NASPA Closing the Achievement Gap Conference
Workshop Student Success Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Division
June 29 - July 1, 2020 Virtual
Presented By
About
The NASPA Closing the Achievement Gap Conference provides an avenue for thought leaders and practitioners to share ideas, strategies, and evidence based research on ways to dismantle barriers related to student success. The Conference explores the various factors woven into students’ experiences which may impact their success and completion. Through dynamic keynote speakers and panels, thought-provoking concurrent sessions, and engaging networking opportunities, NASPA’s Closing the Achievement Gap Conference is your exclusive opportunity to engage with colleagues committed to student completion.
For more information on the 2020 NASPA Virtual Conferences on Student Success in Higher Education, please visit this website.
Learning Outcomes and Themes
Identify systemic institutional barriers thwarting academic and co-curricular success for students across institutional types
- What evidence-based practices and training opportunities are available to staff, faculty, and senior administrators to recognize and remove institutional systemic barriers affecting student performance and outcomes?
- Which institutional policies and procedures are perpetuating systemic barriers for students and what approaches exist to modify prohibitive structures and inequities?
- What programmatic approaches have contributed to a measured improvement in academic or co-curricular success for students?
Advance solutions for removing systemic access barriers related to students’ basic needs (e.g. food and housing security, mental health support)
- How do institutions recognize the access and opportunity gaps that prevent students’ basic needs from being met?
- How can institutions use partnerships and collaborations with community organizations to increase and facilitate access to food, housing, and mental health support systems for students?
- How can the institution recognize, advocate, and engage with the local surrounding community to dismantle systemic access barriers to basic needs?
Understand the lived experiences of students from historically underrepresented communities and identify strategies to remove systemic barriers and improve programs and services
- In what ways are administrators and faculty seeking to understand the underrepresented student experience specifically within their institutional context?
- What assessment is done by institutions to identify and remove barriers facing these students?
- What evidence-based strategies exist with demonstrated success in removing systemic barriers that are specifically detrimental students from racially minoritized communities?
Identify the inequities found within the academic experience and foster solutions for improving asset-based, evidence-supported, and data-directed pipelines for students
- What innovative approaches or strategies has the institution implemented to identify and improve access, persistence, and completion of students in their undergraduate or graduate journeys?
- How is the senior leadership engaged in fostering solutions to academic inequities affecting students?
- In what ways do institutional shifts toward becoming more “student-ready” shape the solutions and strategies for improving the academic pipeline for students?
Consider assessment, evaluation, and data strategies as essential components for improving access, opportunity, and outcomes for students from traditionally underserved populations
- How does the institution survey, collect, and use data to inform and improve programs and services?
- What data-driven strategies and policies has the institution implemented that improve academic outcomes for traditionally underserved students?
Understand emerging and established scholarship and evidence-based practice that can underpin improved offerings for students
- Which evidence-based practices are institutions using to identify students, collect data, and track academic outcomes to improve student experiences?
- How can current literature inform policy and practice for improving institutional offerings for students?