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Lauded for Achievement Gap Efforts

Campaign for College Opportunity Issues State of Higher Education in California: The Latino Report
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Cal State Fullerton was highlighted for its successful efforts to close the achievement gap, according to the Campaign for College Opportunity’s 2015 State of Higher Education in California: The Latino Report.

Released yesterday, the report examines how the state’s 15 million Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic block in the state, are faring in California college and university systems.

The updated report finds “that though the percent of Latinos earning high school diplomas and entering college continues to improve, Latinos are underrepresented in every segment of higher education and have lower levels of college degree attainment than other racial/ethnic groups. When one in two children under the age of 18 is Latino, the future of our economy and the state will rise or fall depending on the educational success of Latinos — we must do more to ensure that success.”

In a section of the report, “What Works Now,” Cal State Fullerton is lauded for launching a new universitywide strategic plan that includes an explicit goal to cut the achievement gap for underrepresented students and their white and Asian peers in half from the current 12 percent gap.

Four highlighted goals to achieve this are:

  • redesigning bottleneck courses
  • developing student cultural resource centers
  • scaling of high-impact practices
  • developing student success teams

“There is a real achievement gap among historically underrepresented and first-generation students,” said President Mildred García. “To effectively serve many of our students, we need to have deep conversations about how to best support them and allow them to thrive … for all students, success requires a thoughtful, well-designed, multifaceted approach.”

According to the report, “Together these strategies present a well-designed, multifaceted approach to helping all students at CSU Fullerton succeed, and a specific approach to helping Latino students succeed. CSU Fullerton is a model campus for other colleges and universities who are looking for solutions to better support Latino students.”