University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College Achieves Stronger, More Equitable Student Achievement Through Campus-Wide Investment in Quality Teaching
As a 2-year community college, the University of Arkansas – Pulaski Technical College (UA-PTC) plays a key role in the education and workforce training pipeline in the Central Arkansas region. However, while many UA-PTC faculty are working professionals with direct industry experience, they had not previously been equipped with the practices needed to teach those vocations to students.
In 2017, the college began its partnership with ACUE to equip all of its instructors with evidence-based teaching practices. Today, 98% of all UA-PTC full-time faculty have become ACUE-certified.
Year 1 (2017-18):
Increase in students passing courses and receiving fewer DFW grades. The positive drop in DFW grades was greater for Black students, down 7 percentage points.
In this study alone, 120 additional students passed their courses and 145 fewer students received DFW grades in their courses the year after faculty completed the ACUE.
Fewer students received DFW grades and average course grades improved, with greater impact for Hispanic/Latino students.
In this study alone, 250 fewer students received DFW grades while faculty were completing the ACUE course, and 201 fewer students received DFW grades the year after faculty completed the ACUE course.
Stronger Outcomes During and Following the Pandemic
In the years that followed the study, UA-PTC leaders emphasized they had an even stronger footing to maintain student engagement and learning through the pandemic, which they have credited to greater faculty adaptability across learning modalities as a result of ACUE programs.