The first time students complete the survey, they can choose to identify with one or more of 17 different race-ethnicity groups.
However, results in Reports are not broken out by those fine-grained categories because that level of disaggregation would make it impossible to maintain the confidentiality of students’ responses. (To maintain students’ privacy, the Reports only show results for a given group when that group has at least 5 Members. That means, for example, that Reports could not show results from Native American students if there were fewer than 5 Native American students on a given Roster.)
As a compromise between the need to maintain student confidentiality and the desire to provide teachers with disaggregated data about opportunity gaps, Reports display results separately for members of racial and ethnic groups that are structurally disadvantaged within the U.S. education system (according to national education statistics on college access). Students are considered members of a group that is structurally disadvantaged in education if they identify with one or more of the following groups: Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, and/or Native American. Reports contrast their experiences to those of White and Asian students (who are comparatively advantaged in education settings according to the same national statistics).
This compromise enables educators to get some insight about opportunity gaps in their classrooms while simultaneously protecting student confidentiality. In order to support more fine grained analysis, Elevate also enables educators to create a custom Target Group that more accurately represents the groups of students in their local context who are situated farthest from opportunity.
