Four Wisconsin colleges form first-ever alliance in nation to attack racial equity gaps
(The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted an article regarding the recent EAB Moon Shot for Equity announcement. Read the full article here).
Four southeast Wisconsin colleges have become the first in the country to form an alliance intended to eliminate the college equity gaps that have existed in the region for generations.
Leaders at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Carthage College announced Wednesday they had signed on to the Moon Shot for Equity, a national effort led by Washington D.C.-based education firm EAB.
The up-to-10-year effort calls for re-imagining much of the college experience — including admissions, academic advising and curriculum — with the goal of reducing the barriers known to disproportionately hold back students of color, those who are the first in their families to go to college and those from low-income backgrounds.
The schools are the first to take a regional approach to the Moon Shot challenge. And campus leaders say the region and their campuses need it.
In the seven-county Milwaukee region, 56% of white students earned a degree or a certificate within six years. Only 32% of Hispanic students and 20% of Black students did the same, according to data from the Higher Education Regional Alliance, a group of southeast Wisconsin colleges that includes the four taking on the Moon Shot.