Effectively Maintaining Inequality in Toronto: Predicting Student Destinations in Ontario Universities

Abstract

L'accès aux universités prestigieuses, les mieux classées et dotées de ressources, quoique peuétudié, représente une dimension additionnelle des inégalités enéducation au Canada. La théorie de l'inégalité maintenue efficacement (IME) soutient que les groupes favorisés vont dominer l'accès aux institutions les mieux classées peu importe le palier scolaire. Cet article teste cette hypothèse en utilisant les données uniques de milliers d'élèves du Conseil Scolaire Public de Toronto (TDSB) qui ontété suivisà partir de la neuvième année jusqu'à leur entrée dans unétablissement postsecondaire. Ces données ont ensuité eté associées aux données de classement des universités, de leur revenu, de leurs dépenses et de leurs fonds de dotation. Une série de modèles statistiquesà niveaux multiples indique que l'entrée dans la hiérarchie universitaire ontarienne tendà refléter les inégalités dans l'accès général aux universités. Les femmes, lesétudiants d'origine asiatique, et lesétudiants issus des quartiers ayant des statuts socio-économiqueś elevés sont plus susceptibles d'entrer dans les universités les mieux classées et dotées de ressources; tandis que lesétudiants qui s'identifient Effectively Maintaining Inequality in Toronto 23 comme Noirs et hommes, sont moins susceptibles d'entrer dans ces institutions. Les avantages du statut socio-économiqueélevé et de l'origine asiatique sont seulement partiellement expliqués par les variables académiques comme variables médiatrices. Ceci suggère que le statut culturel joue un rôle dans l'élaboration du choix universitaire, alors que le sexe ainsi que les autres inégalités raciales sont dus en grande partie aux processus du parcours académique.Access to highly ranked, prestigious, and well-resourced universities represents an additional yet understudied dimension of educational inequality in Canada. The theory of effectively maintained inequality contends that advantaged groups will dominate access to the best-positioned institutions within any credential tier. This paper tests this hypothesis using unique data on thousands of Toronto District School Board students that were tracked from Grade 9 to their entry in Ontario postsecondary institutions, and then linked to data on university rankings, incomes, expenditures, and endowments. A series of multilevel models shows that entry into Ontario's university hierarchy tends to mirror inequalities in general access to universities. Female, Asian-origin, and students from higher socioeconomic neighborhoods are more likely to enter higher ranked and better resourced institutions, while students who self-identify as black and male are less likely to enter such institutions. High socioeconomic status and Asian-origin advantages are mediated only partly by academic variables, suggesting that status cultures play a role in shaping their university choices, while gender and other racial inequalities emerge largely through academic processes.

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It Deepens Like a Coastal Shelf: Educational Mobility and Social Capital in Germany

“…One approach is to find determinants of educational success in the institutional setting. The attendance of elite schools (Davies et al 2014) or targeted policy interventions (Stadelmann-Steffen 2011) could be used to explain differences in educational success. Other researchers look for determinants in the way kids are raised.…”

The student-institution fit at university: interactive effects of academic competition and social class on achievement goals

“…Reasoning in terms of person-environment fit (e.g., Holland, 1959), the degree of one’s sense of fit may indeed differ according to the context. For instance, although lower-class students have a lower likelihood to graduate from more competitive colleges, fields, or departments (Aries and Seider, 2005), some evidence suggests that higher-class students are less likely to succeed in less competitive ones (Agan, 2013; see also, Davies and Guppy, 1997; Triventi, 2013; Davies et al, 2014). Additionally, first-generation students are underrepresented in less prestigious departments (e.g., Sciences; Chen and Carroll, 2005), top-tier colleges (Carnevale and Rose, 2003), and elite institutions (Albouy and Wanecq, 2003).…”