#896: Adaptive Equity-Oriented Pedagogy Predicts Student Achievement in Higher Education: Evidence from a Multi-Site Study

This study investigates whether equity-oriented teaching competencies predict college students’ success. In pedagogy courses, 143 graduate and undergraduate student instructors (hereafter “instructors”) completed the Adaptive Equity-Oriented Pedagogy (AEP) Competency assessment after teaching lessons. This portfolio-based assessment asked instructors to document observable AEP competencies and evaluated how instructors planned, taught, reflected, and adapted to address students’ equity barriers. This previously validated AEP competency assessment has demonstrated strong reliability, exhibits no gender bias, and correlates with researchers’ independent review of instructors’ teaching methods and materials. At two R1 institutions, multilevel regression modeling suggests that higher AEP competency scores significantly predicted greater student achievement in 14+ STEM and Social Science courses, controlling for instructors’ course, class size, teaching experience, minoritized status, and gender. Furthermore, addressing the pernicious belief that equity undermines rigor in curriculum, this study provides evidence suggesting that centering equity through AEP can improve instructor and student success.