ESCALA Program

In September of 2018, 35 Vanguard faculty gathered to develop our collective capacity to offer culturally responsive teaching by inviting ESCALA Educational Services to offer a two-day workshop. ESCALA provides faculty development programs to Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) throughout the Southwestern United States.

Highlights from ESCALA Training

Why This Kind of Development is Important

As you may know, student demographics and characteristics have changed over time, and so has higher education. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are the fastest growing sector of higher education and enroll over 60% of all Latinx college students. HSI faculty matter because they can play a powerful role in Latinx student retention, graduation, and post-baccalaureate aspirations.

ESCALA works with HSIs to create faculty development that allows faculty time to implement as well as measure changes. There is evidence that links certain types of teacher-student interactions and classroom structures with higher minority student engagement and academic outcomes.