Background

Founded in 1964, Montgomery County Community College serves the community through the Central Campus in Blue Bell; the West Campus in Pottstown; sites in Conshohocken, Lansdale, Norristown, the Willow Grove Naval Air Station; and via distance learning. The county, part of the Philadelphia metropolitan market, has a population of more than 800,000 residents and consists of both affluence and poverty, leading to pockets of residents requiring improved access to higher education.

The college serves close to 17,000 credit and 22,000 non-credit students annually. Students are as diverse as the communities served: Nearly 20 percent of the student body is composed of ethnic and racial minorities, nearly 60 percent is female, and the average age of credit students is 27. More than 50 percent of new students require at least one developmental course, with 25 percent requiring remediation in two or more areas.

Achieving the Dream Goals

“Expanding Access and Increasing Student Success” is the first strategic issue in Montgomery County Community College’s Strategic Plan to 2010. The Student Success Initiative was developed to implement the goals for student success:

Improve transfer and graduation rates
Cut achievement gaps among specific cohorts of at-risk students
Focus on a strong first year experience
Improve developmental student success
Align student success and student support systems with these goals

Five first-year priorities were identified for the initiative:

Decrease the amount of time some students spend in developmental math
Increase student success in MATH 010
Study placement assessment and alignment with curriculum
Gain a deeper understanding of student performance in developmental reading, developmental English, and the next level of developmental mathematics
Gain a deeper understanding of student performance in gatekeeper courses

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