EMPLOYING AN EQUITY MINDSET TO HELP IDENTIFY EQUITY GAPS AND TO DESIGN INTENTIONAL INTERVENTIONS

Part of the Lindenwood University Certificate in Culturally Responsive Assessment Speaker Series

Dr. Jeff Roberts, Sam Houston State University

Description: Colleges and Universities are growing increasingly diverse in their make-ups and student bodies, and while this increased diversity should be celebrated it also brings unique challenges. Many higher education professionals struggle with questions regarding how they can ensure equity in student access, learning, and success. Assessment can be a powerful tool to help identify where equity gaps may exist when done with an equity mindset; however, identifying equity gaps is only half the battle. An equity mindset must also be employed when designing and implementing interventions for improvement. Successfully addressing equity gaps requires intentionality on the part of institutions and higher education professionals. Without this intentionality, interventions risk being ineffective in addressing equity gaps, or worse, actually causing those gaps to widen. This session will provide participants with specific strategies for how they can employ an equity mindset in their assessment practices and in designing their interventions for improvement. The importance of setting equity goals and objectives, employing culturally responsive assessment practices, and data disaggregation will be highlighted, along with the need to design and implement targeted interventions that are intentionally designed and implemented to address and improve equity gaps.

About the facilitator: Dr. Jeff Roberts is the Director of Assessment at Sam Houston State University where he oversees university-wide programmatic assessment, core curriculum assessment, and assists with university accreditation efforts by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Dr. Roberts has over a decade of assessment and accreditation related experience. Additionally, he has made numerous presentations on programmatic and general education assessment at various state and national conferences, with a particular focus on the equity of student learning and achievement. This range of knowledge and experience has allowed Dr. Roberts to guide and improve assessment process across his campus and within the broader assessment community as a whole.