Background | Overview | Researcher | Publications | Funding
“Technology and College Access: Understanding the Unique Challenges and Opportunities Black Students Face” explores the role that technology, including computers, the Internet, and social media, plays in Black students’ college access journeys. This project is one of five funded through the Pullias Center Equity Alumni Award.
Background
Despite the relationship between a college degree and social mobility, African American degree attainment lags behind other races. In 2016, the percentage of 35% of white adults age 25 or older had completed a bachelor’s degree, compared with 21% of Black adults. Many factors contribute to this gap, most notably, cost. However, access to information is also a contributing factor to college enrollment. Given that college information is increasingly digital, more information needs to be paid regarding the relationship between technology and college access. This project explores that relationship, and highlights the challenges Black youth face in using technology to research and prepare for college. The project also highlights the assets Black youth bring to the digital space, and explores implications for policy and practice.
This project explores many trends in education and in technology, and how they intersect to impact Black youth’s college preparation experiences. For example, in a Chegg survey, research discovered that 36% of high school students visit college websites weekly and 21% visit daily as they are applying to colleges. However, 25% of Black households with school-age children do not have high-speed Internet connection (compared to 15% of households nationwide). This work sheds light on this and other radicalized disparities to college access. Additionally, this project considers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Black youths’ digital learning experiences. Prior to the pandemic, 21% of Black youth relied on public WiFi in spaces like coffee shops and libraries to do homework. As the pandemic simultaneously increases digital dependence and limits access to public space, this challenge merits further exploration. At the same time, Black youth bring vital assets to the technology space. Black youth are often early adopters and innovators with regard to technology and social media. Black youth are more likely to have a smartphone than any other demographic, and are more likely than other demographics to spend more time engaged with technology. A report by Common Sense Media found that Black youth spend “substantially more time” with media than White or Hispanic Youth. This project aims to consider the digital barriers to information access that Black youth face, as well as the unique opportunities to collaborate with Black youth and to more effectively meet their needs.
Project Overview and Goals
This project examines the experiences of Black youth in using technology for educational purposes, such as college access. While there are many initiatives being put in place today to increase postsecondary enrollment for underrepresented students, many of these initiatives may not consider the increasingly digital component of college access. This work also considers the assets Black youth bring to technology as innovators and early adopters. Lead researcher Dr. Sharla Berry will provide recommendations for policymakers and practitioners who seek to achieve racial equity in the area of technology and postsecondary access. Her recommendations include strengthening federal and state policies and partnerships that increase technology access for all students, developing culturally relevant websites, apps and social media tools that focus on Black students’ unique college access needs,–and strengthening digital literacy in K-12 schools, specifically as it relates to information-seeking for college.
Researcher
Sharla BerryPhD, University of Southern California, Urban Education Policy, 2017
Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership, California Lutheran University
Publications
Download the final report from this project.
Technology and College Access: Understanding the Unique Challenges and Opportunities Black Students Face
Sharla Berry
Pullias Center for Higher Education (2021)
The author makes a case that educators might leverage Black students’ significant use of and innovation with technology to expand opportunities to cultivate college knowledge and expand college access. The brief highlights the relationship between technology and college knowledge, explores the barriers that Black youth may encounter in using technology to research and prepare for college, and offers an assets-based approach to understanding how Black youth learn, innovate, and create with technology.
This is one of five reports generated from research funded by the inaugural Pullias Center Equity Alumni Awards created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pullias Center.
Categories: College Access, Alumni Equity Award, Racial Equity
equity alumni award racial equity technology
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Funding
This project was selected as one of five recipients of the Pullias Center Equity Alumni Award in October 2020 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Pullias Center. Each of the five projects features an alumna or alumnus of the Pullias Center exploring a different facet of systemic racism that directly impacts Black, indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) access to education, specifically postsecondary education.