Methodology

The purpose of this report is to provide:
- an alternative method to measure the extent that whites are over-represented in law schools;
- a way of measuring change and progress in equitable representation of traditionally discriminated against racial groups;
- a mechanism of comparing law schools training of a racially representative group of lawyers as we move toward becoming a "nation of minorities"; and
- provide information on the status of traditionally discriminated against racial groups in law schools. In this report traditional discriminated against racial groups mean

The objectives of this report is to:
- measure the percentage of "whites" in each law school
  - measure the difference between the percentage of whites in the law school compared to percentage of whites:
    - in national LSAC application pool
    - regional LSAC Application pool
    - State LSAC Application pool
    - regional and state LSAC Applications (whites).
- measure the percentage of each traditional discriminated against racial group in each law school
  - measure the difference between the percentage of each traditionally discriminated against racial group in the law school compared to percentage of the group in
    - in national application pool
    - regional LSAC Application pool
    - State LSAC Application pool
- to compare the schools on each of these measures.

The information sources for this report are:
- 2005 ABA/LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools; This is information reported to the ABA as a requirement of accreditation. The information in the guide is based on the 2002 application/admission cycle. (American Bar Association - Law School Admission Council).
- LSAC National Statistical Report: 1998-99 through 2003-04; The 2002-03 tables were used in this report.
- 2005 US News & World Report Law School Rankings.
- U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder, Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data and Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF1) 100-Percent Data. http://factfinder.census.gov/home/ (Last Visited: March 21, 2003).

Descriptive Statistics include mean, median, minimum, maximum. The purpose of these statistics is to give the reader a 'picture' of the data collected and used.
- These statistics included only Historically White Law Schools" (HWLS) (n=177).
- Mean is the average, around which the data clusters. All data in a sample is used. It is appropriate for data measured at least at interval level.
- Median is the middle value when data in a sample is arranged in order. It is appropriate for data measured at least at ordinal level.

Test of Statistical Significance.
- Pearson's chi-square is used here since it tests the association of columns and rows in tabular data. Chi square is more likely to establish significance to the extent that (1) the relationship is strong, (2) the sample size is large, and/or (3) the number of values of the two associated variables is large. In this case we are using the entire population instead of samples, thus any difference is real.
- Significance is the percent chance that a relationship between two variables is due to chance along. That is, if we took another sample we might find nothing.
- Analysis of Variance or ANOVA, is a method of testing the null hypothesis that several group means are equal in the population, by comparing the sample variance estimated from the group means to that estimated within the groups.
- If a result is 'statistically significant', it implies a statistical test has been carried-out, and the probability of obtaining the observed data (or more extreme) by chance, is small – typically less than 0.05 or less than 5 chances out of a 100.

Variables and Definitions

Whiteness	is defined as Caucasian or white. It includes both individuals that identified themselves as whites and those did not identify a racial group. It does not include individuals who identified "other" as their racial group. It does not include foreign nationals. Questions have been raised about the methodology of counting unknowns as whites. Unknown presented a problem. If we did not include them as white, then schools with large number of whites who failed to report their race would look less white than they actually were. I decided to count unknown as white for several reasons. First, to not penalize schools who have most of the applicants to their school reporting race. Second, to not provide incentives for schools, individuals and others to move the reporting of large number of students into unknown. Third, to have a consistent methodology. Fourth, this approach has been used by other diversity ranking system; see US News & World Report; See generally, Michael Chang, Quantitative approaches to measuring student body diversity: Some examples and thoughts (Draft Paper: 2003); (pdf).
Total Whiteness	Is applied both to the the total percent of white students in a law school and the total whites in the LSAC application pool During the 2003 application cycle there were 100604 applicants to the Fall 2004 class. Of those test-takers, only 67.6% were white. This report ranks all schools on the Percent of Total Whiteness in the school. (Ranking Listing)/(Alphabetical Listing).
Excess National Whiteness	was calculated by dividing the schools' total number of applications from whites from a particular state by the number of total applications from the state. (Table) For example, 6797 applications were from persons who state of residence was Texas; of those applications 4043 were from whites. Thus, 4043 divided by 6797 times 100 = 59.5%.

Law School Number	the number of the racial group in law school. Based on 2003 entering statistics.
Law School Percentage	the percentage of racial group in the law school Based on 2003 entering statistics.

Law School Admission Council (LSAC)	responsible for designing, administering and reporting the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). While LSAC is a non-profit organization, it is owned by the 186 law schools in the United States.
*LSAC National* Applications**	the percentage of the specific racial group in the LSAC national application pool for 2003- 2004.
*LSAC Regional* Applications**	the percentage of the specific racial group in the LSAC regional application pool for 2003-2004.
*LSAC State* Applications**	the percentage of the specific racial groups in the LSAC state application pool for 2003-2004.
Law School Admission Test (LSAT)	test required by law schools for admission. It is administered by LSAC.

Disparity Number	difference between percentage of racial group in law school and the percentage of racial group in LSAC applications. There are separate disparity number for national, regional and state.
Excess Whiteness Disparity Percentage	disparity number divided by lsac applications times 100. There are separate disparity percentage for national, regional and state.


Regions	The regions used in this analysis is based on the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to Law Schools in the United States 10 regions except that the Far West and Northwest is combined into one region “Pacific Northwest” and Nevada is moved into the Mountain West. In addition, Alaska, Guam and Other Territories was added to the Pacific West; and the Virgin Islands was added to the Southeast.
Status	Schools were classified based on public - private status. The classifications is based on the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to Law Schools. There are 74 historically White public law schools.
Primary Racial Population Served	Schools were classified based on the racial group that they traditionally or historically have served: Historically White Law School Historically Black Colleges and Universities Predominantly Asian Law Schools Predominantly Latino Law Schools. .
US News & World Report Tier	Tier designation was based on the 2005 US News & World Report Rankings. The tier system is based on the U.S. News and World Report annual ranking of law schools. While Deans, ABA, and LSAC all decry the ranking, Deans, faculty, alumni, students and applicants all rely on the ranking as a measure of external worth. The Top 100 rank reported by US News is broken into tier 1 and tier 2.

Always Under Construction!