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Preparing for Seal Certification
 

Excelencia is committed to working in partnership with institutions to share and learn strategies that align data, practice, and leadership as a community of learners to accelerate Latino, and all, student success. Institutions on the journey to more intentionally SERVE their Latino students, while serving all, can start preparing for certification as follows:

 

1. Join Excelencia in Action (E-Action) Network

Institutions seeking Seal certification must affiliate in Excelencia’s E-Action network by March 3. To learn more about affiliation and the E-Action network, please contact our Institutional Engagement team at E-Action@EdExcelencia.org.
 

2. Assess Your Readiness for Certification

Excelencia created the Seal Serving Institutional Transformation Assessment (SSITA) tool to help prepare institutions for their journey to more intentionally serve Latino students and build campus support among faculty, staff, and administrative leaders. SSITA provides a starting point for colleges to assess with a Latino lens who they are serving, not serving, and want to serve with data, practice, and leadership. Learn more about SSITA here.

Other key elements for assessing institutional efforts:

  • Presidential support and administrative engagement that advances institutional priorities to encourage and sustain the work required to intentionally serve your Latino students, among serving all students.
     
  • An institutional team with reach and expertise that includes leadership in:
    • Academic Affairs,
    • Student Affairs,
    • Institutional Research, and/or
    • President/Provost’s office.
       
  • Access to five years of data, disaggregated by race/ethnicity in the six areas of the Seal of Excelencia framework: enrollment, retention, transfer, financial support, completion, and representation of faculty, staff and administration.
     

3. Engage in Excelencia's Capacity Building

To support and reinforce institutional capacity to more intentionally serve, Excelencia has created a capacity building strategy to meet institutions where they are in their transformation journey. Learn more about CB opportunities for institutional teams here.

We are offering a Seal Certification Application Webinar on March 30, 2:00-4:00pm ET to provide an overview of the application and review processes, key dates, CB support and resources available. The webinar also offers an opportunity to hear from Seal certified institutions. Click here to register.

4. Prepare Your Story of Intentionally Serving Latino, and all, students

Institutions applying for the Seal of Excelencia will share their story of intentionally serving Latino students, while serving all, by providing the items listed below. The SSITA provides a starting point for gathering these important components of your institution’s story.

  • Data snapshots of Latinos, and all, students being served at your institution through enrollment, retention, transfer, financial support, representation, and degree completion;
  • Strategies and practices and/or programs that are aligned to institutional data showing evidence of effectiveness for accelerating Latino, and all, student success; and
  • Leadership strategies that clearly articulate institutional focus on advancing Latino, and all, student success.


The Seal of Excelencia recognizes institutions on the journey to transform into environments where all Latino, and all, students thrive by demonstrating alignment in the three core areas of data, practice, and leadership and throughout their application as well as:

  • Intentionality in institutional strategies and evidence-based practices serving Latino, and all, students;
  • Ongoing data analysis and assessment to identify and implement strategies and practices that advance Latino, and all, student achievement;
  • Positive momentum for Latino, and all, student progress in all key areas of the Seal framework,
  • Leadership strategies that clearly articulate institutional focus on accelerating Latino, and all, student success.
     

Certification is acknowledged by Excelencia in Education for three years. Certified institutions will be invited to apply for recertification at the end of three years.