Background
Hillsborough Community College (HCC) has four campuses in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Its focus on student access is evident in a 23% growth in enrollment between 2000 and 2003. Enrollment of black students grew 18% during that period.
Helping students achieve their educational goals is a challenge since most of the entering students are underprepared. HCC reports that 87% of its black students and 78% of its Hispanic students are under-prepared. All HCC student groups fall at least 12 percentage points below the Florida Community College System’s average for completion of developmental reading.
Achieving the Dream Interventions
Due to low percentages of students passing developmental courses, HCC has focused on expanding its student success courses and coaching for academically underprepared students.
Success Course: SLS 1501
Students who place into Developmental Reading are linked to SLS 1501 (College Success). Course instructors function as success coaches and facilitate student success by promoting peer, academic, and institutional engagement through various activities, strategies, and interventions designed to help students overcome traditional barriers to academic persistence. Success coaches present a number of active learning strategies in the classroom and equip students with time-management skills, test-taking skills, and other successful student behaviors. As part of the course, students are required to create a degree plan, a tool to assist them with continued understanding of course sequencing.
Results
The rise in student enrollment in SLS 1501 since 2004 correlates with an increase in degree completion rates.
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