The Pennsylvania State University - Administrative Information Services, a unit of Information Technology Services

Student DB--Additional Ethnicity/Race Documentation

Posted: Thursday, September 17, 2009

Additional documentation is now available on the new Ethnicity/Race tables. We have received several excellent questions about these tables and hope to clarify some important items.

  •  “What is the difference between these two tables?”

    We have noticed some confusion regarding how and when to use the new tables. In order to clear up this confusion, please note the intended purpose and ideal usage of each individual table:
    • The student_ethnicity_overview table contains a single ethnicity/race code for each student. This is the officially reported ethnic code, which is derived using the US Dept of Education IPEDS regulations. Ideal usage of this table is to identify the single officially reported ethnicity/race code per student.
    • The student_ethnicity_indcs table will contain a record for each ethnicity/race indicator that a student selected; thus, it may have multiple records per student. (If the multiple_ethnicities_indc equals "Y", then this table will have more than one record per student.) This table can contain up to six records per student in the case that a student selects all six ethnicity/races. These are the indicators that are used to derive the single reported_ethnic_code (per student) on the student_ethnicity_overview table. Ideal usage of this table is to identify all the ethnicities/races that a student selected or to identify all students who have selected a specific ethnicity. (For example, this table could be used to identify all ethnicities/races a student has selected. Additionally, this table could be used to identify all students who have selected “HAW” as one of their ethnicities/races.) Usage of this table requires caution because any query to provide an answer to “how many students are in each ethnicity’s/race’s bucket?” may count a single student more than once. This is as expected; if a student selects both “ASN” and “HAW” and a query is run on this table to count all who selected “ASN” and all who selected “HAW”, then this student would be counted in both buckets. Thus, the total count of students may not equal the sum of the total count per each ethnicity/race.
  • Do these tables contain records for ALL students?

    There has been recent talk about students who do not have a record in the new ethnicity/race tables. To clarify, these tables will contain data for all students prior to Spring 2009. Afterward, these tables will contain data for all students who have completed their ethnicity information in ISIS (via eLion or ISIS). 
  • What important information is in each table?

    The essential field on the student_ethnicity_overview table is reported_ethnic_code. Possible values are:
    • “HSP” (Hispanic/Latino)--This category includes individuals of any race who identify as Hispanic or Latino.
    • “WHT” (White)--This category includes only persons who reported White as their sole race and did not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “BLK” (Black or African American)--This category includes only persons who reported Black or African American as their sole race and did not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “ASN” (Asian)--This category includes only persons who reported Asian as their sole race and did not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “IND” (American Indian or Alaska Native)--This category includes only persons who reported American Indian or Alaska Native as their sole race and did not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “HAW” (Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander)--This category includes only persons who reported Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander as their sole race and did not report Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “MLT” (Two or More)--This category includes any combination of two or more races and not Hispanic/Latino ethnicity.
    • “INT” (International)--This category includes only persons who are not US Citizens.

      The essential field on the student_ethnicity_indcs table is ethnicity_indc. Possible values for the ethnicity indicator are:
    • “HSP” (Hispanic).
    • “WHT” (White).
    • “BLK” (Black or African American).
    • “ASN” (Asian).
    • “IND” (American Indian or Alaska Native).
    • “HAW” (Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander).
    • “INT” (International) if a student is not a US Citizen.
    • “UDL” (Race/Ethnicity Unknown) indicates they did not provide this information.

      Note: “HSP” is an ethnicity; “WHT”, “BLK”, “ASN”, “IND”, “HAW” are races; “INT” and “UDL” are statuses.

Much of this information is maintained online on the DW Documentation Pages. As noted upon implementation of these new tables, please check the documentation page frequently to remain up-to-date with the descriptions of the ethnicity/race data.

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