Our Approach
What We Do
Even before Excelencia in Education’s founding in 2004, our co-founders filled a crucial gap in information on Latinos in higher education for institutional leaders, practitioners, and policymakers. Today, we are the nation’s premier authority on efforts to accelerate Latino student success in higher education, building momentum to improve Latino, and all, students’ achievement through innovation across three key areas:
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Leadership: Excelencia leads a national community of action-oriented leaders, practitioners, and supporters to transform higher education. Over 200 college and university presidents and chancellors have chosen to enroll in the Presidents for Latino Student Success (P4LSS) network, a small group of institutions that disproportionately enrolls and graduates Latino students. Among them, 46 have earned the Seal of Excelencia for efforts to go beyond enrollment and more intentionally SERVE Latino students.
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Data: Excelencia establishes a foundation of information on factors influencing success for Latino students from which to prompt action, advance effective policies, and catalyze institutional efforts. It began 20 years ago with our annual analysis of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and development of the Emerging HSIs (eHSIs) categorization to inform the field of where Latinos enroll. It continues today with publications like our comprehensive profile of Latino students, which equip institutions to more intentionally serve the growing number of Latinos on their campuses.
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Practice: Excelencia brings attention to programs with evidence of effectiveness in increasing Latino student success to support replicating and bringing to scale evidence-based practices that intentionally serve Latino students. Premier in this work is Examples of Excelencia, the only national, data-driven effort to identify and promote evidence-based practices that work for Latinos in college. Through Examples, we have built a community of practice and aggregated over 200 programs that demonstrate what intentionally serving Latino students looks like in our Growing What Works Database.
How We Do It
Accelerating Latino student success is Excelencia’s mission, and confianza is how we do it.
Excelencia was born from our commitment to change the narrative about Latino college students from a focus on deficit-oriented diagnoses and intractable achievement gaps to a focus on asset-based opportunities to accelerate Latino student success.
We believe that what describes us does not divide us — unless we let it happen. We frame serving Latinos as an opportunity — not to exclude others, but to transform institutions in a way that can benefit all.
Confianza embodies elements of trust, responsibility, and mutual respect. Through an ongoing process of communication, collaboration, and innovation, we act as a trusted partner, facilitator, and guide for colleges and universities considering how they strengthen their efforts to more intentionally SERVE Latino students.
Our Tactical Plan for Latino Student Success
Latinos represent one of the fastest growing populations nationally and within higher education. Excelencia has developed a tactical plan to intentionally serve Latino, and all, students with the understanding that doing so ultimately serves our country:
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Design a national acceleration plan for Latino students in higher education
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Advocate publicly societal benefits for raising Latinos’ degree completion [Policy Agenda]
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Track degree completion goals and measures of progress [Latino College Completion: U.S.]
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Replicate and expand institutional practices that are working for Latino students [Examples of Excelencia]
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Build a community of common cause [Presidents for Latino Student Success]
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Align and deliver educational support efforts to institutions [Technical Assistance Institutes]
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Increase support and accountability for institutions intentionally serving Latino students [Seal of Excelencia]
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Evolve efforts to support institutional transformation as a trusted intermediary
