THE NATIONAL HISPANIC INSTITUTE REPORT CARD (HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2020) Author: Alma Raymer, Associate Director for Enrollment & ​ Institutional Relations Research Contributors: Renier Martínez, 2020 Intern, University of Chicago ​ www.nationalhispanicinstitute.org © Copyright 2020 National Hispanic Institute Acknowledgements The author of this report would like to thank a number of individuals for their invaluable support in a number of areas that led to the completion of this research project, including the new data that was collected for the class of 2020. Renier Martinez served as a full time intern throughout the summer months of 2020, tirelessly collecting data, reporting out insights from the data, learning new research methodologies and software for reporting, and keeping a positive attitude all the while. His contributions to the data development behind this report are vast, and it speaks volumes for the type of researcher he is becoming. Thanks also are in order to the University of Chicago for underwriting his intern experience with the National Hispanic Institute this summer. Deep appreciation to Marisa Zepeda, educational consultant and NHI alumna, for her keen eye, way with words, and clear grasp of my personal mission to create value-add in this year’s iteration of the Report Card from the very beginning. There were a number of times wordsmithing failed me, and each time you helped find the answer. Thanks also for your love of analysis and your excitement over this project. Many thanks are also in order to Nicole Nieto, Executive Vice President at NHI, for providing the NHI lens at every turn. This data, and the resulting analysis, would not be the same without your keen eye, tenacity, and big questions. Thanks also to the College Register member institutions who, from my first days at NHI, provided space for my many ideas for deepening partnerships, helped to provide insight regarding what data would be most useful to their work, filled out all my surveys, and let me bounce ideas off of them. Special thanks to: Christine Bowman at Southwestern University, William “Billy” Sichel at New York University, Rex Oliver at Texas Tech University, Windsor Jordan at Swarthmore College, Valencia Jones at Washington University in St. Louis, Jody Glassman at Florida International University, Liam Wallace and Jenna Hill at Colby College, Hank Ewert at Austin College, Ja’Niah Downing at Purdue University, and Tom Becker at University of Pittsburgh. Your insights and ideas have been invaluable. Finally, thanks to the HQ team, and the NHI familia as a whole. I am humbled by your trust and faith in me to personify and live the mission. 2 Contents Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………4 Highlights of Findings………………………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Part I, Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Part II, Educational Partners……………………………………………………………………………………………...9 Part III, Class of 2020………………………………………………………………………………………………………...9 Appendix A: NHI Class of 2020 Reported Matriculation…………………………………………………15 Appendix B: NHI Class of 2020 Acceptance Rates by Institution…………………………………….17 Appendix C: Statistical Insights Re: High School & Region by Gender..……………………………24 Appendix D: Class of 2020 High Schools by Region………………………………………………………...26 Appendix E: Host Institutions & College Register Members 2016-2020………………………...33 Appendix F: Enrollment Trends………………………………………………………………………………………..35 Appendix G: Statistical Insights, Including New Data for 2020……………………………………….38 3 Summary: The National Hispanic Institute is pleased to submit the Report Card for the NHI graduating class of 2020. Findings in this report are based on the responses of 306 graduates, representing 24% of the 1,275 students comprising the NHI class of 2020, and 26.4% of eligible respondents. The report reflects college choices made by graduating high school seniors who attended National Hispanic Institute leadership programs between 2017 and 2019. The report also includes other important demographic data, trends, and comparisons that provide readers a view of Latina/o/x high school youth who, due in part to NHI program participation, are more likely to enroll in higher education, as well as earn their undergraduate degrees. NHI hopes that the findings in this report will serve as useful to your work and will expand familiarity with NHI’s growing community of undergraduate students. NHI wishes to thank the parents of participating students, who share in and support NHI’s mission and vision to develop their students to be leaders in the Latino/a/x community. NHI would also like to extend its gratitude to the many high schools across the United States, and internationally, that annually encourage students to attend NHI programs. Very special appreciation is also extended to the summer program host institutions whose generosity helps to make student attendance at summer leadership programs of the National Hispanic Institute financially accessible to working families. 4 Highlights of Findings: ● Strong representation in hard-to-reach communities- NHI’s community outreach efforts generate a large number of college-bound program participant students in regions that are often difficult for colleges and universities to recruit due to time constraints, limited outreach budgets, and so on. ● NHI participants consistently rank strongly as admission candidates- for the first time, in the 2020 Report Card, NHI has been able to survey students to determine acceptance rates for NHIers at more than 400 institutions of higher education. ● NHI participants consistently enroll in high numbers in four year institutions- beginning with the first Report Card in 1986, research continues to show that NHI program participants maintain 97% rate of college matriculation immediately following high school graduation over a span of more than 30 years. ● NHI students seek program Host Institutions- more than 60% of NHI graduating high school seniors applied to at least one of NHI’s host institutions as part of their college admissions process; further, NHI students indicate preference in applications submitted to College Register members, demonstrating a strong preference for institutions of higher education that NHI students are familiar with due to NHI partnership and programming. ● Women remain prominent in NHI leadership programming- Among annual program participants for the National Hispanic Institute, young women continue to have higher representation in numbers at NHI leadership programs compared to their male peers. ● Increase in private institution enrollment- the class of 2020, more than other graduating classes from 2010-2020, have chosen to matriculate at private institutions (36% private institution enrollment reported for class of 2020, compared to 27% in 2016, 32% in 2014). ● NHIers are less likely than their peers to use social media to research institutions of higher education- per the 2020 Digital Admissions report, 67% of national respondents confirmed utilizing social media to research institutions of higher education compared to 46.8% of graduating NHIers. ● NHIers use both institutional websites & physical mailings for their research- while social media can influence NHIers college decision at a rate similar to national averages, they report institutional websites and physical mailings as the top two types of media used to make college decisions for NHIers. ● NHIers come from increasingly diverse backgrounds- while many NHIers come from Latino/a/x families with many families reporting Spanish is spoken most at home (30.9%), or Spanish and English equally (22.3%), some NHIers report first languages spoken at home are: Mandarin Chinese and Haitian Creole. 5 PART I, INTRODUCTION The National Hispanic Institute’s work is focused on strengthening and expanding the market of young responsible individuals within the Latino/a/x community who may serve as future leaders. Efforts to expand leadership capacities and skills begin for students as early as their freshman year of high school. NHI hosts tailored learning opportunities dependent on age and developed leadership capacities. Each of the programs develops different skills and competencies in rising leaders. Leadership programs occur during the summer and historically have occurred on the campuses of colleges and universities located in varied communities throughout the U.S., as well as in Mexico and Panama. Generally, 2,500 young adults attend NHI leadership programs each year, in cohorts of 100-200 students. To gain admission to NHI programs, students are required to submit an application and meet minimum academic requirements. For high school freshmen, the minimum GPA requirement for program participation is a 3.0/4.0 unweighted GPA. Sophomores and juniors must meet at least a 3.2/4.0 unweighted GPA. Programs in 2020 were conducted as digital programs, with the plan of returning to residential experiences once safe to do so, under the supervision and direction of regional project teams and certified volunteer staff. The primary focus for ninth grade students at the Great Debate (GD) programs is communications improvement. The sophomore year program, the Lorenzo de Zavala (LDZ) Youth Legislative Session, is centered on governance, organizational development, and constituency management. The Collegiate World Series (CWS), for eleventh grade students, focuses on preparation for the college application and interviews process, personal life management, and critical analysis. The three learning experiences