Scenario #5 by Aris Winger

Gaps Persist

ariswinger — 2024-05-30 13:05:26 UTC

You are at a well known successful institution when it comes to DEI initiatives. You have made changes that have improved scores across the board for groups of students. However, equity gaps remain between underrepresented students and represented students and first gen students and their counterparts.

What would you do?

How would you provide support as a consultant?

2024-05-31 15:21:09 UTC

Engage students and, particularly, alumni from those identity groups that you want to impact. Their feedback could be invaluable

First thing - message involved faculty that data shows challenges remain

2024-05-31 15:21:17 UTC

2024-05-31 15:21:30 UTC

Do you still have people who recognize the need for change? Or do they think your dept is "done" bc of recognition and prior success?

What have you already looked at?

2024-05-31 15:21:32 UTC

What data have you looked at to determine where the gaps are or what may be influencing the gaps?

2024-05-31 15:22:08 UTC

What unique challenges do your underrepresented students and first gen students face that their counterparts do not? Perhaps addressing these challenges in classroom policies can move the needle a bit.

Should the focus be on the students or on the faculty or on something else?

2024-05-31 15:22:32 UTC

Showing the data to make people see that there are issues!

2024-05-31 15:23:04 UTC

2024-05-31 15:24:02 UTC

acknowledging that there is an issue was a huge step, so you can focus on the current specific settings of the class

People think everything is fine!

2024-05-31 15:24:21 UTC

Celebrate the Success and Recommit

2024-05-31 15:24:38 UTC

It may be helpful to look back and what has been done and celebrate the impact it has had, and then commit to working together to address this new challenge.

Comparing between courses

2024-05-31 15:24:51 UTC

How many sections are there? Are there enough so that you could switch instructors/teaching practices between the more successful and less successful courses? Seems like getting at the variables separately (different course levels, different teaching practices) would be useful, so that you can try to compare more directly within a course rather than across courses?

Pedagogical Partnership Program

2024-05-31 15:35:23 UTC

Tufts example:

2024-05-31 15:47:20 UTC

ensure that the work you do creates capacity, i.e. more faculty in your department will have greater understanding of equity issues and will be more knowledgeable about equitable classroom practices