DARTS : Ethnicity and Race Reporting - Historical Documentation

CHANGES TO RACE/ETHNICITY REPORTING TO IPEDS
On October 19, 2007, the U.S. Department of Education posted to the Federal Register the "Final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic (R/E) Data to the U.S. Department of Education." (See the Federal Register, Volume 72, Number 202, pp. 59266-59279). The proposed changes are necessary for the Department of Education to implement the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 1997 Standards for Maintaining, Collecting and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. IPEDS is adopting new aggregate categories for reporting R/E data in accordance with the final guidance.
The guidance issued by the Department covers two separate issues: (1) the collection of R/E data by institutions and (2) the reporting of aggregate data to the Department. For collecting R/E data, institutions must use a two-question format, and the Department encourages institutions to re-survey students and staff (the two-question format is as follows: The first question is whether the respondent is Hispanic/Latino. The second question is whether the respondent is from one or more races from the following list: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, White). For further details on the guidance for collecting data, please see the full Federal Register notice. For reporting aggregate data to the Department, the guidance identifies nine categories that will be used for IPEDS. The current and new race/ethnicity categories for reporting data to IPEDS are outlined below:

Educational institutions will be required to implement this guidance in order to report data for the 2010-2011 school year. Under the guidance, although not required to do so, educational institutions already collecting individual-level data in the manner specified by the notice are encouraged to immediately begin reporting aggregate data to the Department.
The IPEDS Technical Review Panel (TRP) discussed the implementation of changes to race/ethnicity reporting in IPEDS in November 2006 after the Department issued preliminary guidance on August 6, 2006. Based on suggestions from that meeting of the TRP, changes to reporting race/ethnicity in IPEDS will be fully implemented as outlined below.

• 2008-09 and 2009-10 Collection Years

Optional years for all components. Although the desire is that institutions will be able to collect and report the new race/ethnic data at this time, institutions would have the option to submit data using any of the following approaches:

1. 1. Exclusively use seven new race/ethnic categories for everyone at the institution
   2. Exclusively use current five race/ethnic categories for everyone at the institution
   3. Use "mixed reporting" - current categories for some individuals and new categories for others. The anticipation is that few institutions would select this option since it will be the most complex.

• 2010-11 Collection Year
  • Mandatory year for Fall Enrollment and Human Resources. Reporting using new race/ethnicity categories is required.
  • Optional year for Completions, 12-Month Enrollment, and Graduation Rates Reporting using the new categories will remain optional.
• 2011-12 and Beyond Collection Years

Mandatory for all IPEDS components. Institutions are required to report using only the new race/ethnicity categories.
In the years with components that have optional reporting, institutions can report one way for one IPEDS component and another for other IPEDS components. The expectation is that most will report using new race/ethnic categories for Completions, 12-Month Enrollment, and Graduation Rates the year after they report using new race/ethnic categories for Fall Enrollment and Human Resources. The following table summarizes the proposed reporting timeline.

DEFINITIONS FOR NEW RACE AND ETHNICITY CATEGORIES

The new race and ethnicity categories were developed in 1997 by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and are used to describe groups to which individuals belong, identify with, or belong in the eyes of the community. The categories do not denote scientific definitions of anthropological origins. The designations are used to categorize U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and other eligible non-citizens.
Individuals are asked to first designate ethnicity as:

• Hispanic or Latino or
• Not Hispanic or Latino

Second, individuals are asked to indicate one or more races that apply among the following:

• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
• White

Hispanic or Latino
A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.
American Indian or Alaska Native
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Asian
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Black or African American
A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
White
A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Nonresident alien
A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely. Note: Nonresident aliens are to be reported separately in the places provided, rather than in any of the racial/ethnic categories described above.
Resident alien (and other eligible non-citizens)
A person who is not a citizen or national of the United States but who has been admitted as a legal immigrant for the purpose of obtaining permanent resident alien status (and who holds either an alien registration card (Form I-551 or I-151), a Temporary Resident Card (Form I-688), or an Arrival-Departure Record (Form I-94) with a notation that conveys legal immigrant status such as Section 207 Refugee, Section 208 Asylee, Conditional Entrant Parolee or Cuban-Haitian). Note: Resident aliens are to be reported in the appropriate racial/ethnic categories along with United States citizens.
Race/ethnicity unknown
The category used to report students or employees whose race and ethnicity are not known.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1) What is the difference between collection of race and ethnicity information and reporting of race and ethnicity data?
Under the new guidelines, collection of and reporting of data are no longer the same. When institutions collect race and ethnicity data from students and staff, they are required to use a 2-question format. The first question asks about ethnicity (is the individual Hispanic or Latino, yes or no) and the second question asks about race (the individual is asked to select one or more race categories with which he or she identifies: American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; White. So there are 6 categories for data collection. ALL respondents must have the opportunity to answer BOTH questions. There are 9 categories for data reporting to IPEDS. The categories for reporting are: (1) Hispanic (regardless of race); and for non-Hispanics, (2) American Indian or Alaska Native; (3) Asian; (4) Black or African American; (5) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; (6) White; (7) Two or more races. In addition, (8) Nonresident alien (for whom race and ethnicity is not reported), and (9) Race and ethnicity unknown.
2) What is the correct format for the new race and ethnicity questions?
For collection purposes, the guidance requires the use of a 2-question format. The first question must ask if the respondent is Hispanic or Latino, and the second question must ask the respondent to select one or more races. The race categories to be used are: (1) American Indian or Alaska Native; (2) Asian; (3) Black or African American; (4) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; (5) White. ALL respondents must have the opportunity to answer BOTH questions.
3) Can I collect subcategories of the race categories specified in the guidance?
Yes, as long as the subcategories can be aggregated to the categories indicated in the guidance for purposes of reporting to IPEDS. That is, additional categories can be collected and utilized by the institution, but cannot be reported to IPEDS.
4) Can I collect the data in the same format that I will be submitting it to IPEDS?
No. Under the guidelines, collection and reporting of the new race and ethnicity categories are distinctly separate.
5) Can I use "Nonresident alien" as a collection category?
No. "Nonresident alien" is a REPORTING category only. It is not a race or ethnicity, and is not permissible to be used as a collection category.
6) Can I include a category of "Two or more races" on my collection form(s)?
No. "Two or more races" is a REPORTING category only and is not permissible to be used as a collection category.
7) Can I include a "refuse to answer" checkbox on my data collection forms?
No. The guidance does not allow for such a response when collecting the data.
8) How do I report foreign students living outside the U.S. who are enrolled in my institution?
There has been no change to how these students should be reported. Foreign students living outside the U.S. should be classified in the Race/Ethnicity Unknown category. Only U.S. citizens are to be categorized in the specific Race/Ethnicity categories. The non-resident alien category is reserved specifically for students that are in the U.S. under that specific legal status. Stated another way, only U.S. Citizens and Foreign Citizens with Permanent Residency are to be included in the race categories. Foreign nationals that are temporarily in the U.S. on a visa would be counted in the Non-Resident Alien category and those that are not in the U.S. would be counted in the Unknown category.
9) Is it OK to provide some background to respondents about why their race and ethnicity is being collected and how the data will be used?
Yes. The guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Education are available as a resource, as is information posted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and the AIR website FAQs.
10) How long must data collection records be retained, and in what format?
Responses to both parts of the two-questions must be retained for 3 years. This means that the data REPORTED to IPEDS are not sufficient as a means of satisfying this 3-year period of record storage, because the data reported are less complete than the detail collected. Note that if there is litigation, a claim, an audit, or other action which began prior to the end of the 3-year storage period, applicable records must be retained until the completion of the action.
11) Do I have to resurvey my students and/or staff in order to determine their race and ethnicity using the new categorization?
No, the guidance recommends, but does not require, resurveying of students and/or staff. Regardless of whether your institution resurveys or not, it will be necessary to determine strategies for handling missing race and ethnicity information.
12) Can I resurvey just the students from the GRS cohort(s) and not all students?
Because the guidance does not mandate resurveying, this decision is left to the discretion of the institution.
13) For students that I can't (or don't) resurvey, can I recode their race and ethnicity from the old categories to the new?
It is left to the discretion of the institution to determine strategies for handling the conversion of "old" race and ethnicity categories to the "new" categories, if desired (i.e., as an alternative or supplement to resurveying).
14) If I resurvey, do I need to include students who have already left the institution (e.g., students in a GRS cohort)?
No. It is left to the discretion of the institution to decide if such an approach is desired and/or feasible.
15) How do I know if a student or staff member refused to answer the race question, rather than just overlooking it?
For postsecondary institutions, the Department has indicated that presenting the data collection form to the respondent is sufficient to ensure that individuals have had the opportunity to respond to the race and ethnicity questions. It is not necessary to prompt the respondent to complete one or both questions if they have been left unanswered.
16) How do I deal with nonresponse?
Under the guidance, IPEDS continues to allow the reporting of "Race and ethnicity unknown."
17) How do I deal with nonresponse of one part of the question, but not both?
If one of the two questions is a response, that part of the information should be used in the reporting of race and ethnicity.
18) How do I report a person who does not answer the first question, but does answer the second question?
If a person does not answer the Hispanic question but does indicate race, report that person using the race categories that were selected.

19) How do I report a person who answers the first question, but does not answer the second?
If the answer to the first question is Yes, report that person as Hispanic. If the answer to the second question is No, report that person as Unknown.
20) If a student or staff does not self-identify their race and ethnicity, can we identify their race and ethnicity on their behalf (third-party identification)?
There is nothing in the guidance that would prevent an institution from employing third-party identification of race and ethnicity, but only as a last resort. The use of third-party identification is intended mostly for the use of race and ethnicity reporting at the primary and secondary levels where access to children may be limited. For postsecondary institutions, self-reporting of race and ethnicity by students and staff is considered to be the desired method.