The Influence of Ascription, Achievement and Educational Expectations on Black-White Postsecondary Enrollment

Abstract

This study examined the effects of ascription, achievement and educational expectations on the type of college attended by blacks and whites who participated in a 1972 National Longitudinal Survey. Variables used in past models of schooling were important in determining the type of college that students attended, but in contrast to most past models, the effects of SES and standardized test performance were almost equal for blacks and whites. Racial differences in the model's predictability were lower than differences observed in most past models of schooling. Previous observations of higher enrollment by blacks than whites in two-year colleges held only to a limited extent for blacks and whites in the aggregate, but was completely reversed when controlling for SES and standardized test performance.