Equity 2030 Progress Update
By Scott Olson, Chancellor
Andriel Dees, Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion
August 27, 2024
In June 2019 Minnesota State declared that our top priority was to ensure all students who choose to pursue higher education at one of our 33 member colleges and universities successfully achieve their educational goals. For Minnesota to have the educated workforce its employers need, Minnesota State colleges and universities must increase success for all students, no matter their background or their level of preparation.
This priority, and the strategies and practices employed to achieve it, is called Equity 2030. At the center of Equity 2030 is the goal of closing gaps in rates of student success by race, income, and first-generation status. While we know that all diversity dimensions contribute to our students’ total being, we know that by looking at these specific measures, we will be able to address reaching parity for all.
In order to measure progress towards this goal and for public accountability, Minnesota State developed several simple ways of reviewing systemwide progress using a tool called the Equity Scorecard.
We know progress toward closing gaps in student success will not occur on all campuses equally, nor improve steadily or consistently. Some institutions have closed almost all gaps, and others have yet to close any. This is to be expected, as each institution has its own demographic mix and local context. For example, the makeup and size of student cohorts varies from year to year, and some institutions have cohorts so small that they cannot be measured while also maintaining anonymity.
So, what does the data tell us?
- Many gaps have closed or are narrowing (see first chart).
- There are fewer gaps now than there were when we started this work four years ago (see second chart).
- Progress needs to accelerate in order to close all gaps by 2030.
The above chart shows how many institutions have closed gaps and have gaps that are narrowing, flat, or widening for each student category. The bars vary in height because only those student groups that are large enough to be measured are included. For example, several institutions do not have enough American Indian/Indigenous students to include them in the analysis.
This chart compares the percentage of institutions that have closed gaps for the group of students entering colleges/universities in Fall 2018 and those entering in Fall 2022. Because this measures whether the student was successful and returned to college the next year, there is a lag in reporting. The chart shows improvement in every category we measure except for “Two or more Races.” For example, 7% of the student success gaps were closed for American Indian students beginning entering in Fall 2018, but for the students beginning in Fall 2022 the number of gaps closed increased to 21%.
We’re encouraged because these measurements show progress towards Equity 2030 in spite of COVID-19. This is notable given that nationally, and at our Minnesota State colleges and universities, data indicates the pandemic likely had a disproportionate impact on Black and Indigenous students, students of color, low-income students, and first-generation students.
Our supporting quantitative data is truly interesting and underscores that this is difficult, locally contextualized work. For example, at 15 of our 33 Minnesota State colleges and universities, the highest performing racial group are non-white students. Diving more deeply, at five institutions the highest performing group is Asian. At four institutions the highest performing group is Hispanic. At two campuses the highest performing group is American Indian. At two institutions the highest performing group is Two or more Races. And, at one institution, the highest performing group is Black or African American. On the rest of the campuses, the highest performing group is white. While this data gives us a starting point of measure, the narratives and root causes will vary across our system.
Now that we’ve identified a way to measure progress, and we know progress needs to accelerate, we will be turning our attention toward promising practices that are happening throughout the state and sharing those within our community of practice. It’s important that we scale successful approaches when and where it makes sense on other campuses throughout the system. All in all, we will stay the course of reaching our goal of meeting all students where they are, continuing to simultaneously challenge and support students, and ultimately becoming the key to success for our students’ dreams and our state’s wellbeing.