Brief Presentation Description: Colleges and universities face greater demands to demonstrate educational effectiveness. As institutions become more ethnically diverse they will need to make progress towards closing any "achievement gaps" and simultaneously make evident educational outcomes for all students. Researchers from USC engage participants in developing a scorecard framework-a tool for identifying, improving, and achieving equitable outcomes, particularly for ethnically diverse students.

Detailed Presentation Description: This workshop is a compilation of the lessons learned from the Diversity Scorecard project, an action research project funded by The James Irvine Foundation and conducted by the Center for Urban Education at USC in partnership with 14 higher education institutions in southern California. Participants in the workshop will be led through an interactive process of creating a Diversity Scorecard. The Diversity Scorecard is a tool for monitoring progress toward equity and excellence through the use of existing institutional data in four areas: access, retention, institutional receptivity, and excellence. The Diversity Scorecard was developed using principles from the "Balanced Scorecard" approach developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton and initially described in the Harvard Business Review. Since its unveiling, the balanced scorecard approach has been utilized by private enterprise organizations, public agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and higher education institutions with demonstrable, positive effects on organizational learning and performance.

Using fictitious data from a "model" university to illustrate the process, presenters will offer guidance on the steps undertaken to bring together members across the institution to implement the scorecard approach, interactively engage participants in the steps and techniques for developing a Diversity Scorecard, and demonstrate methods of presenting and using evidence to engage campus members in discussion that leads to necessary institutional changes that will enhance effectiveness.

Presenters will also discuss experiences and lessons learned from the Diversity Scorecard project. For example, Institution A sought to discover whether participation in honors groups such as the Blue Key society was inequitable--were African American and Latino students participating in these programs at the same rates as other students? At Institution B, they discovered through the use of data that African American students were sorely under-represented in the Study Abroad program, a program the institution prided itself on and is considered important for student academic and social enrichment.