Illustration: Pat Kinsella

The University of Georgia hopes to establish itself as a place where deploying active-learning techniques in a thoughtful way is the norm. Active learning, an approach that aims to get students to construct rather than consume knowledge, is supported by evidence that it improves student learning overall and can also reduce performance gaps for underrepresented students. 

It’s also a teaching-focused answer to the big question of how to support this generation of students, many of whom bring with them work and family responsibilities and mental-health challenges and whose educations were disrupted by the pandemic.

Basic needs services at California’s community colleges can take many forms, from help with housing and transportation to funding for utilities or textbooks.

Leaders at Antelope Valley College want to do even more to eliminate barriers that might impede student success. Thanks to partnerships with local clinics, the school is now enabling access to another essential service that’s still rare among basic needs services: dental care.

Photo: José Luis Villegas

The California State University system has consistently struggled to graduate Black students. Can cultural centers help? Some campus leaders say they can.

Black college students in California believe resource centers combat a sense of alienation that comes from low enrollment rates. Eighteen of the 23 Cal State campuses and nine out of 10 UC campuses have a Black resource center.