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Objective. College enrollments among Latinx students have increased by 12 percent in the last 14 years, but the group's overall graduation rate has only increased by 5 percent, leading researchers to reevaluate the predictors of completion for Latinx students. This study explores the relationship between Latinx graduation rates and various forms of representation. Methods. Random effect modeling using institutional-level data collected from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, 2008-2011, is used to examine the relationship between Latinx graduation rates, peer, faculty, and structural representation. Results. Results suggest that structural representation and behaviors are important predictors of Latinx students' persistence toward graduation. Specifically, historically black colleges and universities fare better than other structures in representing and supporting Latinx students. Conclusion. Institutions and policymakers seeking to improve the college completion rates of Latinx students should think beyond descriptive representation and consider reducing the structural barriers to Latinx students' success.

The literature on the link between passive and active representation is well established, but there is still some debate on why and how passive representation translates into active representation in some settings and not others. Some scholars suggest the salience of the policy issue and discretion to act yields a linkage between passive and active representation, while others contend researchers are simply identifying correlates of the two concepts not linkages. However, many studies miss the dynamic relationship between representation and the external environment, so this research explains the manner in which external, environmental pressures influence bureaucratic discretion and active representation. Interdependences between service organizations and the external environment can restrict bureaucratic discretion through resource dependence and cues of expectations and professional norms, or bureaucrats may use the relationship to enhance their discretion. Using an original dataset of the 1,800 largest U.S. school districts over two school terms, I compare the level of disparity in academic grouping across racial groups in two distinct external environments, racially balanced and imbalanced school districts, and find that minority bureaucrats use their discretion to improve the odds of minority students' assignment to gifted education, but external, environmental control moderates the significance of active representation. The passive to active representation link is weakened based on the operating policy environment. This work offers some insight on the restrictions and limits to active representation, and the empirical findings hold implications for the governance of public organizations and the outcomes of public policies.

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