Equity at Cuyamaca College

Cuyamaca's Equity Lens

Cuyamaca College honors that we are privileged to be part of a diverse academic community committed to fostering and advocating equity mindedness, inclusivity, civility, and social justice. While we recognize that every one of us has biases, prejudice is learned and can be unlearned, and we reject all forms of discrimination against any member of our community. We actively work to eliminate any achievement gaps among different student groups and to promote a campus culture of healthy diversity.

-Student Success & Equity Council

Equity Framework

Supports our Equity Lens:

Equity Mindedness: The perspective or mode of thinking exhibited by practitioners who call attention to patterns of inequity in student outcomes and who actively work to eliminate equity gaps in the classroom and programs. Central to equity mindedness is the concept of race consciousness, which embraces an awareness of one’s own race and the race of others. In sharp contrast to “color-blindness or race neutral,” a race-conscious approach acknowledges the social and historical context of race in higher education and the impact of race on students’ educational opportunities.

Inclusivity: An intention or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who are differently-abled or those from historically racially and or other underrepresented groups.

Civility: Respect and courtesy in behavior or speech and as a means to engage with, validate and learn from the various experiences, beliefs, perspectives and goals that our students bring with them.

Social Justice: Based on the concepts of human rights, race and gender equality, this concept can be defined as "the way in which human rights are manifested in the everyday lives of people at every level of society." The active correction of institutions and institutional practices that were inherently designed to marginalize specific groups of people.

Unlearning Prejudice: Human beings are all prejudiced in one way or another and have conscious and/or unconscious biases. In light of this, we are required to start from the root and go back to our psyches and beliefs to untangle the reasons why we act with bias in the first place. To do this, we need to identify what information we have acquired over the years that has formed our beliefs and made us unduly prejudiced and biased. The only way we can change our beliefs, behaviors, and actions is by dealing with the root of these biases.

Implementation:

1. Professional Development

Staff development is essential to enable faculty and staff to generate and implement individual, departmental, and divisional equity efforts. A cohesive and thematic training program will be made available via collaborative efforts from the Professional Development Coordinator and PD Committee, Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Success and Equity, and Student Affairs/Engagement.

To support our framework, trainings will address issues such as:

  • Equity Mindedness

  • Race Consciousness

  • Gender and Sexuality Consciousness

  • Historically Underrepresented Groups

  • Social Justice

  • Unlearning Prejudice

  • Learning Styles

  • Collaborative Learning Techniques

  • Cross-Cultural Dialogues

  • Culturally-Responsive Curriculum and Pedagogy (Discipline-Specific)

  • Growth Mindedness

2. Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Student Support

Curriculum and Pedagogy:

In order to foster a sense of belonging and inclusivity for our diverse student population, our framework encourages the following activities in relation to curriculum and pedagogy:

  • Aid departments in self-assessment processes examining existing curricula to ensure they are culturally responsive.

  • Aid departments in self-assessment processes examining curricula and current teaching practices to determine if they adequately address the variety of learning styles and needs of all students, especially those from historically underrepresented groups.

  • Aid departments in self-assessment processes identifying ways to modify curriculum and/or pedagogical practices to better serve disproportionately impacted students and providing professional development activities for those who are interested.

  • The Student Success and Equity Faculty Coordinator and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Success and Equity will serve as resources for faculty interested in making curricular or pedagogical changes in their departments.

Student Support:

Working with instructional departments and student services, aid in the following:

  • Define core indicators of student success

  • Provide guidance on how equity is assessed and addressed in measures of student success

  • Facilitate discussion of disaggregated student success data

  • Identify resources needed to close equity gaps

Working with instructional departments and student services, aid in a self-assessment process to:

  • Determine the level of cross-cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills of staff members within each department and what training is needed

  • Identify the service delivery strategies adapted to accommodate different ethnic, cultural, learning and behavioral styles

  • Determine how well service delivery strategies accommodate different ethnic, cultural, learning and behavioral styles and to what extent these strategies are integrated into operations and services

  • Determine the culturally-responsive atmosphere of facilities and the extent to which they are welcoming and inviting to students across lines of language, culture and physical ability

  • Determine faculty and staff accessibility to students

  • Identify major barriers to achieving student equity goals and list greatest needs in achieving those goals in terms of training and resources

3. Student Engagement and Validation

Student validation and engagement integrates culturally appropriate theoretical and practical foundations to effectively address the needs of our diverse student population. These curricular and co-curricular opportunities are designed to validate and engage students and create a meaningful connection and sense of campus community. It is vital that students see themselves and their communities represented in course offerings and content and on campus in a variety of ways. Aid departments in developing a culture and learning environment that supports student success through validation and engagement via:

  • Advancing culturally relevant curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students and facilitate connections with students, staff, and faculty

  • Strengthening student support service and campus activities that validate students’ social and cultural experiences

  • Providing robust professional development opportunities focused on culturally competent curriculum and cultural awareness

  • Promoting and fostering a campus culture of student validation and engagement

4. Research and Identification of Successful Programs

Aid the department(s) in the following:

  • Identify existing courses and programs that have diminished or eliminated equity gaps

  • Identify other discipline-specific courses and programs offered locally, statewide or nationally that address equity issues (e.g., Puente, MESA, UMOJA, FYE)

  • Define the core components (high-impact practices) of successful programs which increase academic success and student equity for those groups of students who have historically been poorly served by the institution. Examples of core components may include collaborative learning models, interdisciplinary course linkages, culturally-responsive perspectives, etc.

Determine the variety of ways that these core components can be utilized in departments, identify which courses and programs incorporate these core components, and what the desired outcome(s) will be.

5. Evaluation - Before, During, and After for Continuous Quality Improvement

College equity efforts will be implemented and assessed at various levels, including institutional, program, and practitioner level. At the institutional level, equity efforts will be assessed by disaggregated key performance indicator data, with the Student Success and Equity Committee serving as the primary group facilitating this analysis and making broad recommendations to the College on ways in which equity gaps may be eliminated at the institutional level. At the program or service area level, through the College’s established program review process, each department will analyze their equity data, identify equity gaps, set goals and describe action steps to eliminate equity gaps, and re-assess their equity data after implementing those action steps. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Success and Equity will support and offer professional development for programs and service areas in analyzing, interpreting, and using equity data for program and service area improvement and equitable student achievement. At the practitioner level, individual practitioners will have the opportunity, on a voluntary basis, to examine their own course outcomes through an equity lens. Department chairs, coordinators, and other campus leaders may support this work through coordinated efforts and with data collected in collaboration with the Institutional Effectiveness, Success, and Equity Office. It should be noted that at each of the above levels, equity assessment may include quantitative and/or qualitative data. This evaluation will provide invaluable data in the ongoing process of assessing and increasing our successes in achieving student equity and understanding the institutional barriers to the success of specific student populations.