Campus among four baccalaureate finalists from across the country for the 2024 Examples of Excelencia
Excelencia in Education, a national organization focused on accelerating Latino student success in higher education, announced four baccalaureate programs across the United States – including one Indiana University Northwest program – as a finalist for the 2024 Examples of Excelencia.
Program finalists are recognized for their intentionality in serving students through culturally relevant, evidence-based practices that address institutional achievement gaps and advance equity for Latino students.
The recognized IU Northwest program, Pedagogical Interest Groups (PIGs), was created in 2016 to improve Latino student success by addressing decreasing retention and graduation rates and increasing DFW rates (students who finish a course with a D, F or withdrew).
“At that time, many Latino students faced high DFW rates and nearly half left within the first year,” said Mark Hoyert, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “As the most diverse campus within Indiana University, this data told us we were not effectively meeting our students’ academic needs and providing the support and resources they needed to be successful. We knew our students deserved better.”
Addressing the issue
To address the institutional achievement gaps, IU Northwest faculty and staff created PIGs to explore pedagogical and curricular literature to find techniques relevant to their student body, particularly Latino students.
By analyzing and implementing modern, evidence-based and culturally informed pedagogies, faculty were able to enhance their teaching practices, introduce summer bridge programs, offer first-year seminars, create cohort models and redesign curricula.
“These efforts focused specifically on the struggles of Latino students,” Hoyert said. “But the overarching goal was not only for Latino students but for all to master course content, earn higher grades and achieve higher retention and graduation rates.”
As interventions revealed deeper insights into student needs, they were integrated into the curricula. Consequently, IU Northwest evolved from having 17 percent Latino students in 2015 to becoming an Hispanic-Serving Institution with nearly 30 percent Latino students as their experiences and retention improved.
Outcomes: Student Success
The practices — as shown by recent data —produced exceptional outcomes.
Professors involved in PIGs saw drastically lower DFW rates, higher grades overall and reduced achievement gaps for all students.
- Retention Rates: From 2015 to 2022, the retention rate of Latino students from the first year to the second year increased from 61.6 to 75.8 percent, while the campus-wide retention rate increased from 64.6 to 68.1 percent.
- Graduation Rates: The six-year graduation rate for Latino students increased from 21.2 percent in 2015 to 38.4 percent. The campus-wide six-year graduation rate increased from 21.5 to 37.9 percent during the same period.
- Course Success Rates: In redesigned courses, Latino students' DFW rates decreased from 35.5 percent in 2015 to 27.7 percent in 2023, and the mean GPA increased from 2.20 to 2.57. Campus-wide, the DFW rate decreased from 31.6 to 25.6 percent and the mean GPA increased from 2.41 to 2.65.
PIGs as a finalist for Examples of Excelencia
Examples of Excelencia is the only national, data-driven effort to identify, aggregate and promote evidence-based practices increasing Latino student success in higher education.
“As a finalist for the Examples of Excelencia, IU Northwest, and specifically the PIGs program, is a model of what works for higher education leadership seeking asset-based programming that is sustainable, replicable and data-informed,” said interim Chancellor of IU Northwest Vicki Román-Lagunas.
IU Northwest and the other finalists were selected through a review of 103 program submissions representing colleges, universities and community-based organizations across 20 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico in four categories: associate, baccalaureate, graduate and community-based organizations.
“Participating in Examples of Excelencia allows practitioners to assess and share the impact of their program on Latino participants. Excelencia applauds this year’s finalists for ensuring their programming intentionally serves Latino students in comprehensive and asset-based ways to support them to and through college,” said Adriana Rodriguez, COO and vice president for institutional programs at Excelencia in Education.
Since 2005, Excelencia has received over 2,000 program submissions, recognized over 400 programs for their impact and awarded over $2 million to programs making a positive difference for Latino students across the country.
