The Some Other Race alone or in combination group (49.9 million) increased 129 percent, surpassing the Black or African American population (46.9 million) as the second-largest race alone or in combination group.

There has been no progress in geoscience Ph.D. degrees in racial and ethnic diversity in 40 years. There has been an increase of racial and ethnic diversity at the bachelor's degree level but most of this is the result of a larger number of Hispanic graduates. Blacks make up just 3 percent of bachelor's degree awards.

The American public is deeply divided over how far the nation has progressed in addressing racial inequality – and how much further it needs to go. Nearly 60 percent of Black adults say that the nation’s laws and major institutions need to be completely rebuilt because they are fundamentally biased. Only 18 percent of White adults agreed.

Just as conservatives have mounted attacks on ethnic studies programs, critical race theory, and other subject areas not to their liking, the hiring of diversity officers has also been highly criticized. A new Heritage Foundation report finds what it calls an administrative bloat of diversity officers.

In the elementary and middle schools of a large metropolitan school district that were studied, Black and immigrant girls of color experienced gendered racial harassment, erasure of intellect, and estrangement within their communities. This included the verbal abuse of Black and immigrant girls of color by mostly White teachers.

A new study from the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College of Columbia University, found that some schools in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens have seen a reduction in racial segregation while neighborhoods have experienced increased diversity since the early 2000s.

A new study by the Student Borrower Protection Center finds that predatory for-profit schools are disproportionately targeting communities of color. Majority-Black zip codes are over 75 percent more likely to have a for-profit college than zip codes that are not majority Black.

The researchers noted that "many parents (a) lacked the technical expertise with the technologies their children were using such as Zoom and in the material children were learning and (b) had no access to training and support from professionals. Some parents lacked dependable broadband/Wi-Fi.