EMPOWERING HISPANIC LEARNING AT CAL POLY HUMBOLDT

College completion rates in the U.S. continue to be tied disproportionately to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family history in higher education. Among all the racial/ethnic groups in the U.S., Latinx students have the lowest graduation rate in undergraduate and graduate studies (Figure 1). Latinx enrollment in colleges is 19% nationwide, but there are some places like California where the enrollment is 40%. Of the 766 bachelor’s degree holders in agriculture, just 5.6% belong to Latinx (compared with 82% for White). Why there is a disproportionate graduation rate exist for Latinx students? There are myriad contributors to this equity gap, such as Northern American higher education learning environments being biased towards low context or individualistic cultural frameworks. This means that high context collectivistic culture, such as Latinx students, must learn to adapt to survive, or they will drop out of school.

To improve the educational experiences of Humboldt Latinx students, Cal Poly Humboldt began partnering with ESCALA Educational Services of Santa Fe, NM to help Humboldt’s practitioners understand how to implement culturally responsive pedagogy and equitable practice. Between 2017 and 2021, 53 Humboldt educators earned the ESCALA’s College Teaching & Learning in HSIs Certificate, and 5 earned the ESCALA STEM-mini Certificate. This presentation will review different culturally sustaining educational practices implemented at Cal Poly Humboldt.