Leveling the Playing Field

Leveling the Playing Field examines the admissions policies of contemporary American colleges and universities in light of the assumption that enhancing the educational opportunities of lower-income and minority students would make American society more just. The book evaluates controversies about such issues as the nature of merit, the missions of universities, affirmative action, the role of standardized tests, legacy preference, early decision, financial aid, the test-prep industry, and athletics.

Leveling the Playing Field examines the admissions policies of contemporary American colleges and universities in light of the assumption that enhancing the educational opportunities of lower-income and minority students would make American society more just. It asks how current admissions policies affect the prospects of such students, and it evaluates alternative approaches. The book treats a variety of topics relevant to answering these questions. What does it mean to reward people according to merit? Is the American system of higher education a meritocracy, and should it be? How do the missions of contemporary institutions of higher education bear on admissions? What are the implications of the Supreme Court's landmark affirmative action decisions of 2003? What is the proper role and significance of standardized tests like the SAT? How does 'lower' education prepare students, or fail to, for higher education? In answering these questions, the book examines legacy preference, early admissions policies, financial aid, the test-prep industry, college counseling, and athletics, evaluating their effects on the distribution of higher education in the United States, not only for lower-income and minority students but for college-bound students in general.

Part 1 Introduction: April Is the Cruellest Month
Chapter 2 Another Side of the Story
Chapter 3 The Flux of Supply and Demand
Chapter 4 Selectivity
Chapter 5 The Perspective of the Colleges
Chapter 6 Higher Education and the Enhancement of Opportunity
Chapter 7 Justice for Whom?
Chapter 8 Outline of the Book
Part 9 Demystifying Merit
Chapter 10 Detecting Merit
Chapter 11 How the Rewards of Merit Ramify
Chapter 12 Merit and Other Selection Criteria
Chapter 13 Merit and Its Limits
Chapter 14 Merit and Desert
Chapter 15 Sports: a Case Study
Part 16 The Multiple Missions of Modern Universities
Chapter 17 Let a Thousand Colleges Bloom!
Chapter 18 The Social Roles of the Modern University
Chapter 19 Historical Roots
Chapter 20 The Facets of Liberal Education
Chapter 21 Constituencies and the Whole
Chapter 22 Missions and Admissions
Chapter 23 Justice and Differentiation
Part 24 Open Admissions and the Community Colleges
Chapter 25 Open Admissions at CUNY
Chapter 26 Dilemmas of Remediation
Chapter 27 From Policy Voted to Policy Enacted
Chapter 28 Remediation, Second Chances, and Community Colleges
Part 29 How the Academically Rich Get Richer
Chapter 30 Irrelevant Advantages
Chapter 31 Money
Chapter 32 The Legacy of Legacy
Chapter 33 Early Decision
Chapter 34 An Uneven Outbreak of Disabilities
Chapter 35 College Counseling and Conspicuous Educational Consumption
Chapter 36 The Rich, the Poor, and the Rest
Part 37 The Test: Understanding the SAT
Chapter 38 The Regatta Question
Chapter 39 Is the SAT Fair?
Chapter 40 Is the SAT Valid and Reliable?
Chapter 41 How Useful Is the SAT?
Chapter 42 Cultural Bias and Unfairness Revisited
Chapter 43 A Porsche Held Together with Duct Tape
Part 44 Admissions Tests: Uses, Abuses, Alternatives
Chapter 45 The SAT and Real-Life Admissions Choices
Chapter 46 The Real Costs: Race Revisited
Chapter 47 A Radically Different Approach?
Chapter 48 Test Prep
Chapter 49 Some Conclusions
Part 50 The SAT on Trial
Chapter 51 A First Attack: the SAT and the Regents Scholarships
Chapter 52 A Second Attack: the SAT and the NCAA
Chapter 53 A Performance-Based Solution
Chapter 54 Legal Threat to the SAT?
Part 55 Affirmative Action and the Legacy ofBakke
Chapter 56 The Legal Foundation
Chapter 57Bakke: Fractured Law, Opaque Guidance
Chapter 58 The Other Side
Chapter 59 Missed Opportunities
Chapter 60 Coda: The Vagaries of Title VI
Part 61 Justifying Affirmative Action
Chapter 62 Blind Universities
Chapter 64 A Compelling Interest: The Answer Supplied
Chapter 65 The Link Between Ends and Means
Chapter 66 Moral Principles
Chapter 67 "Treat Persons as Individuals"
Chapter 68 "Do Not Discriminate"
Chapter 69 A Last Word On Affirmative Action
Part 70 Sowing the Seeds of Higher Education
Chapter 71 Class Preferences and "X Percent Solutions"
Chapter 72 Pre-College Interventions
Chapter 73 GEAR UP and College Now
Chapter 74 The Persistence of the Black-White Achievement Gap
Part 75 Summing Up, Looking Ahead
Chapter 76 Theory and Practice
Chapter 77 Affirmative Action and the Missions of American Universities
Chapter 78 The Use of Standardized Tests in Admissions
Chapter 79 Closing the Gaps
Chapter 80 Reforms at Selective Colleges