What was the point of this study?
We think most people are aware of the disparities in educational attainment for minorities, but just a snapshot on a yearly basis doesn’t show where this is leading. By showing the trends of what the situation will look like in 2020 versus 2000, we hope we’ve shown people the gravity of the situation.

What are the specifics of the trends?
The first is the increasing value of a college education. More and more, people will need a college education to get the jobs they are looking for. At the same time, we saw major spikes in minority population, particularly among Hispanics/Latinos to the point that the Hispanic/Latino population will equal the White population by 2020. Then, we saw that while Whites and Asians are improving in terms of the number of people receiving a college education, minorities including Hispanics/Latinos, African-Americans, and Native Americans are not only not catching up, they’re falling further behind. So, in a nutshell, the least educated populations are growing at the highest rates. That’s a scary combination. 

What are the consequences of this growing divide in education?
If the current disparities and population trends continue, the U.S. and California won’t have the same levels of skill and knowledge it currently has. In turn, states’ coffers will be hurt since it’s been shown educated citizens make more money, thus paying more in taxes.

On a global perspective, what does this suggest for the U.S.?
We’re falling further behind other countries. In the past decade, we’ve gone from being the second most educated country to the firth or sixth for people ages 25 to 34. If we don’t do something about this, we’ll continue to fall further behind.

You wanted to point out the problems, but there are also things we can do to change these trends, right?
Certainly. We hope this report will force people to acknowledge that the problems exist and that they’re getting worse. From there, though, we hope it will start a dialog at the state policy level to improve education. Education is the major vehicle for change and it starts with a coherent statewide plan.

What are some things that could be done to reverse the trends?
The first step is creating greater equality from pre-school to grade 12 for everyone. Schools serving minority communities have notoriously been under-funded and underserved. The second thing is targeted financial aid. We’ve seen a move to merit-based financial aid, and while that seems to make sense on its own, you need to target the neediest populations to have financial aid fight these trends. We also need to do a better job with at-risk students once they enter college to make sure we see them through graduation. Finally, and this is the most removed suggestion but one of the most important, there needs to be some sort of a statewide accountability program that holds institutions accountable for serving and getting minorities through to graduation.  

How difficult would it be to develop such a statewide accountability program?
It must start at the top and requires buy-in through government on down to the state education system. A problem with California in the past is that the higher education system is somewhat disjointed – there’s the UC system, the CSU system, and the community colleges. They do work together now, but would have to do so more to make a successful accountability system. It can be done, though. Texas has a program called “Closing the Gaps” focused on these trends. They face the same trends as California. Closing the Gaps is an accountability system built on serving minority groups better and making sure they get through the education pipeline with a college degree. The silver lining in California is that you’ve got a great educational system; you just have to figure out how to make it work for everyone. 

All of that can seem pretty far removed from what we can do individually.
On a community level, there are a lot of things people can do like working with students much earlier than 11^th or 12^th grade to get college on their radar screens. We need to instill confidence in them, to show them that they can go to college because a lot of students have already decided they are not college material by as early as seventh grade. Plus, we can show them that there are lots of financial aid opportunities out there. A lot of students don’t even know financial aid exists. It’s also important for business leaders to have meaningful dialogs with their employees too.

How can conversations with employees make a difference?
Promoting education among employees and their families is critical so that this is not just something that happens within schools. If businesses can’t become more engaged in this process, it often doesn’t work. And really, they’re only helping themselves since this trickles back to the services and community in which they operate.

What could be the impact of reversing these trends?
We found that if Hispanics/Latinos, African-Americans, and Native Americans achieved the same levels of education as Whites by 2020, California’s personal income would increase by $101.6 billion (in today’s dollar values). That’s pretty compelling.