Like other colleges around the country, MCC recognized that we needed to address achievement disparities among groups of students, in particular students from diverse backgrounds. Our Office of Institutional Research and Planning was able to provide a clear picture of our “data story” surrounding the success rates and challenges faced by many of our students from racial and ethnic minority groups. We also benefited from insights into these issues from Dr. Sabrina Gentlewarrior of Bridgewater State University who leads The Leading for Change Higher Education Diversity Consortium.
The MCC Achievement Gap Working Group, a cross-functional planning committee, was formed and tasked with determining what faculty and staff at Middlesex already knew—or thought they knew– about the achievement gap (AG)at our college. This committee would also promote organizational learning related to the achievement gap, identify partners who could assist our efforts, develop a toolkit that would help MCC faculty and staff in their AG work, and deliver a college-wide professional day (spring 2014) that would provoke reflection and dialogue around the achievement gap. (MCC Professional Days are professional development events held each year at the college which consist of a morning session with a keynote speaker, two concurrent sessions of workshop offerings, followed by lunch and closing remarks.)
This planning committee was drawn from departments and divisions around the college. It met regularly for eight months to plan and coordinate Professional Day. The meetings had clear agendas and action plans. In addition, there were subcommittees that focused on related tasks such as analyzing data , reviewing literature, planning logistics, and preparing marketing. (We also devoted one of our monthly faculty and staff association meetings to having forums around the achievement gap, its causes and how it impacted our students.)
The Achievement Gap Working Group decided that the MCC Professional Day devoted to the Achievement Gap should have the following objectives: emphasize our shared responsibility to improve educational achievement for all students, promote organizational learning around the achievement gap, analyze our performance in addressing AG issues, and build our capacity to address these issues and problems. The theme would be Our Inner Resources: Closing the Achievement Gap.
As in the case of previous all-college professional days, we sought presenters from both inside and outside the college. Proposals had to address at least one of the following themes: Community Building, Inclusive Pedagogies, the Power of Stories, Intercultural Conversations, and Employee Engagement. We also engaged as our keynote speaker Dr. Becky Wai-Ling Packard, a nationally-recognized expert on mentoring and persistence.
Creating a Culture of Belonging 