Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 65, No. 1, 2009, pp. 165--183 Educational Policy, Politics, and Mixed Heritage Students in the United States Kristen A. Renn ∗ Michigan State University This article describes local, state, and federal policies related to collecting, ag- gregating, and reporting data on student race and ethnicity in U.S. K-12 and postsecondary education. It traces data policy from the 1997 decision by the Of- fice of Management and Budget to change from single-race reporting to a format that permits respondents to choose more than one race, to the October 2007 issuance of final guidance from the Department of Education. Taking a K-20 perspective, I consider how policies for data collection and reporting may affect educational and developmental outcomes for students, as well as local, state, and national education policy environments. Few social institutions are as far-reaching as education, defined as including elementary and secondary schools (K-12) and postsecondary education. Beginning with compulsory elementary and secondary education and including the 52% of the U.S. population that continues formal education immediately after high school or at some later point (Bauman & Graf, 2003), every resident is touched by local, state, and national education policy and practice. Policies related to racial and ethnic identification are no exception. Indeed, “public schools ... represent one of the largest groups of institutions required to collect data on the race and ethnicity of the U.S. population” (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 1996, p. 15). Policies and practices related to collecting, aggregating, and reporting data on race and ethnicity affect every student from kindergarten through graduate school (K-20), and influence important decisions related to school segregation, affirmative action programs, and federal aid (NCES, 1996). At a time when school segregation is increasing (Frankenberg & Lee, 2002), when challenges to affirmative action have included calls to end the collection of ∗ Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kristen A. Renn, Associate Professor of Higher, Adult, & Lifelong Education, 428 Erickson Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1034 [e-mail: renn@msu.edu]. 165 C  2009 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues