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Many national, state, and institutional policies and initiatives advocate for change in higher education through structured forms of data use. The case study of “Old Main University” presented in this article shows how local reformers (n=9) drew on data and data use tools provided by a long-term action research project implemented at the university to advance racial equity goals at their university. The case narrative utilizes practice theory, cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), and narrative inquiry to illustrate how administrative leaders and faculty at Old Main University coordinated their efforts in a sustained manner through two cycles of practitioner inquiry that was responsive to policy goals. The findings show that data use is productive to promote racial equity when data and data use protocols are used iteratively and in interaction among practitioners who use them to identify inequities rooted in their own practices. The findings support the conclusion that, to sustain change efforts as long-term (mesogenetic) projects, policy makers and local reformers should plan to iteratively redesign data tools, practices, and policies to institute changes in everyday (microgenetic) work practices. Such purposeful redesign holds potential to re-structure professional interactions, sustain motivation and organizational learning, and acculturate practitioners to equity as a standard of practice.

A growing body of research points to the important role played by “institutional agents” in facilitating college access and success for students from non-dominant racial-ethnic and low socioeconomic status groups. Applying attachment theory, this study adds to that literature by demonstrating how institutional agents can provide a secure base, in a psychological sense, for such low-status college students in the United States to make successful postsecondary transitions and develop collegiate identities. Based on the life stories of 10 low-status students who successfully transferred from a community college to a selective college or university, our narrative analysis depicts the students’ collegiate identity development and how college practitioners in positions of authority were instrumental in raising their collegiate aspirations. The results demonstrate the role of college practitioners in facilitating students’ postsecondary transitions and warrant the professional development of faculty and administrators as institutional agents. We conclude by providing resources for practitioners to develop their professional knowledge and capacity to act as institutional agents.

This study examined the distribution of financial aid among financially dependent four-year college students and the effectiveness of different types of financial aid in promoting student persistence and timely bachelor’s degree attainment. The findings of descriptive statistical and logistic regression analyses using the NCES Beginning Postsecondary Students (1990-94) data show that subsidized loans taken in the first year of college have a positive effect on persistence. The first-year distribution of aid does not close the income gap in bachelor’s degree attainment. Living on campus and first-year grade point average are the most important predictors of timely degree completion.

Extending research findings by R. Sabot and J. Wakeman-Linn (1991), this article presents a theoretical analysis showing that relatively low grading quantitative fields and high grading verbal fields create a disincentive for college women to invest in quantitative study. Pressures on grading practices are modeled using higher education production functions.