Educating a Diverse Nation: Lessons from Minority Serving Institutions Marybeth Gasman University of Pennsylvania

Lesson 1 Successful institutions assume success on the part of students rather than seeing students of color from a deficit perspective.

Lesson 2 Successful institutions teach in ways that focus on what the student needs to learn rather than what is convenient for the professor.

Lesson 3 Successful institutions have faculty members that allow students to bring their full identity to the classroom and capitalize on all aspects of a student’s identity in the learning process.

Lesson 4 Successful institutions have faculty members that come together to co-construct classes and a curriculum that empowers the student.

Lesson 5 Successful institutions provide students the opportunity to participate in culturally relevant assignments that speak to the issues in the communities from which they come.

Lesson 6 Successful institutions encourage students to live for something larger than themselves.

Lesson 7 Successful institutions gather as much data as possible on their students’ learning experiences.

Lesson 8 Successful institutions bring the student services and academic services sides of the institution together in order to focus on students rather than operate in silos.

Lesson 9 Successful institutions encourage student collaboration over competition & independence.

Lesson 10 Successful institutions provide students with peer mentors and peer mentoring opportunities across the curriculum.

Questions & Answers Marybeth Gasman Judy & Howard Berkowitz Professor of Education University of Pennsylvania mgasman@upenn.edu Twitter handle: @marybethgasman 215-573-3990 Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions www.gse.upenn.edu/cmsi Twitter handle: @centerformsis Book available with Harvard University Press