Cal Poly Humboldt’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI), in partnership with Faculty Diversity and Equity Fellow, Dr. Jianmin Zhong, is developing a framework of quantitative and qualitative assessments for those Humboldt courses that consistently reveal an achievement gap between its underrepresented minority (URM) students and non-underrepresented minority (non-URM) students. In this study, we completed a 5-year (2016-2021) quantitative data assessment of Genetics (BIOL340) using CSU Student Success Dashboard data, comparable to Cal Poly Humboldt’s Office of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Reporting (IRAR) data. Also, we evaluated the effectiveness of the supplemental courses in assisting student success in BIOL340 using the supplemental class (BIOL198) numeric data provided by IRAR. Our initial analysis of the CSU Student Success Dashboard data revealed a persistent disparity in academic performance between URM students and non-URM students, between first-gen and non-first-gen college students, and between Pell and non-Pell recipients, in BIOL340 from 2016 to 2021. Our findings also indicate that co-enrolling in BIOL198 and BIOL340 helps students better understand course materials, with a particular benefit for female students, non-first-gen students, and non-Pell recipients from 2018 to 2021. We will continue to study how to lower DFW rates, close the equity gap between URM students and non-URM students, and increase retention of URM students in BIOL340, and ultimately, other STEM courses at Cal Poly Humboldt.
Abstract
Understanding and Responding to Systemic Inequity, the Student Success Research Initiative at Cal Poly Humboldt
Jianmin Zhong, Ph.D., Stephanie Souter, M.A., Pearl Podgorniak
Isaac Torres, M.A., and Rosamel Benavides-Garb, Ph.D.
Equity data of BIOL340 students were obtained from the CSU Student Success Dashboard data analysis. The students’ BIOL340 letter grades from 2016 to 2021 were obtained from Cal Poly Humboldt IRAR.
Analysis of covariance (Ancova) was used to explore achievement differences between groups, including URMs and non-URMs, first-gen and non-first-gen college students, and others.
Methodology
Table 1: The effectiveness of students who enrolled in BIOL340 only vs. Biology 340 & Biology 198 Co-Enrollment by Subgroup, 2018-2021.
Results
Table 2: The effectiveness of students who enrolled in BIOL340 only vs. Biology 340 & Biology 198 Co-Enrollment by Subgroup, 2016-2021.
Results
This research project partnered with Cal Poly Humboldt’s CTL and IRAR. Overall, the partnership with these two organizations played a vital role in the success of the project.
Acknowledgements
Results
BIOL340 is an upper-division STEM course and is required for many majors on campus. Based on the student data provided by the IRAR, 43.6% of the students who took BIOL340 from 2016 to 2021 were Black, Indigenous, and people of color, with the following demographic break-down: 1.4% American Indians, 5.1% Asian, 2.2% Black, 29.8% Latino, 0.9% Non-resident aliens, 0.4% Pacific Islanders, 9.9% Two or more, 3% Unknown, and 47.3% White.
Based on our preliminary CSU Student Success Dashboard data analysis, there was a consistent achievement gap between URM/BIPOC students and non-URM students in BIOL340 from 2016 to 2021. The Dashboard shows that BIOL340 consistently has one of the highest DFW (students who achieve grades D, F, or Withdraw) rates in all departments at Cal Poly Humboldt. Between 2016 and 2021, this rate was 25%, with 2021 having a five-year high DFW rate of 29%. Furthermore, the same institutional data from 2016-2021 shows that URM students earned a GPA of, on average, 0.6 less than their non-URM counterparts in BIOL340. Similarly, in the academic year of 2021, first-generation students, on average, earned a GPA that was 0.41 less than their non-first-generation peers in BIOL340.
Compared with students only enrolled in BIOL340, students co-enrolled for both BIOL340 and BIOL198 had better final letter grades from 2018 to 2021. However, there was no statistical significance of the overall student performance when the data were analyzed from 2016 to 2021.
Conclusion
Figure 2: Final letter grade comparison between URM and non-URM students for BIOL340, 2016-2021.
Figure 3: Final letter grade comparison between URM and non-URM students for BIOL340, 2016-2021.
Figure 1: The DFW rates of BIOL340 students, 2016-2021.
Figure 4: The percentage of impacted students by equity gap for BIOL340, 2016-2021.
From 2016 to 2021, there existed a persistent achievement disparity in BIOL340 between URM/BIPOC students and non-URM students.
By enrolling concurrently in BIOL198 and BIOL340, students can gain a deeper comprehension of course concepts, with female students, non-first-generation students, and non-Pell grant recipients receiving notable advantages.
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