By Rachel Williams, NACAC Communications

Los Angeles (Sept. 27, 2024) – Instead of asking what students need to do to become more college ready, institutions need to ask themselves how they can become more student ready.

That was the advice from Jennifer Baszile, associate vice chancellor for student success and inclusive excellence at the California State University chancellor’s office. She and Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, were the panelists for Friday’s main stage session about the future of student success. Teresa Watanabe, higher education reporter of the Los Angeles Times, moderated the discussion.

“We really have to keep having deep, sustained conversations about what that arc of experience means about getting students excited about a college degree, applying to college, getting admitted to college, and then having the experience that too many of our underrepresented students tell us they have, which is they spend the early part of their experience in a process of requalification. It’s the great bait and switch,” said Baszile. “On one hand we say, ‘Congratulations, you’re admitted, you’ve met the minimum requirements or maximum requirements for admission.’ And then we put them through a set of paces they experience as invalidation that have nothing to do with their intelligence or their capacity to do the work.”

Reframing the question about if students are college ready to instead if institutions are student ready is the hardest part of student success but it’s the most important, she said.

In addition, the panelists said K-12 systems and institutions of higher education should look at more than just graduation rates, conferral of degrees, and other state assessments to measure success — they should also measure student wellbeing, joy, and sense of accomplishment.

“We need objective measures of success, but not at the exclusion of other measures of success,” said Carvalho. “For example: state assessments. We should use them to recalibrate ourselves, not to judge our students. I don’t know of broken students, but I know of broken systems that deflate their possibilities rather than elevate their abilities.”

Baszile and Carvalho both lead with that mentality, shaped by their personal experiences and upbringings. Baszile’s parents were first-generation college students who worked their way through college. Carvalho grew up poor in Portugal, immigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old, and became a teacher after earning his college education. He was inspired to help students in inner city and urban settings get equitable access to educational opportunity and resources.

Baszile and Carvalho also spoke about the importance of K-12 systems and higher education creating stronger partnerships and aligning more intentionally on student success. Rigor of K-12 curriculum should better prepare students for the rigor of college, and both systems should be creating structures that support students in their skills development.

“We risk having a generation of students who are segregated and left behind because they weren’t given access to develop skills,” said Baszile. “We can find ourselves in a situation where we say, ‘Oh, students don’t need a degree,’ but we shouldn’t deprive them of the opportunity where they could develop that skill. Even the trades are becoming more skill intensive and will require more STEM education.”

“We need to be careful and mindful and linger in this moment to understand that we need to get this right,” she said.

Watanabe also asked the panelists about their thoughts on the rising costs of college and on federal education policies. To conclude the panel discussion, Watanabe asked Baszile and Carvalho about what motivates them to get up each day.

“To work for students just like my parents who sought opportunity and found opportunity in non-selective higher education. It’s been the honor of my career,” said Baszile.

For Carvalho, “it’s the first day of school for the kindergarten students and the tears in the parents, then seeing that student walk across the graduation stage 12 years later and all the magic that happens in between,” he said.

The Future of Student Success panel discussion was the second main stage event of NACAC Conference 2024 in Los Angeles. Earvin “Magic” Johnson opened the conference on Thursday with a keynote speech on leadership and how a college counselor changed the trajectory of his life.

Moderator Teresa Watanabe with panelists Jennifer Baszile and Alberto Carvalho onstage at NACAC Conference 2024