Background
Throughout its history, Durham Technical Community College has responded to the changing needs of residents in Durham and Orange counties. These culturally diverse and racially integrated counties are in the Research Triangle region west of Raleigh in central North Carolina.
Durham Tech has a history of making technical and transfer education available to minority students, low-income students, and other populations who have been under-represented in higher education. Its campus is “non-majority”: 41 percent of its student body is black and 36 percent is white. Most of the 25,000 students enrolled each year take occupational training and non-credit courses.
Achieving the Dream Interventions
Durham Tech is working to improve outcomes for the most at-risk students. One ATD intervention is the Early Alert Initiative, which seeks to identify and support these students as quickly as possible.
Early Alert Initiative
Special assistance in managing both academic and life concerns is provided to the most at-risk students. Students are referred to academic tutors and counselors for one-on-one assistance. Approximately 70% of entering students and 30% of total students were served. Durham Tech plans to build on these promising results by integrating the Early Alert program with the required orientation for first-time college students so that all at-risk students will be assigned advisors during orientation.
Results
Data on student completion and performance rates show that students identified as at-risk were significantly more successful when assisted by the Early Alert program. Documented over three semesters, students who participated in these intervention programs are shown to have significantly higher course completion rates, persistence rates, and GPAs.
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