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Five institutions were recognized Thursday for their efforts to support Latinx student success.
Excelencia in Education, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group with a membership network that aims to support Latinx people in higher education, presented the awardees of the Seal of Excelencia certification for 2020.
Long Beach City College, California State University at Sacramento, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Illinois at Chicago are the second cohort of institutions to receive the seal. Nine institutions earned the seal in 2019.
Excelencia gives the seal to colleges and universities that can demonstrate the effectiveness of practices serving Latinx students, show positive momentum for Latinx students using data, commit to transforming their institution to help Latinx students thrive and use strategic leadership to articulate a focus on Latinx student success.
The seal is a certification that stems from an independent verification process. It's meant to help Excelencia achieve its goals, which include closing the education equity gap and increasing the number of Latinx students attaining degrees.
“Accelerating Latino student success requires institutions go beyond enrollment and show intentionality and impact in serving students,” Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia, said in a news release. “These certified institutions set the pace for much needed institutional transformation and are confronting structural barriers and inequities of long standing.”
The newly certified institutions demonstrated their support of Latinx success in various ways. For example, the University of Illinois at Chicago is working to increase Latinx faculty representation by creating a pipeline program and leadership program, as well as using a cluster hiring strategy. The University of Texas at San Antonio is increasing access by recruiting in areas with large Latinx populations and using pipeline programs. Long Beach City College is engaging faculty to redesign their course content through a Latinx lens, confirm expectations on assignments and provide feedback in supportive ways. The success rate for Latinx students in these courses increased at double the rate of Latinx students in courses led by faculty who weren't trained in this way.
