Breakout Session 2

Weekend Update for Higher Ed: IRPE News You Can Actually Use

Strand: Real Talk

Room: Royal A

This presentation uses a creative SNL Weekend Update format to demonstrate how coordinated data, planning, facilitation, evaluation, and data storytelling strengthen institutional initiatives and advance equitable student outcomes. As co-anchors, Aeron Zentner and Erik Cooper deliver fast-paced “news segments” that highlight how colleges can navigate the messy work of equity and change by grounding decisions in clear, accessible, and culturally responsive evidence.

Through humorous yet practical examples, the session illustrates how disaggregated data surfaces equity gaps, how intentional planning structures support cross-functional alignment, and how ongoing evaluation ensures initiatives remain effective and student-centered. Participants will gain replicable strategies to humanize data, elevate diverse student experiences, and communicate findings in ways that foster collaboration. The session reframes IRPE work as a vital, engaging, and collaborative force that empowers institutions to design meaningful interventions, improve accountability, and drive continuous improvement across student success efforts.

Presenters: Aeron Zentner, Coastline Community College; Erik Cooper, WestEd

Equity Data – Now in 2D! Framework Unlocks Shared Vocabulary to Improve Equity Analysis & Comprehension

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Terrace ABC

Equity data just got its long-awaited sequel, a second axis. Find out how practitioners created and then built upon the Longitudinal Equity Evaluation Framework (LEEF) model by harnessing an innovative data approach, branded dashboard, and coalition building. This empowered East Los Angeles College to engage more strategically during equity conversations. LEEF simplifies longitudinal equity data so that anyone can analyze the gaps in their desired outcomes; beyond that, LEEF suggests broad, actionable steps based on the uncovered patterns. In this session, you will learn best practices on how to incorporate LEEF at your campus. You will then get hands-on with mock data to analyze and make your own strategic recommendations.

Presenter: Josh Summers, East Los Angeles College

The Work of Implementing an Equity Plan at Scale

Strand: Real Talk

Room: Terrace DEF

Imagine you have an equity plan, created and championed by your college constituents. The plan identifies the most troubling and compelling inequities at the college. Now what? Given these conditions, Foothill College decided to implement our Strategic Vision for Equity at scale. We used a collective impact approach to create coordinated efforts with decentralized control. In this session, we will share processes and project components that facilitated institutional efforts. We will also share our experiences with some of the messier aspects of doing equity work at scale. Specifically, we’ll address how Foothill balanced the roles of research and planning; our tools for fostering ownership of outcomes; and the unexpected residuals of our project.

Presenters: Liz Leiserson and Chris Yang, Foothill College

OC‑Works in Action: Turning Messy Regional Labor Data Into Equitable Student-Centered Insights

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Terrace DEF

OC‑Works is a regional, equity‑centered workforce analytics project co‑created by IRPE professionals across Orange County. This session demonstrates how colleges transformed messy, inconsistent labor‑market data into intuitive dashboards that support equitable program alignment, employer engagement, and student‑centered planning. Participants will explore OC‑Works tools—including the Living Wage Calculator, Skills Explorer, and Employer Map—while learning how counselors and students used them in practice. The presentation highlights collaborative lessons learned, EDIA‑driven storytelling strategies, and replicable methods for cross‑college dashboard development. Attendees will leave with practical approaches for turning complex workforce data into actionable insights that advance economic mobility and strengthen regional IRPE collaboration.

Presenters: Stephanie Feger, Coast Community College District; C.J. Bishop, Golden West College

Miles to Go: Addressing the Unique Challenges of Rural Transfer Students

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Harbor

Community colleges serve as vital access points to higher education, particularly for students in rural areas. Yet, significant disparities in transfer rates persist, hindering economic mobility and income equality—especially for historically marginalized populations. This session builds on our ongoing rural transfer research, sharing findings from recent qualitative data collected through interviews and focus groups with rural staff and learners, as well as results from a survey conducted among both rural and non-rural students. We discuss specific barriers, promising practices, and how policy can evolve to create more equitable transfer pathways for rural learners.

Presenters: Katie Brohawn, Alyssa Nguyen, and Daisy Segovia, The RP Group

Reimagining Outreach Through Race-Conscious Inquiry: How SMC Used Data Coaching to Understand and Address Equity Gaps in Successful Enrollment for Black/African American Students

Strand: Research in Action

Room: Pacific

The Data Coaching Program at Santa Monica College (SMC) brought together Outreach, Marketing, and Institutional Research to investigate why Black/African American applicants enrolled at disproportionately low rates. Through a yearlong, practitioner-led, race-conscious inquiry process, the cohort examined disaggregated data, conducted interviews with high school counselors, and surfaced systemic factors—mistrust of higher education, limited belonging, and institutional messaging—that shaped students’ enrollment decisions. This “messy,” human-centered approach transformed understanding of the equity gap and directly informed the 2025–2028 Student Equity Plan’s Successful Enrollment strategies.

This session shares how SMC redistributed data power, built practitioner capacity, and translated inquiry findings into race-conscious redesign of outreach and onboarding practices. Participants will engage in interactive activities and hear from cohort members about how the experience changed their relationship to equity data and their ability to act on it.

Presenters: Silvana Carrion-Palomares, Glendal Community College; Rebecca Agonafir, Sherri Bradford, Jose Hernandez, and Hannah Lawler, Santa Monica College