College Profiles

Yakima Valley Community College

Yakima Valley Community College serves an 8,500 square mile area of south central Washington, including Yakima, Kittitas, and Klickitat counties as well as the Yakama Indian Reservation. The effects of high unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, and poor English fluency challenge the population base of the district.

 

Designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education, YVCC served a diverse student population of more than 9,000 in 2006–07. More than 40 percent of these students were Hispanic, and 49 percent were white. Of the 680 first-time students in fall 2005, 23 percent did not return for winter quarter. In the 2006 Achieving the Dream cohort, more than 85 percent of students with valid placement scores placed into a developmental math course.

 

Achieving the Dream Goals

 

YVCC will address three priorities:

 

• Increase retention of first-time college students
• Increase success in developmental math sequences
• Develop institutional research capacity

The college will develop a comprehensive initial advising and orientation system to support first-year students as they transition to college culture. Alternative delivery methods for developmental math will include extended-quarter options and learning communities in which math is paired with study skills, English or reading. Access to data for decision-making and research will increase through the creation of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to provide support across the college.

 

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