Background

Norwalk Community College (NCC) is located in affluent Fairfield County in Southwestern Connecticut, but most of its students come from Norwalk and Stamford. Both cities have large areas of poverty, and approximately 20 percent of NCC’s students receive financial aid.

The student population is as diverse as the region the college serves. Nearly 80 percent of NCC’s entering students tested into pre-college levels of reading, writing or math. The college estimates that half of its graduates began college with at least one developmental course. Other data indicate that the students who are eligible for financial aid perform at significantly lower levels than non-eligible students in terms of grade point averages, persistence and graduation rates.

Achieving the Dream Goals

Institutional assessment and learning outcomes are new priorities at NCC. The college is in the process of taking several steps that would integrate its institutional data collection with decision-making. It is also linking several new grants to partnerships with employers, high schools and the community. The college would like to

Develop a seamless environment to facilitate student learning;
Create an atmosphere of collegiality and collaboration;
Distill data to determine how well the college is serving its students.

The college has three major initiatives underway to better serve its low-income and minority students.

The college is developing a Student Success Center, which will use a case management approach to advising. This initiative is being targeted towards students in the lowest level of developmental English.
The college is expanding its learning communities to link developmental English with subject matter courses.
Faculty leaders are developing initiatives aimed at improving success in eight gateway courses. To date, these initiatives include professional development and a faculty-led version of supplemental instruction.

Return to list of colleges