The Educational Effectiveness of Historically Black Colleges and ...

6 The Educational Effectiveness of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Dr. Kim pointed out that these findings showed that an African-American student’s attendance
at an HBCU or an historically white college or university did not affect his or her academic
success and early career earnings. She said that her findings along with those of others “lend
support to the proposition that HBCUs contribute significantly to higher education in this
country and merit strong support.”
The discussion began with Commissioner Kirsanow commenting on Dr. Kim’s research. He
noted that Dr. Kim did not control for regional effects in her study. Nonetheless, given HBCUs
lower funding levels and the academic under-preparedness of their students on admission,
such institutions were “doing a much better job than historically white colleges and
universities in educating African-American students,” he said, more than the findings of no
significant difference suggest. Dr. Sullivan stated that Spelman College’s graduation rate of 77
percent exceeds those of several respected and well-resourced white institutions. He added that
Morehouse School of Medicine students performed better on the United States’ Medical
Licensing Examination than the country’s other medical students despite scoring lower on
SATs. Dean Pierce pointed out that in 2005, despite fewer resources and pre-entry academic
profiles predicting lower achievement, graduates of North Carolina Central University School of
Law achieved a first-time bar passage rate of 81 percent, which tied with that of Duke
University School of Law. Vice Chair Thernstrom expressed admiration for HBCUs. During a
visit to Savannah State University some years ago, she noted that many of its African-American
students have limited academic skills, a reflection of the “racial gap in academic achievement at
the end of high school.” She was impressed by the quality education the institution offered and
its dedicated efforts to improve students academically.
Commissioner Kirsanow found it striking that HBCUs awarded 40 percent of all black graduate
STEM degrees. Further, he observed that the top 30 HBCUs graduated the largest numbers of
blacks who enrolled in STEM doctoral programs. In the same vein, the Elliott, et al., article
reported that despite generally weak pre-college academic credentials, HBCUs produced 40
percent of black science and engineering degrees even though they enrolled only 20 percent
of the total black undergraduate students. 12 Elliott and his coauthors also commented that of
the top 21 undergraduate producers of black doctoral graduates during the period 1986–1993,
17 were HBCUs. 13
Panelists offered several suggestions for HBCUs’ educational success with students whose precollege
profiles are not sterling. Dr. Sullivan suggested that faculty commitment played a role.
Pascarella, J. Smart, C. Ethington, and M. Nettles, in American Educational Research Journal, 24 (1), 1987, pp.
49-77. Kim written statement, pp. 46, 56–57.
12 Rogers Elliott, A. Christopher Strenta, Russell Adair, Michael Matier, and Jannah Scott (1996), “The Role of
Ethnicity in Choosing and Leaving Science in Highly Selective Institutions,” Research in Higher Education,
Vol. 37, No. 6, p. 700, citing The College Handbook, for example, 1988, or any recent edition; Barron’s
Profiles of American Colleges, for example, 1988, or any recent edition; E. Culotta (1992), “Black colleges
cultivate scientists,” Science 258: 1216–1218 and T. R. Phillips (1991), ABET/EXXON Minority Engineering
Student Achievement Profile.
13 Rogers Elliott, A. Christopher Strenta, Russell Adair, Michael Matier, and Jannah Scott (1996), “The Role of
Ethnicity in Choosing and Leaving Science in Highly Selective Institutions,” Research in Higher Education,
Vol. 37, No. 6, p. 700, citing D. H. Thurgood and J. E. Clark (1995, Table 5), Summary Report 1993: Doctorate
Recipients from United States Universities. Washington, DC: The National Academy Press.