Leveling the Learning Landscape

What is Leveling the Learning Landscape (L3)? 

Leveling the Learning Landscape (L3) is a multi-year strategic effort to equalize educational access and opportunity for all Stanford undergraduates through curricular innovation and institutional reform. L3 aims to equip students with the tools they need to succeed and help them develop a sense of belonging as they launch their Stanford education. Further, through grants and professional development, L3 supports faculty ingenuity to invent and refine curricula and teaching strategies to support Stanford students whatever their learning style, background, or academic preparation.

L3 is supported by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) as well as a generous five-year gift by an anonymous donor. L3 is managed by VPUE, with participation of colleagues across the university from the three undergraduate schools (School of Humanities and Sciences, School of Engineering, and Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability), Institutional Research & Design Support (IR&DS), the Vice Provost for Student Affairs, and Stanford Continuing Studies and Summer Session.

• Curriculum Equity and Innovation
• Improving Summer Academic Impact
• L3 Leadership and Partners
• L3 in the News

Curriculum Equity and Innovation

L3's Curriculum Equity and Innovation initiative supports Stanford faculty and academic staff in designing, revising, and evaluating curriculum and pedagogical approaches to meet the current needs of students. These transformations are crucial to create a robust learning environment in the classroom.

Mary Beth Mudgett, Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences (H&S), Susan B. Ford Professor of Biology is the Faculty Director of L3's Curriculum Equity and Innovation efforts.

The Curriculum Transformation Project and Curriculum Transformation Institute

The goal of the Curriculum Transformation Project (CTP) is to enable departments to scaffold increasingly inclusive teaching and learning environments in their classrooms and across introductory sequences of courses, while equipping students with the skills and resources to be successful. To facilitate this work, the Curriculum Transformation Institute (CTI) was created and launched in June 2023. CTI is an intensive three-day workshop that helps participants identify course challenges and potential solutions, formulate goals, determine the strategies and materials required to support goals, and develop assessments and deliverables to measure project outcomes. CTI also provides a supported, professional experience with low barriers to entry to enable  instructors to make substantive and sustainable improvements to curricula.

CTP deliverables include enhanced and new introductory courses, developed through CTI, with continuous support from education professionals, evidence-based feedback, and collaboration across departments. All of these activities contribute to larger institutional changes, ushering in a cultural shift. 

Curriculum Transformation Institute & Seed Grants

Explore past and present examples of Curriculum Transformation Projects

Improving Summer Academic Impact

L3’s Improving Summer Academic Impact initiatives leverage summers to foster early academic success, confidence, and belonging. 

Rafe Mazzeo, Cassius Lamb Kirk Professor of the Natural Sciences and Professor of Mathematics, is the Faculty Director of L3's Improving Summer Academic Impact programs.

Pre-Frosh Summer 

L3 supports the design and development of a new, coordinated approach to academic bridge programming to ensure students feel confident and knowledgeable about their transition to Stanford.

The Stanford Summer Bridge Program (SSBP)

The Stanford Summer Bridge Program continues Stanford’s commitment to addressing the needs of all incoming students as they transition to the rigors of the Stanford college experience.  SSBP helps to prepare students to succeed in Stanford’s first-year courses and other academic opportunities and to pursue whatever major they desire. The program is designed to support the needs of students who may be the first in their families to attend college, or who have attended high schools with limited course offerings, or who simply feel that further preparation will increase their confidence in the Fall quarter and beyond. Students participate in either an in-person or online program experience. 

Learn more about the Summer Bridge Program

Pre-Soph Summer 

L3 provides research, academic, and experiential opportunities for students the summer before their sophomore year to build their skills and networks for future endeavors  and allow time to focus on a key course outside of the academic year.

Stanford Summer Fellows Program (SSFP)

SSFP brings first-generation and low-income students together on campus for eight weeks during the summer between their first and second year at Stanford. During the program, participants take a course for full credit and, depending on the course, they may get ahead on satisfying a requirement, explore a potential major, or expand on an academic interest. Additionally, participants gain exposure to mentored research through an eight-week research placement.

Learn more about the Stanford Summer Fellows Program (SSFP)

L3 Leadership and Partners

L3 Leadership

• James Hamilton, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Hearst Professor of Communication, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, L3 Chair
• Rafe Mazzeo, Cassius Lamb Kirk Professor of the Natural Sciences and Professor of Mathematics, L3 Faculty Director
• Mary Beth Mudgett, Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences (H&S), Susan B. Ford Professor of Biology, L3 Faculty Director
• Rebecca Katz, Assistant Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives (VPUE), L3 Director

L3 Faculty Advisory Committee

• Mary Beth Mudgett, Senior Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences (H&S) and Susan B. Ford Professor of Biology (Committee Chair)
• Otis Chodosh, Associate Professor of Mathematics
• Christopher Gregg, Associate Chair for Education and Associate Professor (Teaching) of Computer Science
• James Hamilton, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Hearst Professor of Communication, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
• Thomas Kenny, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Student Affairs (SoE), Richard W. Weiland Professor and Professor of Mechanical Engineering
• Kate Maher, Professor of Earth System Science and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
• Rafe Mazzeo, Cassius Lamb Kirk Professor of the Natural Sciences and Professor of Mathematics
• Dustin Schroeder, Associate Professor of Geophysics, of Electrical Engineering, and Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment
• Greg Walton, Professor of Psychology
• Esther Yu, Assistant Professor of English

L3 In the News