Kent Mommsen

Bio: Kent Mommsen is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Higher education & Educational attainment. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 11 citations.

The Widening Racial Gap in American Higher Education.

Abstract: The attainment of education for blacks in the United States has inauspicious origins in the early history of this country when enslaved Africans were forbidden by law to receive educational instruction. Although some masters allowed their slaves to learn to read and write, the vast majority of blacks were illiterate, a condition that continued through the nineteenth century. Emancipation resulted in the migration of many blacks to the North and black progress occurred in education as well as a number of other areas such as health and employment (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1979). The Bureau of the Census (1979) reports that this progress has continued through the twentieth century; however, the decade of the 1960s marked the most significant gains for

Key issues in the persistence of underrepresented minority students

Abstract: Research on retention of students of color suggests possible areas of intervention to improve academic success.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Honoring the Past, Engaging the Present, Touching the Future.

Abstract: This article examines the history, present, and future of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). We begin with a brief review of the existing literature on HBCUs, considering common themes and how these institutions changed over time within a broader sociohistorical landscape. In addition to historical information, we use a national database to illuminate trends and shifts in the students choosing to attend, and being served by, these institutions. We close by considering new challenges that face these institutions, addressing how HBCUs are positioned to move forward with their important mission of educating the Black community. "Education is thus simply the means by which a society prepares, in its children, the essential conditions of its own existence." (Emile Durkheim, 1972, p. 203) "Education will set this tangle straight." (W. E. B. Du Bois, 1903/1989, p. 76) "When you control a man's thinking, you do not have to worry about his actions." Carter G. Woodson (1933, p. xiii) Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been at the center of the Black struggle for equality and dignity. The American ethos idealizes education and personal achievement over birthright as the sole basis for one's place in society-except for African Americans. We have always been judged by the color of our skin, denied equal educational opportunity, and told the educational gap between Blacks and Whites was the reason for our subjugated status in society. It is therefore not surprising that education has been a key site for Black struggle. For African Americans, education embodies not only a means toward gaining equality and progress, but the very essence of citizenship and pereonhood. We have pursued higher education with faith, perseverance and desperation, absolutely convinced that the keys to our deliverance from racial oppression lay hidden in the pages of books we were forbidden to read. As the opening quotes attest, HBCUs play important roles in the perpetuation of Black culture, the improvement of Black community life, and the preparation of the next generation of the Black leadership. Durkheim's quote reminds us that above all, education is culturally specific; education is rooted in and reflects the conditions, worldview and purposes of its parent society. In this respect, HBCUs have been profoundly shaped by the circumstances (historical, economic, political, and cultural) that define Black lives and communities in America. Du Bois's quote highlights the mandate for these institutions to engage the world, improve the circumstances of Black people and challenge the nation to realize its highest ideals. Finally, the quote from Woodson emphasizes the transformative power of education and the responsibility of HBCUs to empower individuals to change lives, their communities, and society. This has been the daunting charge to this unique group of institutions of higher learning; they have been called to preserve a culture, prosper a community, equip a new generation of leaders, and model what is best about America. The dawning of the 21st century is an appropriate moment to consider the trends, prospects, and challenges of HBCUs. In this article, we reassess the past, present, and future role of HBCUs while advocating the need for a perspective that considers how they function as institutions within a social system characterized by multiple forms of oppression. Specifically, we attempt an analysis of HBCUs that stresses the frequent, systemic interactions among race, gender, and class in the historical and contemporary eras. We close by considering new challenges that face these institutions and addressing how HBCUs are positioned to go forward with their important mission of educating the Black community with the goal to change American society for the better. THE PROMISE OF BROWN The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was one of the most far-reaching in American history. …

What Higher Education Has to Say about the Transition to College.

Abstract: Background: Higher education researchers have much to say about the transition to college. This field focuses primarily on inequities in college participation and completion, the relative importance of high school preparation, and the utility of financial aid in promoting enrollment. This literature’s strongest conceptual emphasis is on theoretical models of student retention. Less is known about other facets of the transition to college, including different postsecondary pathways and college outcomes. Purpose: This paper describes the major findings of research on the transition to college contributed by higher education, and how further research might be improved. The specific areas covered are college preparation, college access, persistence, and college outcomes. The reviewed literature covered extant research on the transition to college as conducted by higher education researchers. Research Design: This essay is an analysis of extant research on the college transition in the field of higher education Conclusions/Recommendations: This review highlights the field’s major shortcoming as undertaking insufficiently rigorous, empirical testing of theories on the transition to college. Existing research on postsecondary pathways is often compromised by data or methodological limitations, failure to be critical in attributing causality, and not differentiating effects occurring at different measurement levels (i.e., individual vs. institution).

Black and Latino College Enrollment: Effects of Background, High School Preparation, Family and Peer Influence, and Financial Aid.

Abstract: This study examined the college enrollment decisions of Black and Latino students, focusing on factors that influenced their decision to attend college. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988-1994 were used, namely a sample of 11,879 seniors who completed high school in 1992, including 1,181 Blacks and 1,505 Latinos. The study found that Black students who enrolled in a four-year college were more likely to: be female (62 percent), have come from upper-middle-class backgrounds (36 percent), have parents with some college education (52 percent), have been placed in a college prep program in high school (62 percent), and fall in the third quartile of standardized tests (33 percent), than their peers. Unlike Blacks, Latinos who enrolled in a four-year college were slightly more likely to be male (53 percent) and to be from low-income backgrounds (30 percent), and were about equally as likely to have parents with educational levels no higher than high school or some college (38 percent and 37 percent) and to fall into the two highest test quartiles (34 percent and 33 percent respectively). High school preparation and the availability of financial aid also had a significant influence on the college enrollment decisions of both groups. An appendix describes the operationalization of the variables.(Contains 59 references.) (MDM) ***.* *i+ ** *************************************************************** 'Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** BLACK AND LATINO COLLEGE ENROLLMENT: Effects of Background, High School Preparation, Family and Peer Influence and Financial Aid