Are All State Contexts Created Equal? Understanding the College Pipeline Outcomes of Underserved Minority and Immigrant Students

Stella M. Flores will discuss innovations and challenges to understanding the long-term educational trajectories of underrepresented students on the pathway to and through college using various state examples with large Latino, immigrant, and English Learner populations. The presentation will focus on issues such as the racial college completion gap, the under-evaluation of English Learner and immigrant students by racial origin, and lessons from analyses of state successes and challenges.  

Flores is an associate professor of higher education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University where she also served as associate dean for faculty development and diversity from 2018-2020. She also serves as director of access and equity at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy at NYU. She holds an Ed.D. in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University, an Ed.M. from Harvard University, an MPAff from The University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Rice University. Her research examines the effects of state and federal policies on college access and completion outcomes for low-income and underrepresented populations including immigrant and English Learner students. Dr. Flores has also published widely on demographic changes in U.S. schools, affirmative action in higher education, and Minority Serving Institutions.  In 2003 her coauthored work was cited in the U.S. Supreme Court Gratz v. Bollinger decision (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs submitted to the Supreme Court on affirmative action.