The Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), a widely used measure of daily perceived discrimination, is purported to be unidimensional, to function well among African Americans, and to have adequate construct validity. Two separate studies and data sources were used to examine and cross-validate the psychometric properties of the EDS. In Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted on a sample of African American law students (N = 589), providing strong evidence of local dependence, or nuisance multidimensionality within the EDS. In Study 2, a separate nationally representative community sample (N = 3,527) was used to model the identified local dependence in an item factor analysis (i.e., bifactor model). Next, item response theory (IRT) calibrations were conducted to obtain item parameters. A five-item, revised-EDS was then tested for gender differential item functioning (in an IRT framework). Based on these analyses, a summed score to IRT-scaled score translation table is provided for the revised-EDS. Our results indicate that the revised-EDS is unidimensional, with minimal differential item functioning, and retains predictive validity consistent with the original scale.

Using two separate samples, this study establishes and replicates a model of the influence of two types of educational diversity on student outcomes. Study 1, using survey data regarding undergraduate experiences from a volunteer sample of 1,963 incoming law students, confirms measurement models for diversity and outcome constructs and tests models predicting student outcomes from Classroom Diversity and Contact Diversity. Study 2 utilizes data from a nationally representative sample of 6,100 incoming law students to replicate results from Study 1. Both studies find a positive relationship between diversity and educational outcomes. Results suggest that institutions of higher education should support informal interactions between students of diverse backgrounds and should encourage students to enroll in courses dealing with diversity.

The use of affirmative action admissions practices in U.S. colleges and universities has been a source of contentious public debate and legal battles since the policy's inception in the 1960s. The legal challenges to race-conscious admissions will continue for the foreseeable future, including renewed court scrutiny on specific universities' policies (Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin et al., 2013). Although the benefits that arise from a diverse student body are well-documented, it is less clear how that process occurs within the classroom. Using rich qualitative data from a national sample of 203 law students, this study examines classroom-level diversity, consequences when it is absent, and necessary conditions for activating the educational benefits. From the students' perspective, structural diversity in the classroom is a necessary prerequisite for more enlightening, interesting discussions, which promote better learning outcomes. However, the mere presence of diversity does not necessarily educe these benefits, the diversity must in fact be "activated" (Marin, 2000). Therefore, we find faculty members have the responsibility to create spaces for diverse viewpoints to be heard and to facilitate discussion so all students benefit. We call for training to help faculty take on these roles, along with other implications for policy and practice, concluding that U.S. law schools must do a better job incorporating racial diversity in teaching, learning, and practice, or they will have failed to address a compelling national interest.

Controversy surrounding the use of race-conscious admissions can be partially resolved with improved empirical knowledge of the effects of racial diversity in educational settings. We use a national sample of law students nested in 64 law schools to test the complex and largely untested theory regarding the effects of educational diversity on student outcomes. Social scientists who study these outcomes frequently encounter both latent variables and nested data within a single analysis. Yet, until recently, an appropriate modeling technique has been computationally infeasible, and consequently few applied researchers have estimated appropriate models to test their theories, sometimes limiting the scope of their research question. Our results, based on disaggregated multilevel structural equation models, show that racial diversity is related to a reduction in prejudiced attitudes and

Everyday discrimination experiences are associated with negative mental and physical health, less positive cross-racial counseling relationships, and alienation in educational environments for underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. This report describes the prevalence and experiential and attitudinal correlates of self-reported everyday discrimination in a national sample of over 8,000 incoming students from 64 U.S. ABA-accredited law schools. Race/ethnicity, gender, past lifetime discrimination, neighborhood context, beliefs about societal discrimination experienced by minorities, and expectations about future professional encounters with racial discrimination were associated with reported everyday discrimination. Parental racial socialization and affirmative action support did not show associations. These data provide diversity officers and admissions professionals with a descriptive snapshot of this experiential diversity that exists as students begin their legal education. This diversity may provide insight into student differences in managing of academic stress, forming relationships with faculty and students, and assessing the quality of the educational experience.