Are You HIP?: How One Latinx Learning Community Integrates Ten High-Impact Practices to Foster Student Success

Sandra M Gonzales,Stefanie T Baier,Ethriam C Brammer

doi:10.5204/ssj.1907

Abstract

This practice report shares practices from a successful Latinx Studies learning community model at an urban research-intensive university in the Midwestern United States. The learning community model offers a tiered developmental curriculum to support the three different stages of a student’s journey, from enrollment to graduation. The three distinct phases of the learning community model are: a pre-college summer enrichment program, a first- and second-year college scholars program and a third and fourth-year college-to-career component. The model also integrates 10 out of 11 of Kuh’s (2008) high impact practices demonstrated to support student engagement and success for students making a direct transition from high school to university. The authors share gains in student retention and five-year graduation rates as evidence of effectiveness.

Highlights

This report examines a three-tiered learning community model designed by a Latinx Studies Program at a researchintensive university in the United States
The first and second year College Scholars Component (CoSch) component builds on the Summer Enrichment Pre-College Program (SEP) and has three primary goals: 1) to provide a family-friendly environment with access to bilingual staff, faculty and advisors; 2) to match first- and second-year students with upper-division peer mentors who can provide socio-emotional support and help students through required gateway college English and math courses; and, 3) to provide a culturally and linguistically responsive curriculum which aids belonging and success
By sharing the implementation of high-impact practices (HIPs) at their institution, the authors hope others can investigate, replicate or expand the success experienced by this one Latinx studies program

Summary

Introduction

This report examines a three-tiered learning community model designed by a Latinx Studies Program (the Center) at a researchintensive university in the United States. The Center was founded with the mission of increasing college access for low-income and first generation Latinx students. Learning communities (LCs) are characterized by common features that bring students together through linked courses and/or through frequent interaction, both socially and intellectually (Kuh, 2008). The Latinx LC at the Center fits this description because students first connect through their linked summer enrichment courses and continue to take classes together through their first year while receiving structured wrap-around social and intellectual support that takes them all the way to college graduation. According to the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U, 2022), learning communities represent one of 11 high-impact practices (HIPs). The authors do not intend to imply that all 10 HIPs are necessary for success but rather seek to share a model of implementation that brought them success with this particular population

Description of the LC Model Used at the Center

Findings

Conclusion