Are You HIP?: How One Latinx Learning Community Integrates Ten High-Impact Practices to Foster Student Success

Abstract

This practice report shares practices from a successful Latinx Studies learning community model at an urban research-intensive university in the Midwestern United States. The learning community model offers a tiered developmental curriculum to support the three different stages of a student’s journey, from enrollment to graduation. The three distinct phases of the learning community model are: a pre-college summer enrichment program, a first- and second-year college scholars program and a third and fourth-year college-to-career component. The model also integrates 10 out of 11 of Kuh’s (2008) high impact practices demonstrated to support student engagement and success for students making a direct transition from high school to university. The authors share gains in student retention and five-year graduation rates as evidence of effectiveness.