Moon Shot for Equity

Moon Shot for Equity

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As a leader in equity in higher education with a commitment to success for all students, Milwaukee Area Technical College has joined “Moon Shot for Equity,” a national initiative led by education firm EAB aimed at ending equity gaps in higher education by 2030.

The Moon Shot for Equity is a public-private partnership with the education firm EAB dedicated to making sure that more students complete college degrees, especially those most often left behind – low income, first generation and students of color. As the largest minority-majority college in Wisconsin, MATC believes the Moon Shot for Equity will help us deliver a cohesive equity plan that provides research-based best practices, policies, and technology proven to reduce and eliminate equity gaps. For our students, that means reaching their attainment goals in less time, for less money, and achieving better career outcomes.

As a founding member of the partnership in southeastern Wisconsin, MATC will work with UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, and Carthage College to complete a series of goals to remove obstacles and create solutions aimed at closing equity gaps in higher education. The four institutions will work together and with education firm EAB to remove systemic barriers across our regions and on our own campuses.

These goals are extensions of and enhancements to work already being done at the college through our strategic plan--Transformation 2025 and our Guided Pathways initiative.

Promising Practice: Train leaders in effective change management

Many campus leaders have never received formal training on the change management skills necessary to lead the substantial changes required to close equity gaps. Effective change management is integral to implement the policies and practices that help close equity gaps.

MATC Strategies:

In Transformation 2025, Organizational Excellence is a stated priority through advancing organizational agility and excellence in a culture of innovation and informed decision making. This includes the Objective to incorporate growth mindset strategies and established criteria to create a collegewide framework for innovation initiatives. In order to approach each initiative and project, we will expand our training and use of the ADKAR and Bridge’s Transition Model for Change Management models in order to better anticipate and plan for actions and reactions to change. In the upcoming academic year, we will bring national experts on campus to help us with transformative leadership development related to inspiring teams during times of change and managing the psychological transition that comes with big changes.

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Promising Practice: Expand community-based partnerships

Community-based organizations (CBOs) across the country have successfully supported the higher education aspirations of first-generation, lower-income, and underrepresented students. Institutions will strengthen their collaborations with local and regional CBOs to expand their diversity recruitment and enrollment efforts. These efforts will include developing or expanding partnerships with local high schools to provide information to students on identifying best-fit universities, securing financial assistance, and connecting with counselors.

MATC Strategies:

MATC has strong relationships with high schools and community-based organizations (CBOs) in the district we serve. Recruiters serve as the primary point of contact for these organizations, providing visits to the organizations, hosting visits to the college, providing promotional materials and more.

In Fall 2021, our Recruitment team will strengthen relationships with those CBOs that serve underrepresented high school students through College Greenlight. The partnership will help all students served by these CBOs better understand what MATC offers — and their next steps to accessing an affordable, high-quality education at the college. In addition, Greenlight will provide the opportunity to help CBOs understand our efforts, including Moon Shot, to eliminate equity gaps so all students can succeed at MATC. 

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Promising Practice: Audit registration holds and revise policies

Complex registration processes create barriers and confuse students, often discouraging them from re-enrolling. By conducting an audit of all registration holds, and eliminating or revising those that are unnecessary, obsolete, or burdensome, we will enable students to continue to progress toward a degree.

MATC Strategies:

A cross functional team was developed with College stakeholders and leaders to review all holds and determine what is necessary and how to ensure student success. In the process of reviewing, the Team will also look at best practices on a national level, recommendations from EAB, and MATC student data. The end result will be equity minded student centered processes and procedures that create a clear pathway and opportunity and reduce or eliminate barriers to student success.

 

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Promising Practice: Leverage technology for proactive advising

Student success technology platforms enable more proactive academic advising, allowing advisors to focus their attention on students most in need of their support. Review your existing advising model and seek to make infrastructure improvements needed to ensure the delivery of best practice proactive advising.

MATC Strategies:

EAB Navigate is providing informative student profiles to Care Unit users, such as Academic Advisors, Retention Coaches, Student Success Liaisons. Advisors and retention coaches search for individual students or establish lists around a variety of parameters, depending upon identified success markers or advising needs. From their searches, users can send communication to students via email or text with applicable messaging. The manager of Retention Coaching and Director of Advising worked with the Holistic Coordinated Care Team as well as their respective teams to map Early Alert reasons and communication paths for a number of identified barriers to student success. Staff and Faculty can submit an alert with some alerts resulting in an automatic email to a student conveying appropriate services or actions. Cases created by the alert prompt proactive action by a retention coach, other pathway team staff, or appropriate campus offices. Progress Report campaigns are course performance requests sent proactively to faculty on a schedule designed for easy-to-use and time-efficient reporting of student needs or faculty concerns.

 

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About EAB

EAB’s mission is to make education smarter and our communities stronger. Its goal is to harness the collective power of more than 1,900 schools, colleges and universities to uncover and apply proven practices and transformative insights. And since complex problems require multifaceted solutions, EAB works with each school differently to apply these insights through a customized blend of research, technology and services. From kindergarten to college and beyond, EAB partners with education leaders, practitioners and staff to accelerate progress and drive results across three key areas: enrollment management, student success and institutional operations and strategy.

Contact Us

Moon Shot for Equity Project Owner

Christine Manion, Ph.D.
Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness
manionc@matc.edu

EAB Navigate Project Manager

David Rowe
Director, IT Strategy and Planning
rowed1@matc.edu

HOLD REFORM TEAM LEADS

Sarah Adams, Ph.D.
Interim Vice President, Enrollment
adamss4@matc.edu

Holistic Care Team Leads

Janay Alston
Director, Counseling and Advising
alstonjs@matc.edu

Pam Schoessling
Manager, Retention Coaching
schoessp@matc.edu

Retention Grants Team Leads

Jennifer Mikulay Ph.D.
Director, Quality, Planning and Assessment
mikulayj@matc.edu

Eva Martinez Powless Ph.D
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer
marte176@matc.edu

Transfer Pathways Team Leads

Barbara Cannell
Dean, Academic Services
cannellb@matc.edu