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DRIVER 4

Student-Centered Institutional Structures & Policies

A key lever for improving equity in student outcomes is designing institutional structures and policies that enable faculty, staff, and administrators to create environments where all students have the opportunity, resources, and support they need to learn and grow.  Approaches to improve equity in education that do not take into account these aspects of the learning environment – and instead focus only on changing students – perpetuate deficit frameworks about students and are often ineffective. That is because they fail to acknowledge or address the structural and environmental factors that contribute to students’ ability to learn and grow (Walton & Yeager, 2020; Yeager et al., 2021). 

By clearly locating the responsibility for change on the university, and not students, institutions can begin to address and dismantle systemic barriers to success that perpetuate inequities and undermine students’ persistence and achievement in higher education. This work requires building awareness of these inequities among stakeholders across the university (administrators, faculty, staff, and leadership), while developing a shared responsibility and clear roles for everyone in order to change systems, learning environments, and overall culture. 

SEP institutions worked to establish student-centered institutional structures and policies by establishing communities of practice that engage instructors in improving the classroom experience, and deeply involving students in creating more equitable learning environments. Browse the library below to learn more about their efforts.

Students working together to solve a problem

CHANGE IDEA

Engage and train students to elevate student experiences in the classroom

When students enter college, they often wonder if they belong or if they can be successful. Universities participating in SEP sought to disrupt this dynamic by engaging students to improve their classroom experiences.

Learn More
Students working together to solve a problem
Students sitting at their desks in a classroom taking notes on computers

CHANGE IDEA

Utilize student experience data to improve classroom and campus environment

Institutional leaders understand that measurement is key to meaningful change. With institutional resources and bandwidth increasingly limited, it is more important than ever to use data to understand the return on investment for any new initiative.

Learn More
Students sitting at their desks in a classroom taking notes on computers
Two students analyzing data on the computer screen

CHANGE IDEA

Establish communities of practice to support student experience

Institutions in the SEP formed communities of practice to bring together groups of instructors with a shared commitment to improving the university through use of evidence-based strategies to improve student experience.

Learn More
Two students analyzing data on the computer screen

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