What do we mean by Inclusive Excellence?

Dr. Frank A. Tuitt

University of Denver

2nd – 5th March at Hogeschool Gent, Gent, Belgium

4th SiS Catalyst PPI Conference: Children as Societal Actors for a Sustainable Future.

Inclusive Excellence Overview

How can we use Inclusive Excellence to create learning environments that are attentive to both the demographic diversity of our students and also to the need for nurturing climates and cultures that increase all students’ chances to succeed?

Making Excellence Inclusive • Presents educators with a new framework for

excellence that integrates diversity and inclusion as critical components of organizational excellence.

• Requires educational environments to re-envision diversity and inclusion as critical and multi-layered processes through which we create new forms and levels of excellence in teaching, learning, and student development.

• Inclusion: The active, intentional, and ongoing engagement with diversity—in people, in the programs, in the co-curriculum, and in communities (intellectual, social, cultural, geographical).

(AAC&U, 2013)

Inclusive Excellence Assumptions Diversity matters, Identity matters, Context matters. I am joining a conversation in progress with caring

and concerned colleagues. Good intentions do not guarantee progressive

results. Perception is reality. Advancing Inclusive Excellence requires self-

awareness, courage, and continuous commitment. Experts and tool kits are impractical – there is no

“one size fits all.” Creating inclusive learning environments is

important for all subjects – especially STEM areas. We can always do better.

Promoting Inclusive Excellence • The purposeful embodiment of inclusive

pedagogical practices toward multiple student identity groups (Milem, et al., 2005).

• A focus on student intellectual and social development.

• The development and utilization of educational resources to enhance student learning.

• Recognizes the cultural differences diverse learners bring to the educational experience.

• Creates welcoming learning environments that engage all of its diversity.

• Establishes an environment that challenges each student to achieve academically at high levels.

Global Imperative for Inclusive Excellence?

• Demographic shifts around the world and in educational institutions require engagement in cross-cultural understanding.

• Internationalization and complexity of world issues requires “knowledge, skills, and attitudes that transcend conventional intellectual paradigms” (ACE, 2007).

• Global Race for STEM skills to fill Labour market needs and drive economic growth.

• The underrepresentation of LDMs in STEM fields.

• Persistent social and educational inequities.

• Leveraging diversity has educational benefits.

Benefits of Inclusive Excellence

• Academic outcomes

– Educational aspirations, self-confidence, critical thinking, & problem solving abilities.

• Diversity outcomes

– Enhances perspectives and experiences, improves cultural awareness, fosters creativity, & innovation.

• Civic outcomes

– Higher levels of civic engagement, creates informed citizens, strengthens commitment to equity, & justice.

Inclusive Excellence Dimensions

To help institutions guide and assess their efforts, the AAC&U proposed the Inclusive Excellence Scorecard consisting of four dimensions:

Access and Equity

Learning Environment Climate

Curriculum & Pedagogy (Programs & Services)

Learning & Development

(Williams et al., 2005)

Access and Equity • Access & Equity is understood as the compositional number and

success levels of locally defined minority students. It is important to note that access and equity account for more than a numerical change in the demographics of an institution, but also involves the representation and equitable achievement of locally defined minority students.

Access & Success Indicators:

What percentage of LDMs participate in your STEM programs?

What program features function as “gatekeepers” for some LDMs and “gateways” for other students?

Do LDMS have opportunities to engage with STEM role models whom they can identify with socially and culturally?

Learning Environment Climate Learning Environment Climate involves the attitudes, behaviors, and standards and practices of educators that impact the access for, inclusion of, and level of respect for LDMs needs, abilities, and potential (Rankin & Reason, 2008).

Learning Environment Climate indicators:

Do LDMs feel a sense of belonging to the learning environment?

Do STEM program activities facilitate isolation or foster integration for LDMs?

Are STEM programs designed in a manner that facilitate the development of an inclusive learning community?

Curriculum & Pedagogy Curriculum & Pedagogy include considering not only the incorporation and integration of diversity content in STEM program activities and experiences across the curriculum landscape, but also how the content is taught.

Curriculum & Pedagogy Indicators:

Is the curriculum and pedagogy culturally relevant?

Are there opportunities for LDMs to make connections between their lived experiences and the STEM program activities?

Do STEM program activities that encourage problem solving and have an application to the real world?

IE Learning and Development Speaks to whether or not educational institutions are preparing locally defined minorities to be successful in an increasingly diverse, multicultural, and global world.

Learning and development Indicators:

Have LDMs developed Habits of Mind (skills for life long learning)?

– Reflects “how LDMs merge their ability to think and solve problems, and have the skills to effectively react to new challenges and situations” (Matthews & Keating, 1995).

Have LDMs developed Competencies for Multicultural World – Defined as a “set of skills and abilities needed to interact with

individuals from different social identity groups, and to make ethical decisions in a society marked by inequality and conflict” (Hurtado et al., 2008).

Promoting Inclusive Excellence Requires • Conceptualizing IE work in terms of changing the

organization and enhancing the learning environment;

• Embracing the logic that diversity is fundamental to excellence;

• Meaningful and consistent support from senior leadership;

• Commitment of sufficient resources to the process of change;

• A comprehensive and widely accepted framework to define Inclusive Excellence and track progress;

• Accountability systems and the means of engaging individuals in the change process at all levels; and

• Infrastructure to guide and facilitate the change journey and

direct IE efforts at all levels of the organization. (Williams et al., 2005)

Inclusive Excellence Tomorrow & Beyond?

• Examine policies, practices, & procedures for presence/absence of indicators of inclusive excellence.

• Develop new models for building the STEM pipeline.

• Reflect on STEM values and norms, ask yourself if they align with the tenets of inclusive excellence.

• Critically examine STEM culture through the lens of inclusive excellence. Does it provide a supportive and affirming learning environment for LDMs?

• Engage in dialogue with other STEM colleagues and community partners regarding the benefits and challenges of promoting inclusive excellence.

• Approach the challenge of increasing LDMs in STEM as a scientific problem to be solved. Study it, assess it, and redesign it.

IE, STEM Programs, & the Search for Paradise

The academy is not paradise. But learning is a place where paradise can be created. Our programs, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom. (hooks, 1994)

References AAC&U (2013). Board statement on diversity, equity, and Inclusive Excellence. Retrieved from:

http://www.aacu.org/about/statements/2013/inclusiveexcellence.cfm

ACE (2007). At home in the world: Bridging the gap between internationalization and multicultural education. Washington, CD: American Council on Education.

hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress. New York, NY: Routledge.

Hurtado, S., Griffin, K. A., Arellano, L., & Cuellar, M. (2008). Assessing the value of climate assessments: Progress and future directions. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1(4), 204.

Milem, J., Chang, M., & Antonio, A. (2005). Making diversity work: A researched based perspective. AAC&U.

Pryor, J.H., Hurtado, S., Saenz, V.B., Santos, J.L., Korn, W.S. (2007). The American freshman: Forty years trends. Higher Education Research Institute. UCLA.

Rankin, S., & Reason, R. (2008). Transformational Tapestry Model: A comprehensive approach to transforming campus climate. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 1(4), 262.

Williams, D. A., Berger, J. B., & McClendon, S., A. (2005). Toward a model of inclusive excellence and change in postsecondary institutions. Washington D.C.: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Fall Enrollment Survey” (IPEDS-EF:95–99), and Spring 2001 through Spring 2009; and Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions by Race/Ethnicity Model, 1980–2009.