U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today released "Race-Neutral Alternatives in Postsecondary Education: Innovative Approaches to Diversity," a report that seeks to foster innovative thinking at education institutions that are seeking race-neutral means to achieve diversity on their campuses.

"Make no mistake that it will take time, creativity and constant attention by government and university officials to pursue effective race-neutral policies," Paige said. "However, as Americans we owe it to our heritage and to our children to meet those challenges head on, rather than looking for shortcuts that divide us by race and betray the nation's fundamental principles.

"This report describes innovative, race-neutral ways to achieve diversity in higher education. We believe this report and next month's conference will equip college and university leaders with information they may need to explore these alternatives and ensure that all citizens have access to higher education in this country."

Secretary Paige also announced that the Department of Education is hosting a conference on this critical issue on April 28-29 in Miami, Fla., for leaders of the education community. More information about the conference will be available at a later date.

Education institutions that use race-neutral approaches use admissions and college preparatory policies that do not focus on or single out racial or ethnic groups for preferential treatment. The report demonstrates that as education institutions seriously investigate the options available to them, they will find that there are dozens of race-neutral approaches they can consider.

For example:

• Many education institutions provide preferences on the basis of socioeconomic status;

• Colleges and universities are expanding their recruitment and outreach efforts by targeting students from schools that traditionally have not been "feeder schools" for those institutions;

• States are creating new skills-development programs, ones designed to improve education achievement among students who attend traditionally low-performing schools. Examples of these programs include the Texas Advanced Placement Initiative and Florida's partnership with the College Board;

• Many universities are entering into partnerships with low-performing public schools to strengthen their students' abilities to succeed in college; and

• Texas, California and Florida have all created admissions plans for students who finish at the top of their high school classes.

The report also demonstrates that, while many race-neutral approaches are relatively new, the early results from these programs are promising. The report points out that the initial positive results are only the beginning; the full advantages of many of the race-neutral alternatives will not be fully known until they are seriously implemented for a sufficient period of time and several classes of students have been able to benefit from them.

The report does not endorse any particular program but rather provides a catalog or description of what education institutions are attempting.

The report is available at: http://www.ed.gov/ocr/raceneutral.html.

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