Current Problem and Business Need

There is a business need to expand the categories of race and ethnicity that are collected via CCCApply and in the International application. The current Student Equity Plan (SEP) guidelines do not include all ethnic groups that are relevant for distinct and diverse local communities served by the 114 colleges. For example, State Center College has a sizable Hmong population in its service area. However, their ability to conduct research, identify equity gaps, and direct resources in ways that will effectively close those gaps has been impeded because “Hmong” is not an ethnicity category that is collected on the standard application. We need to expand the ethnicity group data collected via the standard CCC application (CCCApply) and make that data available via the statewide MIS. 

Per Craig Hayward, Bakersfield College, on April 26, 2018:
This is a proposal for expanding the categories of ethnicity that are collected via CCCApply. The idea is to add one additional high-level category (Middle Eastern/North African) which would roll up into "White" for federal IPEDS reporting (as it currently does). The other groups would only be made visible is someone selected a high level group like "Asian"; then they would see all of the possible sub-categories for Asian.  Work on this proposal has been ongoing with various stakeholder groups around the state for the past year or so.

Additional Information:  https://www.diffen.com/difference/Ethnicity_vs_Race

Supporting Documentation

Ethnicity/Ancestry Expansion Proposal

Additional Info: SSSP Memo Excerpt

Excerpts from Student Success and Support Program re Student Equity SEC. 6. Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 78220) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of the Education Code, to read:

Current Race/Ethnicity Design and Functionality

CCCApply Standard and International applications collect race and ethnicity information by first asking applicants if they are Hispanic or Latino. Respondents who select “Yes” then see an expanded set of more specific options to choose from. From there, applicants are asked what their race is and they are given limited high level categories to choose from.

CCCApply Application Today

(Before new Race & Ethnicity implementation - 6.3.0)

International Application Today

(before new Race & Ethnicity implementation - 6.3.0)

Current Database Values

(Before new Race & Ethnicity implementation 6.3.0)

Hispanic/Latino (hispanic_latino): 
Race Group (race_group): 

01: Hispanic, Latino - (From ‘Are you Hispanic / Latino?’
drop-down menu selection)

02: Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano
03: Central American
04: South American
05: Hispanic: Other

Race Ethnicity (race_ethnicity): 
06: Asian: Indian
07: Asian: Chinese
08: Asian: Japanese
09: Asian: Korean
10: Asian: Laotian
11: Asian: Cambodian
12: Asian: Vietnamese
13: Asian: Filipino
14: Asian: Other
15: Black or African American
16: American Indian / Alaskan Native
17: Pacific Islander: Guamanian
18: Pacific Islander: Hawaiian
19: Pacific Islander: Samoan
20: Pacific Islander: Other
21: White

Proposed Solution

Update the Race & Ethnicity section of the Demographic Information page to include a new section and revise the conditional formatting functionality to hide certain sub-categories until a student selects the high level category.  

Note: If a new category is added to the response options for the Race & Ethnicity download field(s), colleges will be required to implement the changes to absorb the new options and replace their DLC jar file.

General  Requirements

• Requirements below apply to both the Apply and international applications.
• Data Dictionary for both Apply and International applications should be updated to reflect new Database values and mappings.
• No changes to the current DB size limit.

Functional Mock Up for New Design and Functionality

Attached is a functional excel mockup for how this new layout and functionality should be in both the CCCApply and International Application.

Zoom Demo 

NEW Layout Screenshots

New Hispanic Question & Race Groups Collapsed

New Hispanic Question & Race Groups - Auto-populated

New Hispanic Question Expanded

New Groups Expanded

More Groups Expanded

Requirements for New Design and Functionality

Section 1 Requirements - Hispanic/Latino Section

• The first section should ask the following question: "Are you Hispanic or Latino?"
• If user clicks on the checkbox, then the box next to Hispanic or Latino should become automatically checked and the subgroup list expands and becomes visible to display 19 subcategories (race_ethnicity).
• If user does not click on the checkbox, then the box next to Hispanic or Latino should not systematically expand and the user should not see the 19 subcategories race_ethnicity).
  
  

Section 2 Requirements

• The following instructions should fall below the Hispanic/Latino Section.
  • Check all of the ethnicity and ancestry groups that you identify with. When you select a major ethnicity group, you will have the option to select more specific ancestry groups. Select all that apply and then click on the button that says "Continue".
• The system should then show the following ethnic groups with a checkbox next to each group:
  • Asian

  • American Indian or Alaska Native

  • Black or African American
  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
  • Middle Eastern or North African
  • White
• Applicants who select one or more of the Ethnic Groups should then see the subset of more detailed associated subgroups. Multiethnic applicants are able to select as many ethnic groups and ethnic subgroups as needed. When a box is checked an accordion expansion should reveal the associated subgroups. When a box is unchecked, the accordion expansion should roll up to no longer show the subgroups.
• The following table shows a breakdown of the subgroups tied to each ethnic group, as well as the DB value associated in parenthesis. 
  
  

In Progress Applications

There will be no database value mappings for In Progress applications. If an application is in-progress and a student selected a race/ethnicity and their choice is in the list of obsolete values post the release, we should display a server side validation error message during the pre-submission validation that advises them of the following:

The Race and/or Ethnicity you have selected is no longer valid. Please go back to the Demographic Information tab and select a new value.

The user should not be able to submit the Apply or International application unless they have chosen a valid database value(s) for race_group and race_ethnicities. Once the new value is chosen, we will need to store the new value. 

Release Information To Colleges (Updated Oct. 25th 2018)

Backwards Compatibility

If a user has added Race/Ethnicity data on their in-progress application before this update goes live, then the system attempts to map it to data in the new set. However, if the user has un-mappable choices (such as the old "South American" choice now being split out among many individual countries), then the user will receive a validation message upon attempting to submit the application that will direct them back to the Demographic Page to update their Race/Ethnicity choices. This should be fairly seamless to the colleges and should cause no backwards compatibility issues.

New Data Formats

Colleges should be able to continue using their old format file with no issues; however, colleges using a fixed-width output format may need to adjust their race_group column width to account for the way this data is being used now. Originally, this would store the raw data mappings in CSV format for both the Hispanic sections and the other Race Ethnicity choices, so it would download as a format like : "02, 05, 06, 07, 21" and so on. This is now changing to map only the Ethnic Group values, so that will store values such as "100,200,300,500,600,700,800".

The actual data stored in these fields is changing as follows:

hispanic

Notes: No changes, this field is a boolean true/false field that continues to work as in previous version

Example Format: boolean (true/false/null)

race_group

Notes: race_group now stores only the Ethnic Group mappings as CSV content with no spaces, as opposed to the old format which was the raw values for the Ethnicity choices separated by a comma and a space (e.g. "02, 05, 06, 07, 21").

Example Format: "100,200,300,500,600,700,800"

Maximum Expected Width: 30 characters (7 * 3 character long values + 6 commas + 2 surrounding quote marks for CSV delimiting in the output format)

race_ethnic (Apply) / race_ethnicity (International)

Notes: No changes, this field was intentionally left unchanged

Example Format: YNYNNNNYNNNNNNNNNYNNN

Maximum Expected Width: 22 characters (22 character long string)

race_ethnic_full

Notes: race_ethnic_full in a new field that will store the CSV separated values of the subgroups. Colleges will need to add this to their format file and the download client to receive this field.

Example Format: "101,102,203,07,392,394,401,15,503,601,17,701,713,801,809"

Maximum Expected Width: 776 characters (194 * 3 character long values + 192 commas + 2 surrounding quote marks for CSV delimiting in the output format)

Articulating Changes by Section

Release Information To Colleges

• The system does not store names; maps to numerical values. DB is a text field which has unlimited length. When we store the choice user makes, we save code value - no names are stored. 
• Colleges will need to absorb the new options and replace their DLC jar file for the categories added to the response options for the Race & Ethnicity download field(s). 
• No changes are needed to the Download client from Unicon's side. Colleges will need to adjust their format file. If a college is using a fix width columns, they may need to adjust based on a student selecting multiple groups and ethnicities. 

Backwards Compatibility

If a user has added Race/Ethnicity data on their in-progress application before this update goes live, then those users will receive a validation message upon attempting to submit that will force them to return to the Demographic Page and update their choices. The end user will not be able to submit their application until they have returned to the Demographic Page and saved their updated data. For the colleges, this means there will be a sharp divide between old and new data, and they should not encounter a time when they can expect to receive both formats. So once this update is deployed, then they can immediately switch to whatever process they put into place to accept the new data into their systems.

New Data Formats

From a download client perspective, colleges using a fixed-width output will need to update their format file for the possible output of the new Race Ethnicity selections, and the new usages of the race_group and race_ethnicity fields.

'race_group' used to store the Hispanic Race Group choices, but it would store them in a comma delimited format with the values, such as "02, 03, 04". 'race_ethnicity' stored the chosen values of both the Hispanic and the original Race Ethnicity in a block of values such as "XNNNNNYYYYNN..." with each character denoting the individual checked or unchecked answer in series.

Now, race_group is being re-purposed to store the value of the "super groups" such as Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native  etc., and race_ethnicity is storing the values for the "sub groups" of these choices. Colleges will need to be aware of these new uses and adjust how they process this data into the final destination for these submitted applications.

If a college is using a delimited output for their format file, then they should not need to change their format file. While there will be a greater number of values the user can choose, since it is a delimited output it will simply print the values out as it always has between the chosen delimiter.

If the college is using a fixed width output, they will need to adjust their format file to compensate for the new number of values that can possibly be output.

race_group has up to 8 values a user can choose, and is output as "100, 200, 300...(etc.)". The colleges will need to adjust their fixed width output to accept 36 characters for the race_group field (8 values * 3 characters per value + 6 commas + 6 spaces = 36 characters)

race_ethnicity has up to 194 values the user can choose, and is output as "101, 102, 103, 201, 202, 306...(etc.)". 

The colleges will need to adjust their fixed width output to accept 966 characters for the race_ethnicity field (194 values * 3 characters each + 192 commas + 192 spaces = 966 characters)

Updated Data Dictionary Elements & Data Field Information

Expand below to see the OLD and the NEW Data Dictionary data field tables for Race & Ethnicity Section. (before 6.3.0)