New Report: Enhancing Student Success and Building Inclusive Classrooms at UCLA
Plans include a collaborative effort with deans and department chairs to discuss report findings, convening a working group for implementing recommendations, and developing detailed data dashboards to improve transparency for enrollment, performance, climate, and retention.
Excerpt from the report’s executive summary:
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) faces a number of external pressures that require a renewed commitment to excellence and diversity in undergraduate education. For example, California Governor Brown has urged campuses to decrease the overall time-to-degree attainment and explore how undergraduates may complete the baccalaureate in three years. Businesses and government agencies also are calling for college graduates with skills to function in a more diverse workforce. In the wake of the Moreno Report, which was commissioned by Chancellor Gene Block and found faculty discrimination and bias in academic units, California Attorney General Harris has asked the campus to address the climate for diversity and disparities in completion rates for underrepresented groups within a specified time frame. In comparison with other national universities, UCLA has yet to adopt inclusive excellence initiatives that make use of many advances in teaching, student learning, and assessment. Further, UCLA needs to focus more efforts on transforming education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields to meet national goals (PCAST, 2012). If UCLA is committed to providing all students an equitable and inclusive learning experience in every discipline, it is important to address these issues, especially in light of increased undergraduate enrollments (~600-700) in the near future. At the request of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh, a working group was tasked to identify areas of attention where UCLA could start to make changes that would have an immediate impact on improving the success of all students in the classroom. This self-study report and its recommendations are a first step towards building inclusive classrooms so that each student has an equal opportunity to succeed at UCLA.