A Longitudinal Analysis of Doctoral Graduate Supply in the Educational Measurement Field

For nearly three decades, researchers have been concerned that the educational measurement field is not producing enough graduate-level specialists to meet the growing demand driven by the increased use of educational assessments in the U.S. This study examined the supply-side aspect of the proposed labor shortage by relying on data from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates collected between 1997 and 2016. Over the 20 years examined, measurement programs produced 3,124 doctoral graduates, and across this time span, the annual production of graduates nearly doubled. This supply expansion can largely be attributed to the increase in the number of international graduates, which outpaced the annual growth rate of domestic PhD recipients by 156%. Moreover, 85% of graduates were found to either self-identify as White or Asian. Less than 10 Hispanic and no more than 20 Black graduates were produced in any of the years examined. Of the 76% of graduates that reported having a job offer or accepted a position upon graduation, most entered the academy despite the overall average starting salary ($59,484) being considerably lower than the starting salary for their counterparts entering industry ($84,918), government ($69,970), or other educational institutions ($81,428).

Graduation and Academic Placement of Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Minority Doctoral Recipients in Public Health Disciplines, United States, 2003-2015

Objectives: Given public health’s emphasis on health disparities in underrepresented racial/ethnic minority communities, having a racially and ethnically diverse faculty is important to ensure adequate public health training. We examined trends in the number of underrepresented racial/ethnic minority (ie, non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) doctoral graduates from public health fields and determined the proportion of persons from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups who entered academia. Methods: We analyzed repeated cross-sectional data from restricted files collected by the National Science Foundation on doctoral graduates from US institutions during 2003-2015. Our dependent variables were the number of all underrepresented racial/ethnic minority public health doctoral recipients and underrepresented racial/ethnic minority graduates who had accepted academic positions. Using logistic regression models and adjusted odds ratios (aORs), we examined correlates of these variables over time, controlling for all independent variables (eg, gender, age, relationship status, number of dependents). Results: The percentage of underrepresented racial/ethnic minority doctoral graduates increased from 15.4% (91 of 592) in 2003 to 23.4% (296 of 1264) in 2015, with the largest increase occurring among black graduates (from 6.6% in 2003 to 14.1% in 2015). Black graduates (310 of 1241, 25.0%) were significantly less likely than white graduates (2258 of 5913, 38.2%) and, frequently, less likely than graduates from other underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups to indicate having accepted an academic position (all P < .001). Conclusions: Stakeholders should consider targeted programs to increase the number of racial/ethnic minority faculty members in academic public health fields.

Black and White and Color: American Photographs at the Turn of the Century

Early in December, 1899, an energetic, thirty-five-year-old, white woman photographer named Frances Benjamin Johnston started to work on a commission for the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia. Hampton Institute was originally an industrial arts and teachers training school for former slaves. Somewhat later it began an experiment to matriculate American Indians dispossessed of tribal land. It was founded shortly after the Civil War by the charismatic white reformer, Colonel Samuel Chapman Armstrong, former commander of the 8th and 9th U. S. Colored Troops. Armstrong intended to teach Southern blacks (also American Indians by 1878) “how to educate their own race,” as well as to “provide them with Christian values, and to equip them with agricultural and mechanical skills by which they could support themselves during the months when school was not in session. They were to abjure politics and concentrate on uplifting their race through hard work, thrift, and the acquisition of property.” The school was supported by private Northern philanthropy as well as by government funding, and it enjoyed liberal Quaker support that included the famous abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier, in whose consideration the Hampton militia unit was forbidden to drill with real rifles. Hampton opened its doors in 1868 with two white teachers and fifteen black and female students; but by the time of Miss Johnston's arrival thirty-one years later, it had grown to almost 1,000 students, 135 of them Indians, with about 100 faculty and administration members. By 1880 over 10,000 Southern black children were being taught in schools staffed by Hampton graduates; over ninety percent of Hampton's black graduates taught school, although vastly fewer Indians graduatedwith similarly usable credentials, since they returned home to reservations where teaching opportunities for native Americans were scarce.

Black and White and Color: American Photographs at the Turn of the Century

Early in December, 1899, an energetic, thirty-five-year-old, white woman photographer named Frances Benjamin Johnston started to work on a commission for the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Hampton, Virginia. Hampton Institute was originally an industrial arts and teachers training school for former slaves. Somewhat later it began an experiment to matriculate American Indians dispossessed of tribal land. It was founded shortly after the Civil War by the charismatic white reformer, Colonel Samuel Chapman Armstrong, former commander of the 8th and 9th U. S. Colored Troops. Armstrong intended to teach Southern blacks (also American Indians by 1878) “how to educate their own race,” as well as to “provide them with Christian values, and to equip them with agricultural and mechanical skills by which they could support themselves during the months when school was not in session. They were to abjure politics and concentrate on uplifting their race through hard work, thrift, and the acquisition of property.” The school was supported by private Northern philanthropy as well as by government funding, and it enjoyed liberal Quaker support that included the famous abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier, in whose consideration the Hampton militia unit was forbidden to drill with real rifles. Hampton opened its doors in 1868 with two white teachers and fifteen black and female students; but by the time of Miss Johnston's arrival thirty-one years later, it had grown to almost 1,000 students, 135 of them Indians, with about 100 faculty and administration members. By 1880 over 10,000 Southern black children were being taught in schools staffed by Hampton graduates; over ninety percent of Hampton's black graduates taught school, although vastly fewer Indians graduatedwith similarly usable credentials, since they returned home to reservations where teaching opportunities for native Americans were scarce.