Models of Success at Minority-serving Institutions: Recently, two professors of education received a grant for an unusual and much needed purpose. “We’re gathering good data on what is going right with colleges and universities dedicated to serving Black, Hispanic and Native American students,” said Dr. Marybeth Gasman of the University of Pennsylvania. She and Dr. Clifton Conrad of the University of Wisconsin received a $1.5 million grant to document, publicize and support “Models of Success” at nine minority serving institutions.
“If we get away from stereotypes and look at the data on the actual value added through teaching, then many MSIs actually outperform White colleges and universities,” said Conrad. “When you control for factors such as high school grades, test scores and family background, it becomes clear that some MSIs are producing better outcomes for these students than other institutions. The goal of the grant is to identify those successes and best practices, document them with good data and then actively promote and publicize them as widely as possible.”
The project includes $50,000 grants to each of the participating colleges to help them improve their ability to analyze and document their successes.
