Racial/Ethnic Gaps
Why are these measures important?
Beyond the moral imperative to achieve equality among populations of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, there are economic reasons for doing so. Many states in the U.S. face rapidly changing demographics - with the least-educated populations growing at the fastest rates. Meanwhile, large portions their White populations are aging into retirement. Our ability as a nation (and in many states) to close the racial/ethnic gaps at every stage in the education pipeline will play a key role in determining our economic future. What are the policy issues associated with them?
Education is the most effective intervention available for improving our social and economic future. And given the changing nature of our economy, a high school education is not enough. Addressing racial/ethnic inequalities in higher education will require persistent and meaningful efforts by states to provide postsecondary access and opportunity to steadily growing numbers of undereducated and underrepresented minorities. Please keep in mind as you view these measures that several states have very small minority populations - and tend to be the ones with the smallest gaps between Whites and minorities. For some of the measures, we have provided the percentages (of the states population) of each racial/ethnic population. For the measures we calculate from the American Community Survey, we provide the standard errors (at the 90% confidence interval).
