Learn About the Course Equity Portal

The Course Equity Portal was designed and built in a collaboration between the Student Success Strategic Innovations Division of the Chancellor’s Office, members of the Academic Senate of the CSU and Faculty Development Directors from two campuses. It also incorporates feedback from dozens of faculty who participated in early pilot studies. Your feedback is also greatly appreciated as we are always seeking to improve these tools to better serve you.

Equity gaps are gaps in grades of D, F, WU, and NC and by GPA, between students who are and are not from historically underserved racial/ethnic groups, who are and who are not recipients of Pell grants, and who are and who are not first-generation college students. Equity gaps also occur based on student gender. Historically, across higher education in the US, students who are first-generation, who are from underrepresented minority groups, and who are Pell recipients (from low-income households) receive poorer grades and have lower GPAs than students who do not belong to those groups.

Yes, equity gaps exist throughout the CSU. For more information see Graduation Initiative's Closing the Equity Gap page.

Despite much focus and effort on the part of the CSU, a considerable gap continues to exist in the persistence and graduation rates of certain groups of students. Even though we have made significant efforts to close this persistent equity gap, it still remains. Although there are many stakeholders involved in the college experience, faculty spend more time with students than any other campus professional, thereby positioning us to have the greatest impact on the success of our students. It is our responsibility because all of our students deserve the same opportunities for success. We are part of an institution committed to equity and student success. The academic experiences and opportunities within and outside the classroom are the responsibly of the faculty. We are in the position of greatest influence for the academic success of our students.

The goal of the Course Equity Portal is to empower faculty to critically examine outcome data from courses they have taught, reflect on what this information means within the context of their courses, and learn what actions they might take to create a more inclusive and equitable learning environment for their students. These actions can be a series of small changes implemented over a period of time or can be a complete redesign of a course. The “What Actions Can I Take” section of the Course Equity Portal will help guide you to resources that can help you determine what changes you might make to give all students in your courses the opportunity to be successful.

The Course Equity Portal applies a set of statistical algorithms to present a curated set of findings tailored to each faculty user. These algorithms process grade data and analyze rates at which students receive D, F, WU, and NC grades along with any equity gaps. Using regression techniques that gauge the direction and slope of the grade trend line over a number of terms, the algorithm produces a summary to the user. Similarly, if there is a comparison that involves user data and other data at a course or department level, statistical values are calculated to gauge whether differences exist between groups. For a more detailed description click here.

First, what are covariates? Covariates are variables which are correlated with other variables in our analysis. For example, if 1st Generation students also tend to be more likely to be Pell and URM, the estimated1st Generation equity gap when not controlling for Pell and URM status would be different than if we were to control for these other factors. At this time, covariate analyses are not included in the algorithms used to identify the insights presented to the faculty user. In future versions of the Course Equity Portal, it is possible that covariates will be taken into account, allowing faculty members to determine whether the nature of the equity gaps they have are attributable to just one demographic factor or whether there are multiple sources of equity gaps. Student-level covariates (like High School GPA, family income, etc.) cannot be incorporated into the analysis due to student privacy data considerations. We thus cannot run analyses at the student-level but instead at a class-level.

Your individual portal is viewable only by you. We encourage you to view, reflect and use your personal data without fear and with an eye towards growth. These individualized data are being provided in order to reveal areas where you can help the CSU better support student success and equity.

You. Based on way the portal has been set up, no one else will be able to access your data through the portal.

Yes. Currently we have some ways to download data built into the portal. We want to expand that so that faculty members can run additional individualized analyses should that be of interest.

If you’re having any kind of problem accessing or using the Portal, please contact us here to let us know what problem you’re encountering. Please keep in mind that only CSU faculty can access and use the portal and that each faculty member will only be able to see their own personal data.