Ensuring equity in student outcomes is fundamental for the higher education system. As such, the field is in need of evidence-based methods to narrow outcome gaps for students as well as insight for implementing these methods and addressing student needs.
Student demographics in the past decade have shifted dramatically and research is only just beginning to reflect these changes. In 2010, White students made up 62% of the student population, whereas the most recent data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) indicates that white students now make up 54% of the student population. Tyton Partners’ Center for Higher Education Transformation recognized the need for an updated methodology to include historically underserved minorities, a methodology that treats this population not as an Other, but as a part of the norm.
In a recent report, Tyton Partners measures progress towards equitable academic outcome by race and ethnicity. Their new methodology is represented by data on how the needs of students identifying as Black, Latinx, Indigenous (BLI) and students with financial needs differ from the needs of White students. The new method evaluates the change in the graduation gap in the past decade for BLI students compared to the average graduation rates, inclusive of all races and ethnicities.
Nearly 2,000 respondents representing 1,022 unique institutions participated in the research. The survey sample includes 136 unique Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs), 38 unique Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and other Minorities Serving Institutions (MSIs; namely Predominantly Black Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities). Survey responses were evaluated and sorted into four categories for graduation rate changes in the last decade:
- High achieving: high rate of graduation across all students
- Narrowing outcome gap: the graduation gap has narrowed since 2010
- Constant: the graduation gap has remained consistent since 2010
- Widening outcome gap: the graduation gap has widened since 2010
Based on this characterization, the researchers then teased apart each institution’s general position on mindset, practice, and technology implementation as areas of investment to determine if any of these contributed to the differences in outcome gaps. Findings illustrate that attitudes about commitment to equity were consistent across the sample set, that institutions generally believe equity to be a priority in advising practices, and that technology plays a role in creating more equitable outcomes.
The data from the report also indicates the positive role of implementation of scaled advising practices and technologies in closing outcome gaps. According to the responses, academic advisors report that the support needs and barriers to improved advising are different for BLI students and students with financial need. Therefore, in order to design better student supports for BLI students, the focus must be on students’ needs and effort must be made to understand how to recognize when it may be important to offer differentiated services.
Notably, institutions that have successfully narrowed the outcome gap have statistically significant lower advising caseloads and more caseload manageability. The implications of this work are far reaching:
- It is imperative for institutions to track their racial and ethnic graduation rate outcome gaps over time in a way that includes BLI students in the norm.
- Institutional leadership needs to designate an accountable party to make closing the outcome gap (or reversing the widening of outcome gaps) part of their institutional strategic plans.
- Technology solution providers can support the pursuit of equity in academic outcomes for BLI students by making data on student identities more easily accessible so that educators can connect students with services customized for their experiences.
- Policymakers should pay attention to which institutions are closing academic outcome gaps for BLI students to find ways to scale their impact through funding or directing students of color to those institutions by publicizing their success.