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Option to Add Additional Genders

Danielle Sassman

July 26, 2022 20:27

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We are required to submit IPEDs reports and are very aware of the reporting structures and requirements with IPEDs and do utilize IPEDs recommendations (https://surveys.nces.ed.gov/ipeds/public/survey-materials/faq?faqid=11) on how to best report students whose Genders are not Male or Female. I’ve copy + pasted below from their FAQs.

I’d like to recommend allowing for institutions to elect to decide if they want to use Genders outside of Male and Female as this is becoming a very common practice with admissions (despite IPEDs failing to recognize the options). I only recommend this because our Admission Applications and Inquiry Forms will not be able to map Gender currently and it means we’d have to use the Custom Fields… which means our reports will have to be further customized to include the custom field. 

 

My institution has students for which gender does not align with the ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ categories in IPEDS (e.g., non-binary, unknown). Since there is no place to report other gender categories on the IPEDS data collection screens, how should we report these individuals?

These individuals are still to be reported to IPEDS. It is up to the institution to decide how best to handle reporting individuals whose gender does not align with the ‘Men’ and ‘Women’ categories. However, a common method used is to allocate these students based on the known proportion of men to women.

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18 comments

• 
  Toby Robinson September 23, 2022 05:35 Official comment

  In account settings > customizations there is a new setting called "additional gender options." These options will be added to the selectable genders in the gender field.

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  Adam Sentz July 26, 2022 21:36

  Danielle Sassman - The potential problem I see with this solution is that, in order for IPEDS reporting to still function, you'd have to map the custom genders to report as male or report as female. The only other option I can think of is to have custom genders map to Unknown and then distribute those in IPEDS reporting according to the proportion of known male and female genders as they suggest in their guidance.

  A separate custom field for Gender Identity seems like it would help preserve the data quality of the NCES compliant Gender collection field, but if the reporting automatically handles non-m/f gender entries then you could just choose whichever method worked best for you.

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  Dave Czarnecki July 29, 2022 17:10

  Best to use a custom gender tag that isn't reported to IPEDS. 

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  Danielle Sassman August 18, 2022 23:42

  Adam Sentz Dave Czarnecki - I do think Populi should update the ability to select Another Gender outside of Male and Female, since IPEDS is now including this as a reporting option, per the latest Changes to the 2022-23 IPEDS Data Collection. IPEDS is now saying the following as part of the FAQs:
  
  

  Should our institution resurvey students if we previously only collected binary gender categories?

  Institutions should resurvey students so that they can report an accurate number of students in the ‘another gender’ category. Institutions that cannot report the ‘another gender’ category can indicate they are not able to report these students using the radio buttons at the top of the screen. It is expected that institutions should be able to provide a count of ‘gender unknown’.

  Which students should be included in ‘another gender’?

  Students who self-identify as having a single binary gender identity (i.e., men or woman) should be reported in the appropriate binary gender category. Students who self-identify as having a gender identity that does not fall into either of the mutually exclusive binary categories provided (i.e., men or women) should be reported in the “another gender” category. Institutions are not limited to the options available for IPEDS reporting purposes and should determine the best way for their institution to collect and aggregate this information.

  For some students, it may be challenging to place them in either a binary category or another gender. For example, for students that indicate they are transgender and provide a binary gender, institutions may ask the student whether they identify as transgender or as the binary gender they selected. If they identify as transgender, they would be reported in another gender. If they identify as a binary gender, they should be placed in the appropriate binary gender category.

   

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  Adam Sentz August 19, 2022 02:22

  Yes, it looks like we’ll need to make some updates to keep up with the new IPEDS reporting here.

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  Megan Kobzej September 16, 2022 17:43

  I'm glad this conversation is being had - just updating our applications and noticed only two options, as well. Thanks! 

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  Adam Sentz September 16, 2022 18:16

  Barring any unforeseen events, the updates to accommodate the new IPEDS reporting should be out next Friday.

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  Kathy Knaus September 28, 2022 17:43

  We do not have the update.  

   

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  Adam Sentz September 28, 2022 19:01

  Kathy Knaus - I can see the setting in you account. It's at the bottom of this page. If you visit that page and can't see it please reach out to Populi Support for assistance.

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  Linda Brown October 18, 2022 18:36

  This is great and I have a question about how everyone is using this setting. Is the idea to add a third option which is "another gender" or is the idea to add "non-binary," "transgender," etc. as options in addition to male, female, unknown? Thanks in advance. Adam Sentz is this something you can comment on?

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  Adam Sentz October 18, 2022 18:44

  Linda Brown - From my reading of what NCES put out "another gender" is just a reporting category for any gender options that aren't male/female, and isn't meant to be used alongside male and female when recording gender. So it seems that it's up to schools to decide which additional options to use in data collection. This makes sense to me because different regions may or may not require particular options. Sometimes NCES  requires certain collection categories (e.g. race/ethnicity), but in this case it looks like they just made a reporting category for all of the non male/female options that were already being recorded. 

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  Linda Brown October 18, 2022 18:57

  Thanks Adam Sentz!

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  Linda Brown October 18, 2022 19:16

  Along the same lines, Adam Sentz, have you had any requests to change the "first name" field to "legal name" which would better serve transgender students/applicants?

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  Adam Sentz October 18, 2022 19:52

  Linda Brown - Not to my knowledge. If someone goes by a different name then their legal first name that can be recorded in the Preferred Name field in Populi.

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  Linda Brown October 18, 2022 20:29

  Adam Sentz In this way the first name still shows up as their Populi name with the preferred name in quotation marks. We would like to be able to record a legal name but have the preferred name appear instead of their first name in the Populi name. So not George "Alice" Smith, but Alice Smith, with George Smith as the legal name. 

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  Adam Sentz October 18, 2022 20:37

  Linda Brown - When a Preferred name is available it will already show in place of the First name in most places, and in all places for non-staff users (who need access to the legal name). The only place it displays as you describe is on the profile and only then to staff users. If staff users prefer to see the "Populi name" (usually Preferred Last, but it can be anything) instead of their "complete name" they can click on the name to change what displays. 

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  Linda Brown October 18, 2022 20:43

  This is great, so we can clarify on Applications: First name (legal name/private) and Preferred name (public name)

  Thanks for your time today, Adam Sentz!

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  Adam Sentz October 18, 2022 21:04

  Linda Brown - I'd be cautious about the use of "private" here as their first name will display publicly (in Populi) if they don't enter a Preferred name, but other wise, yes, that's the gist. I think some folks have a question  linked to the Preferred name field asking if the applicant has a name different from their First name that they'd like to be called. 

  Edited by Adam Sentz October 18, 2022 21:32