|
Background
Danville Community College (DCC) serves residents of the small city of Danville, Va., and two rural counties – Pittsylvania and Halifax – in the region known as Southside Virginia. Since 1987, when it began promoting higher education through the region’s African-American churches, the college’s minority enrollment has grown from 13 percent to 35 percent. DCC’s enrollment is just over 4,000 students.
Despite this substantial improvement in access, the college’s data analysis revealed that students of color advance from developmental math to college-level mathematics at alarmingly low rates. The data also pointed to low retention rates among students of color and low-income students.
Achieving the Dream Goals
To close the achievement gap between students of color and White students, college leaders decided that faculty and staff must address students’ lack of preparation and lack of understanding of college processes. This will entail identifying and changing college practices that are ineffectual. College leaders plan incremental changes that will be expanded in each year of the initiative to
- Increase the number of students completing developmental math and succeeding in college-level mathematics;
- Improve semester-to-semester persistence;
- Raise grade point averages;
- Increase graduation rates;
- Enhance data collection and analysis.
As a pilot study, six groups of 20 students will be organized into learning communities around the developmental math course with a new, interactive College Success Skills orientation course. In addition to expanded academic and support services, learning-community students will develop individual success plans using a career assessment tool and an evaluation of non-academic barriers to success. Learning-community faculty will receive intensive training on pedagogy, learning styles, culture and diversity issues.
Return to list of colleges
|