Background
With 50,000 students, four campuses, and two centers in the Orlando area, Valencia Community College is one of the largest community colleges in Florida. Tourism supplies many jobs in Central Florida and contributes to growth, but also keeps wages low and contributes to transience.
Unequal opportunity continues to affect access and success in postsecondary education, particularly for low-income students and students of color. Many entering students require remediation in math, reading and writing. There is a gap between ethnic groups at Valencia in their completion of remedial coursework and degree completion, with African-American and Hispanic students completing these courses and graduating at significantly lower rates than Caucasian and Asian students.
Achieving the Dream Interventions
In designing its Achieving the Dream interventions, Valencia’s goal was to close the gap in student success among Caucasian, Hispanic, and African-American students. Valencia pursued three main interventions to narrow the achievement gap:
Supplemental Learning
Supplemental learning sections now support developmental mathematics (Pre-Algebra, Beginning Algebra and Intermediate Algebra) as well as three high-enrollment gateway courses (Freshman Composition I, U.S. Government, and College Algebra). The supplemental learning intervention provides a model student (who previously has been successful in the course) to current students to assist with course content and teach a variety of learning strategies.
Learning Communities
As a second phase, Valencia created Learning in Community, which links two courses and provides coordinated instruction for the students. In most instances, the linked courses are a developmental mathematics course and the three-credit Student Life Skills course that has a long association with improved student performance.
Student Life Skills Course
Finally, Valencia required students testing into all three developmental disciplines (reading, writing, and mathematics) to enroll in the three-credit Student Life Skills course.
Results
As an example of the college’s success in narrowing achievement gaps, the average success rate gap between African-American and Caucasian students for all six of the gateway courses combined narrowed from 13.4% in 2004 to 3.6% in 2008. The average gap between Hispanics and Caucasians reversed itself with Hispanics trailing in success rate by 1.8% in 2004 and leading by 4.0% in 2008.
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