Assessing the impact of a student-faculty pedagogical partnership to infuse equity and improve the student learning experience at a minority-serving institution
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v10i1.6849Keywords:
student-faculty partnership, minority serving institution, equity, impact, pedagogical support, assessment, student learningAbstract
This study examined the impact of a student–faculty pedagogical partnership by collecting evidence on whether enrolled students at a minority-serving institution perceived and experienced faculty-implemented changes made in response to their learning needs. Undergraduate student partners gathered feedback in three introductory humanities courses and discussed student perspectives with respective course faculty to inform instruction. Near the end of the term, SATAL student partners administered a six-question impact survey, first individually and then in groups of three to five students, to collect the class’s reactions to the faculty’s interventions. Qualitative and quantitative findings indicated that most enrolled students (>80%) observed the implemented changes and expressed satisfaction with the faculty's response to their feedback. Students’ open-ended responses were analyzed following Saldaña’s (2015) coding process. Students described how the changes “encouraged a more open and respectful exchange of ideas” and helped create an environment where “everyone felt comfortable participating and building new connections.” This assessment article, co-authored by staff, students, and faculty, presents a compelling case to explore the impact of pedagogical partnership on enrolled students and has implications for adoption at other institutions.
Downloads
References
Andrews, M., Brown, R., & Mesher, L. (2018). Engaging students with assessment and feedback: Improving assessment for learning with students as partners. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 11(1), 32–46. https://ojs.cumbria.ac.uk/index.php/prhe/article/view/460
Bovill, C., Matthews, K. E., & Hinchcliffe, T. (2021). Student partnership in assessment (SPiA). Advance HE. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/student-partnership-assessment-spia
Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., & Felten, P. (2011). Students as co-creators of teaching approaches, course design, and curricula: Implications for academic developers. International Journal for Academic Development, 16(2), 133–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144x.2011.568690
Bovill, C., Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Millard, L., & Moore-Cherry, N. (2015). Addressing potential challenges in co-creating learning and teaching: Overcoming resistance, navigating institutional norms, and ensuring inclusivity in student–staff partnerships. Higher Education, 71(2), 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9896-4
Bovill, C. (2019). A co-creation of learning and teaching typology: What kind of co-creation are you planning or doing? International Journal for Students as Partners, 3(2), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v3i2.3953
Bovill, C. (2019). Co-creation in learning and teaching: The case for a whole-class approach in higher education. Higher Education, 79(6), 1023–1037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00453-w
Caldwell, J. E. (2007). Clickers in the large classroom: Current research and best-practice tips. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 6(1), 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.06-12-0205
Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative. (n.d.). Classroom observation protocol for undergraduate STEM (COPUS). University of British Columbia. http://www.cwsei.ubc.ca/resources/tools/copus.html
Clark, D. J., & Redmond, M. V. (1982). Small group instructional diagnosis: Final report (ERIC Document No. ED217954). ERIC. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED217954
Cook-Sather, A. (2011). Layered learning: Student consultants deepening classroom and life lessons. Educational Action Research, 19(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2011.547680
Cook-Sather, A., Bovill, C., & Felten, P. (2014). Engaging students as partners in learning and teaching: A guide for faculty. Jossey-Bass.
Cook-Sather, A., & Luz, A. (2014). Greater engagement in and responsibility for learning: What happens when students cross the threshold of student–faculty partnership. Higher Education Research & Development, 34(6), 1097–1109. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2014.911263
Cook-Sather, A., & Felten, P. (2017). Where student engagement meets faculty development: How student-faculty pedagogical partnership fosters a sense of belonging. Student Engagement in Higher Education Journal, 1(2), 3–11. https://sehej.raise-network.com/raise/article/view/cook
Cook-Sather, A. (2019). Respecting voices: How the co-creation of teaching and learning can support academic staff, underrepresented students, and equitable practices. Higher Education, 79(5), 885–901. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-019-00445-w
Cook-Sather, A. (2020). Student voice across contexts: Fostering student agency in today's schools. Theory Into Practice, 59(2), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2019.1705091
Cook-Sather, A., & Wilson, C. (Eds.). (2020). Building courage, confidence, and capacity in learning and teaching through student-faculty partnership: Stories from across contexts and arenas of practice. Lexington Books. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781666985580
Cook-Sather, A., Addy, T. M., DeVault, A., & Litvitskiy, N. (2021). Where are the students in efforts for inclusive excellence? Two approaches to positioning students as critical partners for inclusive pedagogical practices. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.961
Cook-Sather, A. (2021). Responding to twin pandemics: Reconceptualizing assessment practices for equity and justice. Research & Practice in Assessment, 16(2). https://www.rpajournal.com/responding-to-twin-pandemics/
Cook-Sather, A. (2022). Toward equitable and inclusive school practices: Expanding approaches to "research with" young people. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 66(3), 146–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1265
Cook-Sather, A., Cott, M., Seay, K., & Stewart, K. (2023a). Pedagogical partnership as professional development for students. In J. Conner, L. Gauthier, R. Raaper, & C. Guzmán-Valenzuela (Eds.), The Bloomsbury international handbook of student voice in higher education (pp. 357–370). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350342484.ch-025
Cook-Sather, A., Felten, P., Piper Stewart, K. (Kayo), & Weston, H. (2023b). Reviving the construct of "mattering" in pursuit of equity and justice in higher education. In E. Rueda & C. Lowe Swift (Eds.), Academic belonging in higher education: Fostering student connection, competence, and confidence (pp. 198–214). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003443735-18
Cook-Sather, A., Slates, S., Acai, A., Aquilina, S., Ajani, K., Arm, K., ... Winstone, N. (2023c). How can students-as-partners work inform assessment? International Journal for Students as Partners, 7(1), 218–234. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v7i1.5453
Cook-Sather, A. (2024). Rethinking time in preparing for and reflecting on teaching: Pedagogical partnership with student consultants as empowering educational development. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 43(1), 10. https://doi.org/10.3998/tia.4793
Dargusch, J., Harris, L., & Bearman, M. (2023). "How to look at it differently": Negotiating more inclusive assessment design with student partners. In R. Ajjawi, J. Tai, D. Boud, & T. Jorre de St Jorre (Eds.), Assessment for inclusion in higher education: Promoting equity and social justice in assessment (pp. 211–221). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003293101-23
Dearden, L., Emmerson, C., Frayne, C., & Meghir, C. (2003). The impact of financial incentives on education choice. Paper presented at the CEPR Conference on the Economics of Education, Paris, France.
de Bie, A., Marquis, E., Cook-Sather, A., & Luqueño, L. (2021). Promoting equity and justice through pedagogical partnership. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003446521
Del Rosso, J., & Nordstrom-Wehner, B. (2020). Team grade anarchy: A conversation about the troubled transition of grading. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 30. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss30/5
Dulai, K. S., Kranzfelder, P., Signorini, A., Pusey, T. S., Presas Valencia, A., Urbina, C., & Oviedo, N. J. (2022). Collaborative teaching plus (CT+): A timely, flexible, and dynamic course design implemented during emergency remote teaching in an introductory biology course. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 21(4). https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-08-0199
Dunbar, H., Loder, R., & Dwyer, H. (2025). Aiming to improve social inclusion in physician assistant students' classroom experience through partnership. Social Sciences, 14(2), 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14020115
Felten, P., Abbot, S., Kirkwood, J., Long, A., Lubicz-Nawrocka, T., Mercer-Mapstone, L., & Verwoord, R. (2019). Reimagining the place of students in academic development. International Journal for Academic Development, 24(2), 192–203. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360144x.2019.1594235
Felten, P., & Lambert, L. (2020). Relationship-rich education: How human connections drive success in college. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Felten, P., Lambert, L. M., Artze-Vega, I., & Tapia, O. R. M. (2023). Connections are everything: A college student's guide to relationship-rich education. JHU Press. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/111986
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., & Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111
Gavassa, S., Benabentos, R., Kravec, M., Collins, T., & Eddy, S. (2019). Closing the achievement gap in a large introductory course by balancing reduced in-person contact with increased course structure. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 18(1), ar8. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.18-08-0153
Guberman, D. (2020). Grading together: Toward a partnership approach. Teaching and Learning Together in Higher Education, 29. https://repository.brynmawr.edu/tlthe/vol1/iss29/6
Haak, D. C., HilleRisLambers, J., Pitre, E., & Freeman, S. (2011). Increased structure and active learning reduce the achievement gap in introductory biology. Science, 332(6034), 1213–1216. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204820
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2014). Engagement through partnership: Students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education. Higher Education Academy. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2016). Students as partners: Reflections on a conceptual model. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.4.2.3
Healey, M., & Healey, R. (2018). "It depends": Exploring the context-dependent nature of students as partners, practices and policies. International Journal for Students as Partners, 2(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v2i1.3472
Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Cook-Sather, A. (2020). Writing about learning and teaching in higher education. Center for Engaged Learning. https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa3
Heaslip, G., Donovan, P., & Cullen, J. G. (2014). Student response systems and learner engagement in large classes. Active Learning in Higher Education, 15(1), 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787413514648
Kay, R. H., & LeSage, A. (2009). Examining the benefits and challenges of using audience response systems: A review of the literature. Computers & Education, 53(3), 819–827. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.05.001
Knight, J. K., & Wood, W. B. (2005). Teaching more by lecturing less. Cell Biology Education, 4(4), 298–310. https://doi.org/10.1187/05-06-0082
Lesnick, A., Cohen, J., & Cook-Sather, A. (2007). Working the tensions: Constructing educational studies within a liberal arts context. In C. Bjork, D. K. Johnston, & H. Ross (Eds.), Taking teaching seriously: How liberal arts colleges prepare teachers to meet today's educational challenges in school (pp. 54-79). Paradigm Publishers.
Martens, S. E., Spruijt, A., Wolfhagen, I. H. A. P., Whittingham, J. R. D., & Dolmans, D. H. J. M. (2019). A students' take on student–staff partnerships: Experiences and preferences. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(6), 910–919. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1546374
Marquis, C., Toffel, M. W., & Zhou, Y. (2016). Scrutiny, norms, and selective disclosure: A global study of greenwashing. Organization Science, 27(2), 483–504. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2015.1039
Marquis, E., De Bie, A., Cook-Sather, A., Krishna Prasad, S., Luqueño, L., & Ntem, A. (2021). "I saw a change": Enhancing classroom equity through student-faculty pedagogical partnership. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotlrcacea.2021.1.10814
Matthews, K. E., Cook-Sather, A., Acai, A., Dvorakova, S. L., Felten, P., Marquis, E., & Mercer-Mapstone, L. (2019). Toward theories of partnership praxis: An analysis of interpretive framing in literature on students as partners in teaching and learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(2), 280–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1530199
Mercer-Mapstone, L., Dvorakova, S. L., Matthews, K. E., Abbot, S., Cheng, B., Felten, P., Knorr, K., Marquis, E., Shammas, R., & Swaim, K. (2017). A systematic literature review of students as partners in higher education. International Journal for Students as Partners, 1(1), 15–37. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v1i1.3119
Montenegro, E., & Jankowski, N. A. (2017). Equity and assessment: Moving towards culturally responsive assessment (Occasional Paper No. 29). University of Illinois and Indiana University, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA).
Prince, M. (2004). Does active learning work? A review of the research. Journal of Engineering Education, 93(3), 223–231. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x
R Charts. (n.d.). Stacked bar graph in R. R CHARTS. https://r-charts.com/part-whole/stacked-bar-graph/
Saldaña, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Signorini, A. (2023). Design study of a student-faculty partnership program implementing assessment as an equitable pedagogical practice at a research-intensive MSI [Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Stanislaus]. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12680/2v23w226f
Smith, M. K., Jones, F. H., Gilbert, S. L., & Wieman, C. E. (2013). The classroom observation protocol for undergraduate STEM (COPUS): A new instrument to characterize university STEM classroom practices. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 12(4), 618–627. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-08-0154
Strijbos, J., & Vaesen, J. (2025). Processes of change in student-teacher partnerships: A review of literature. Educational Action Research, 34(1), 61–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2025.2531174
Theobald, E. J., Hill, M. J., Tran, E., Agrawal, S., Arroyo, E. N., Behling, S., Chambwe, N., Cintrón, D. L., Cooper, J. D., Dunster, G., Grummer, J. A., Hennessey, K., Hsiao, J., Iranon, N., Jones, L., 2nd, Jordt, H., Keller, M., Lacey, M. E., Littlefield, C. E., Lowe, A., ... Freeman, S. (2020). Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(12), 6476–6483. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1916903117
Varwell, S. (2021). Models for exploring partnership: Introducing sparqs' student partnership staircase as a reflective tool for staff and students. International Journal for Students as Partners, 5(1), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.15173/ijsap.v5i1.4452
Whysel, B. (2022). Can we improve grading by collaborating with students? Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/can-we-improve-grading-by-collaborating-with-students/
Wilke, C. O. (2025, July 6). Arranging plots in a grid, cowplot. https://wilkelab.org/cowplot/articles/plot_grid.html
Zeyab, A. J. (2017). Educational technology and visual literacy: The effect of using doodling on student learning performance [Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Colorado]. University of Northern Colorado Digital UNC. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/400
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Adriana Signorini, Yang Lor, Tommy Tran, Elena Navarro, Tina Li, Adelina Murillo, Francisco Guerrero, Myron Ramirez, Adya Misra

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process - this applies to the submitted, accepted, and published versions of the manuscript. This can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (see The Effect of Open Access).