Diversity Principles, Strategic Goals, and Accountability

The need for organizational learning in promoting equity in OUS and EOU

Rosemary PowersApril 28, 2009

Overview

Brief background on educational attainment in Oregon First five slides from presentation to OUS Committee on Participation and

Completion, Jan 30, 2009 by Bob Kiernan of OUS institutional research.

Diversity Principles and Goals OUS commitment to increasing participation and completion of

post-secondary education by under-represented students EOU history and strategic goals

Accountability Reflections on our current situation An example of organizational learning

Recommendations

Educational Attainment: Race/Ethnicity

January 30th, 2009 3

Source: US Census, American Community Survey 2007

 

Highest Level of Educational Attainment in Oregon by Race/EthnicityAges 25 and Older, 2007

The Changing K-12 Pipeline

January 30th, 2009 4

Sources: NCES, Common Core of Data; US Census, 2007 American Community Survey

 

Proportion of Oregon’s K-12 Population by Race/Ethnicity, Select Grades, 2006-07

Rural/Urban Counties

January 30th, 2009 5

Polk

Yamhill

Lincoln

ColumbiaClatsop

TillamookWashington Multnomah

Hood River

Klamath

Benton

Marion

Union

Umatilla

Gilliam

Sherman

Wasco

Curry

Clackamas

Coos

CrookDeschutes

Douglas

Grant

Harney

Jackson

Jefferson

Josephine

Lake

Lane

Linn

Malheur

MorrowWallowa

Wheeler Baker

Source: Oregon Progress Board

 

Rural and Urban Counties as Defined by the Oregon Progress Board

Urban Counties

Urban Counties

Rural Counties

Rural Counties

Educational Attainment: Rural/Urban

January 30th, 2009 6

Note: Due to Census geography boundaries, Columbia County is included in rural counties for this calculation.

Source: US Census, American Community Survey 2007

 

Highest Level of Educational Attainment in Oregon by Rural/Urban CountyAges 25 and Older, 2007

OUS Graduation Rates

January 30th, 2009 7

¹ 1991-92 Fall First-Time Freshman Cohort completing by June 1997²1996-97 Fall First-Time Freshman Cohort completing by June 2002³2001-02 Fall First-Time Freshman Cohort completing by June 2007Source: OUS Institutional Research

 

OUS Six-Year Graduation Rates by Rural/Urban CountyTen Year Trend

60.7% - 2007 Oregon Resident OUS

Graduation Rate³

OUS strategic priorities: March 2007

Lead a statewide effort to deliver a measurable increase in higher education participation and success for underserved populations throughout the state.

Facilitate student success and degree completion by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of k-20 learning processes.

(OUS March 2007, An Investment in Oregonians for our future)

State Board of Higher EducationStudent Participation and Completion Committee

Goal: Develop strategies to improve participation, retention, and success in postsecondary education of all Oregon students, with special focus on the needs of underserved populations throughout the state.

Committee actions in addressing goal

Developed “Taking Back Oregon’s Future” Student Success Policy Option Package—a $15.5M request to the legislature for improving student preparation, participation, retention

Convened expert panel on best practices for retention

Conducted outreach focus groups on barriers for underserved populations

Economic Downturn implications

Committee identified that deliberate, proven strategies must be supported to increase access and promote success for students not already attending post-secondary institutions

Major components of the Policy Option Package proposal were unable to be included in Governors Recommended Budget (GRB)

Key Goals Remain

Increase college participation rates for Hispanic/Latino, Native American populations.

Increase retention for African-American and Native American population

Increase college participation and retention for rural and first generation students

Pursue efforts to improve participation of other underserved groups such as LGBTQ, adult students, student parents, students with disabilities.

Priority # 1 for 2009 work Support partnerships and collaboration with existing successful pre-

college academic prep/outreach and retention programs, strategies that have demonstrated (i.e. evidence based) success with target populations.

Ensure that existing successful programs are fully enrolled and funds are connected to most needed groups.

Priority # 2 for 2009 work

Develop and advocate for best practices, alignment of current campus efforts toward underserved populations, and policy recommendations regarding participation and completion for underserved populations

--to the Board of Higher Education, campuses, as well as partner agencies.

Priority # 3 for 2009 Work

Improve faculty effectiveness with underserved populations’ retention and completion rates;

focus on improving

campus learning and environment through professional development, collaboration for these resources.

State Board Diversity PrinciplesApproved March 6, 2009

1. Overall commitment to diversity 2. Commitment to workforce enhancements 3. Commitment to equity in student success 4. Commitment to welcoming campus environment 5. Commitment to vendor and contracting enhancements 6. Commitment to continuous feedback 7. Commitment to key goals

Full Text and suggested actions to address goals distributed

Diversity principles directly related to committee priorities

Principle # 1. Overall Commitment to Diversity Board values perspectives, educational benefits and

robust exchanges of ideas…seeks to promote and support initiatives that sustain best practices in diversity efforts.

Board, Chancellor and campus presidents will Identify opportunities and promote expectations for diverse

representation, inclusion, and engagement throughout OUS programs and activities

#3 Commitment to equity in student success

Board is committed to providing Equitable opportunities to succeed Efforts to close achievement gaps among

underserved populations

Campus presidents and OUS committees will identify strategies and progress relating to student

success among diverse populations

#4: Commitment to welcoming campus

Board values importance of campus environment in attracting, recruiting, and retaining diverse students, faculty, staff

Campus presidents will Identify campus climate challenges and successes Discuss measures taken to promote welcoming

environment Describe the possible impact of these measures on

student success

Next Steps:

Pursue 2009 priorities through: Fall Symposium focused on best practicesData Summit (sharing institutional research

on student participation and completion)Support Senate Bill 906 (creates task force on

increasing the number of students in post-secondary education)

Seek methods to address longer-term challenges that require funding

What about EOU?

EOU institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion

Established Diversity Committee of the University Assembly (now reporting to University Council -- 6/02)

Proposed diversity requirement as part of general education or as institutional requirement (2003, 2006,2007)

Determined Strategic Goal related to diversity/globalization (May, 2007)

Diversity/GlobalizationEOU Strategic Goal 2007-2010

Support and sustain an educational community that respects racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, socioeconomic, physical, ideological and other differences.

Promote a climate of inclusion and equity through recruiting and retaining a diverse student body, faculty and staff.

Promote understanding of global diversities through internationalizing the educational experience.

Efforts to attract, recruit and retain members of underserved groups

Summer programs Work with high schools Diversity scholarships First-year experience Outreach to rural communities Rural Initiative grant support Native American

recruiter/advisor Multicultural Center Other initiatives

Diversity Requirement

Several proposals for a diversity requirement exist, but could not find any official statement that EOU had approved having a requirement. We did report to OUS that:

“…a diversity requirement will soon be added to the curriculum…” May 2008 Performance Report OUS Report to the Oregon State Board of Higher Education (p. 50).

“Eastern has adopted a new General Education initiative that contains a diversity requirement” (Diversity Panel Discussion, State Board 9/08).

While there seems to be agreement on some kind of diversity requirement, we are still debating what form this should take.

Where are we now?

OUS -- principles and committee work, proposals for legislative action, data gathering, summit planning. Direct accountability measures are being developed.

EOU – diversity requirement is still being debated. Accountability measures for moving towards strategic diversity goal need to be developed.

A provocative claim

As an historically white university, part of an historically white system of colleges and universities, participating in an academic culture based on white Western European models of learning and success, we will be unsuccessful in reaching our goals regarding diversity and inclusion without significant organizational learning.

Accountability: measurable commitment to equity

“Celebrating ethnic and racial diversity on our campuses is laudable, but is not the same as achieving equity. We must deliberately and energetically remove the conditions that deny or impede equitable outcomes for all students”

(Estela Mara Bensimon,2004, p. 46).

What will it take to fulfill our commitments?

An example

The Diversity Scorecard

A learning approach to institutional change

Promoting organizational learning to achieve equity in educational outcomes

…”Evidence, [i.e. factual data] about inequities in educational outcomes [access, enrollments, retention, excellence, graduation]…can have a powerful effect upon faculty members, administrators, counselors, and others and their motivation to solve them.”

Estela Mara Bensimon

Traditional approach to addressing needs of under-served students: Deficit model

Low participation, retention, achievement of under-served students often attributed to pre-college characteristics—attitudes, behaviors, lack of cultural capital

Responsibility for learning placed primarily on

the student

The equity model: organizational learning for student success

Institutional actors (faculty, staff, administrators) become responsible for the learning needed to improve educational outcomes for these students

Attitudes, behaviors, lack of data, lack of structural analysis by institutional agents account for significant inequity in outcomes.

What conditions promote organizational learning?

The presence of new ideas

The cultivation of doubt in existing knowledge and practices

The development and transfer of knowledge among institutional actors

Access Indicators

In what programs and majors are under-served students enrolled?

What access do these students have to financial support?

What access do they have to graduate and professional schools?

Retention indicators

What are the comparative retention rates for under-served students by program?

Do these students disproportionately withdraw from certain programs?

How successful are these students in completing basic skills courses?

Institutional receptivity indicators How well is our university serving the needs of students of

color?

Do educational outcomes for these students reveal an equity gap?

Are the experiences of students of color acknowledged in the curricula and the co-curricula ? In what ways?

Does the composition of the faculty enhance diversity, and correspond to the racial and ethnic composition of the student body?

Does the institution hold itself accountable for the success of students of color?

Excellence Indicators Access:

Which majors or courses function as “gatekeepers” for some students and “gateways” for others?

Are students of color concentrated in certain majors? Why might this be?

Achievement: What are the comparative completion rates in competitive

programs?

What is the pool of high-achieving under-served students eligible for graduate study?

Recommendations:

Initiate a process of organizational learning regarding diversity and equitable outcomes. To do this, we need to introduce ourselves to new ideas to question existing knowledge and practices to develop and transfer knowledge among

ourselves as institutional actors

Suggested steps: initiate structured conversation and process regarding

organizational learning and equitable outcomes;

encourage participation in the OUS fall symposium focused on best practices for promoting access and success for under-served students;

promote creation of diversity action plans for all university units;

make approval of specific diversity requirement a priority.

Hold ourselves accountable