TEACHING TEAMS CREATE NETWORK OF HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT By Lisa Renner
Focused on advancing student success, University of California Santa Cruz is rethinking the teaching team - expanding it to include embedded tutors and holistic advisers who work closely with instructors and graduate student teaching assistants. The university piloted embedding services within a class five years ago with the support of a Title V Hispanic Serving Institution grant. This approach boosted student success and has become standard practice for key classes. The counselors “clear the pathways for them to be successful,” explained Aaron Jones, director for UC Santa Cruz Educational Opportunity Programs.
a high rate of students getting D or F letter grades, or withdrawals. The classes also have an achievement gap, with first-generation and low-income students receiving lower grades than other students. Offering embedded learning assistants adds another layer of support that can help make the classes more equitable. Lenno Lara Cortes, a fourth-year student and mathematics major, is an embedded learning assistant in pre-calculus math classes on Zoom. Cortes moves from breakout room to breakout room offering help to students working in small groups on various problems. “I’m a guide in a sense,” Cortes said. “I’m not there to give them the answer but to help them figure out the answer.” He also holds in-person tutoring sessions at the Science and Engineering Library for those who want additional help. He’s more approachable to students than a college professor as a fellow undergraduate who has taken the class.
The campus teaching teams meet regularly to coordinate efforts, each member serving as a potential contact point for a student in need of support. The teams create a network of holistic support offered in courses that create a disproportionate barrier for Latinx students. Outcomes include improved grades and retention rates as well as an increased sense of belonging, with a goal of ensuring students remain on the path to graduation and achieving their career goals. Sharon Castro, director of UC Santa Cruz Learning Support Services, said embedded learning assistants like Cortes seem to be most effective in classes that are “flipped” from the traditional lecture format. This means instead of attending class to listen to the professor lecture and then working independently at home on problems, students listen to a video of the lecture at home independently and come to class to work on the problems with others. This year, embedded support is offered in seven courses, including a variety of chemistry and math classes. The courses selected for embedded support have 20
HISPANIC ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES
Jones currently has four counselors providing embedded support in four to six classes of science, technology, engineering or math classes a year. The counselors are introduced at the beginning of the class, and students are encouraged to reach out for their help as needed. The counselors also proactively reach out to students who have difficulty in the first assessments, acting as trouble-shooters for struggling students. They listen to students, asking questions like: Why didn’t the students pass the first test? How did they study? Are they using support services such as the disability resource center or basic needs support? What social factors are impacting them? “We’re here to get all the ducks in the row for and with the students so they can be successful in this class and all their classes,” Jones said.