CCCCO Applied PPG-1 to Further Examine Disproportionate Impact [2022]

One of the requirements of AB504 and the associated requirements in California Code of Regulations, Title 5 described in 2022 UPDATE : Percentage Point Gap Minus One Method, is that colleges examine their outcomes for disproportionate impact amongst different subgroups of specified student characteristics (such as race/ethnicity, gender, disability status, veteran status, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, homelessness, foster youth status, and first generation in a post-secondary education) and to explore for potential disproportional impact that occurs for students at the intersection of each of those subgroups and gender. 

In the Student Equity and Achievement Program data, each of the primary student characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity) are disaggregated by gender and a second application of PPG-1 is calculated on gender (referred to as Secondary Gender Subgroups) to examine whether students of different genders within the primary characteristic has distinct levels of disproportionate impact. In the application of PPG-1 for the purposes of exploring for intersectional disparate impact, the process to calculate the scope of reference group and related calculation to reach full equity are slightly differently depending on whether disproportionate impact is observed for the primary disaggregated subgroup because of some limitation in how the data are able to be constructed. As a result, intersectional disparate impact is examined under two circumstances: 1) when primary disproportionate impact is observed, in order to determine whether the disproportionate impact observed is different for students of different genders and 2) when primary disproportionate impact is not observed to determine whether the intersection of the primary characteristic and gender leads to unique intersectional disproportionate impact.