Equity & Kindness with Dr. Darla Cooper

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE:

Learn about kindness toward students to address student success & equity.

In this episode, I interview Dr. Darla Cooper, Executive Director of the RP Group, a nonprofit research and planning organization focused on supporting California community colleges to increase student success and equity.

(Scroll down to access the transcript.)

Note: While the RP Group is California-based, the research findings and resources are applicable to all U.S. community colleges and open access universities.

We cover the following key topics:

5:22:19: The work of the RP Group: telling student stories

8:07:10: Unpacking Student Support (Re)defined

Overview of the study

Six Factors

14:14:17: Examples of how colleges have used Student Support (Re)defined

Examples

10 Ways Faculty Can Support Student Success

10 Ways Everyone Can Support Student Success

17:18:24: False assumptions about students by college educators

22:41:07: The RP Group and equity: Black & Latina/o/x student voices & Through the Gate transfer study

Through the Gate Study

Students Speak Their Truth about Transfer: What They Need to Get Through the Gate

Transfer Stories and Strategies: How Six Student Groups Experience the Transfer Journey

28:24:00: George Floyd murder: moving beyond statements

32:22:11: Eye-opening differently abled (i.e., disabled) student voices

44:43:03: Professional development opportunities: signature events

Events

52:10:17: Veteran student voices

58:48:04: Upcoming African-American student transfer study

1:04:32: Parting words: a reminder not to make negative assumptions about students; applying Student Support (Re)defined's six factors to college personnel

Select Dr. Cooper episode quotes:

"Students have to be at the center and the reason for everything we do at the RP Group."

"Students want to be active participants in their learning; not passive vessels we pour information into."

"Everyone at the college can and should play a role in student success. No matter what your job is."

"There's a difference between being a failure and failing. If comfortable, educators should consider sharing their failures with students. Students look at us as if none of us have had struggles to overcome."

"African-American students were more likely than other groups to say that having someone at the college care about them was important to their success."

"African-American and Latinx students were more likely to state that they have found transfer resources helpful. Therefore, we need to do a better job to ensure these resources are getting to these populations."

"If a bad experience is happening to one disabled student, that's one student too many. It's not about 'how many students was that?' It was THAT one."

"In a discussion among disabled students, invisibly disabled students shared that they feel they have to prove they're differently abled and physically disabled students shared that they feel they can't hide from it. This interchange created empathy and support within the group. We need to find ways to create these settings for disproportionately impacted students."

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About Dr. Darla Cooper
Dr. Darla Cooper has worked in the community college system for over 20 years, having previously held institutional research director positions at a variety of colleges. She led Student Support (Re)defined, a landmark research project that examined what supports student success and co-directed Through the Gate, a research study that examined what happens with students who appear ready to transfer, but do not. Dr. Cooper has extensive experience serving as an external evaluator for several federal and private foundation grants and has worked on various other projects designed to promote student success including the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, and the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Pathways Project.

About Dr. Al Solano
Al is Founder & Coach at the Continuous Learning Institute. A big believer in kindness, he helps institutions of higher education to plan and implement homegrown practices that get results for students by coaching them through a process based on what he calls the "Three Cs": Clarity, Coherence, Consensus. In addition, his bite-sized, practitioner-based articles on student success strategies, institutional planning & implementation, and educational leadership are implemented at institutions across the country. He has worked directly with over 50 colleges and universities and has trained well over 5,000 educators. He has coached colleges for over a decade, worked at two community colleges, and began his education career in K12. He earned a doctorate in education from UCLA, and is a proud community college student who transferred to Cornell University.

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