|
Grand Solution or Grab Bag?
October 26, 2009
Community colleges are being asked to provide everything from second chances to vocational education. Is America ready to help them succeed?
Meeting student needs: Initiative aims to keep college dreams alive
October 17, 2009
Through the Achieving the Dream initiative, Temple College has committed to making changes and meeting the needs of the struggling student.
How Community Colleges Can Reach Obama’s Goals
October 13, 2009
A growing movement among community colleges nationally, led by initiatives such as Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, emphasizes the importance of using data on student progression to continuously align and improve programs and services to support student success.
Hispanic Educational Excellence
September 30, 2009
Valencia Community College hosted the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, a “Community Conversation.” The forum highlighted the results of Achieving the Dream; Valencia has reduced academic achievement gaps across racial and ethnic groups, particularly among Caucasian and Hispanic students.
Historic Downturn, Unprecedented Opportunity
August 26, 2009
Obama’s Community College Plan Elicits Both Praise and Concern
Getting Students Through Remedial Math is a Constant Struggle, but This College Keeps Trying
As at many two-year colleges around the country, the pass rate among Montgomery County Community College students who take remedial-math classes, which cover material students are typically expected to master in high school, is much lower than school officials would like. To improve on those records, Montgomery County is experimenting with different course offerings, teaching methods, and academic-support services — all designed to move students more quickly and smoothly through remedial math.
LSC - Kingwood is Achieving the Dream
As part of the Achieving the Dream initiative, Lone Star College—Kingwood is working to improve student achievement by making lasting changes in the college's practices and culture.
Community Colleges’ Partnerships Essential to America’s Future
President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative appropriately stressed the importance of more students earning certificates and degrees. The timing in Indiana could not be more appropriate, as Lumina Foundation for Education recently named Ivy Tech Community College its first statewide Achieving the Dream school.
The Obama Plan
Of late, educators and foundations have been focusing more on graduation rates, with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation for Education spending big on efforts to improve remedial education and graduation rates, such as Achieving the Dream.
Obama Directs $12 Billion to Community Colleges
The president’s proposal is “hugely significant,” says Carol Lincoln, national director of Achieving the Dream, an initiative coordinated by MDC Inc. in Chapel Hill, N.C., to improve completion rates at community colleges. “Community colleges have not been given the resources they need to do the job we expect them to do, and this is going to be a tremendous boost.”
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Announces New Initiative to Double the Number of Low Income Students in the U.S. Who Earn a Postsecondary Degree by Age 26
Foundation investments will be aimed at accelerating success in remedial courses in community colleges, including a grant to MDC to build on successful pilot programs within the Achieving the Dream network of schools. MDC will also support data systems in up to five states that are willing to publicly track and assess remediation education performance in two and four-year colleges.
La Guardia Community College is one of 20 Community Colleges Selected to Join National Student Success Initiative
“LaGuardia has been a center for innovation in researching and implementing programs to help our students succeed,” said Dr. Gail O. Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College. “Now that we’ve joined Achieving the Dream we can share with other colleges our successful strategies and learn from our colleagues throughout the nation about how their creative approaches help students reach their educational goals.”
Transforming America’s Community Colleges
A Federal Policy Proposal to Expand Opportunity and Promote Economic Prosperity
Community colleges try new formula for remedial classes
Remedial math has emerged as an important place to focus attention: Achieving the Dream data show that, among more than 250,000 students who required the most math remediation, only 16% completed those requirements in three years, and fewer than 10% of those passed a college-level math course within that period.
Lumina Foundation for Education
Lumina leaders consider Achieving the Dream one of the foundation’s biggest successes. "It has helped to focus the orientation of community colleges around success for students," Lumina CEO Jamie Merisotis says.
Stimulus for America’s Community Colleges
As recognized by ambitious initiatives such as the Lumina Foundation’s Achieving the Dream project, a “culture of evidence” focused on student achievement—when coupled with capacity-building efforts to make success possible— can have a rapid and transformative impact.
Courageous Conversations: Achieving the Dream and the Importance of Student Success
On campus, the initiative is focused on creating a culture of evidence, one in which data about student success—and failure—is gathered, analyzed, and used to identify problems and create new ways to address them, all with the goal of improving student outcomes. It makes the communities inside and outside the institution participants in the process, and it works to effect state and national policy changes that support a student-success agenda.
Gates Taps MDC for Community College Effort
Gates tapped MDC for the job in large part because of its near 40-year history working with community colleges, most recently through its Achieving the Dream initiative that works to boost students' success in community-colleges that serve high percentages of low-income students and students of color.
ECC selected to participate in national Achieving the Dream initiative
Elgin Community College (ECC) is one of five Illinois institutions selected to participate in the national expansion of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
Ivy Tech Participating in National Initiative
Ivy Tech Community College is joining Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
Richland College selected to participate in national student success initiative
Richland College has been selected as one of 20 new community colleges in seven states to participate in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed.
Initiative geared toward increasing the number of African-American Graduates
"The overall purpose of Men of Honor is to improve African-American male retention, persistence, graduation and transfer rates across the San Jacinto College District," said Leonard Simpson, survey research analyst at San Jacinto College. "This initiative will provide avenues for participants to connect with our administrators, faculty, staff and resources, while supporting the College's vision, values, mission and Achieving the Dream initiatives."
Courageous Conversations: Achieving the Dream and the Importance of Student Success
Achieving the Dream is now heading into its fifth year of admitting colleges into the initiative and is on the verge of a national expansion in 2010. In the three articles that follow, we look at its successes and challenges so far, learn about research on a key piece of federal student-success data, and hear from a national business leader about how our response to the economic and educational challenges of the 21st century will be as important as the response to the Panic of 1893 that helped lead to the creation of community colleges in the first place.
Westmoreland County Community College Gets $2m via ATD
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 2008
The U.S. Department of Education award is the largest in the institution’s history, and it is an outgrowth of the school’s Achieving the Dream work.
Achieving the Dream’s Accountability Measures Make a Difference
The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 11, 2008
The national initiative’s work at community colleges in six states shows that success can be measured in ways other than the way the federal government gauges graduation rates.
Combining history and reading, Westmoreland County Community College makes Achieving the Dream work
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 5, 2008
Read how Westmoreland County Community College is combining courses to reduce student credit costs while increasing student success. The pertinent content is toward the bottom of this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story.
Required courses are frequently barriers to student success
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 5, 2008
This fifth-in-a-series story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that community colleges in Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania are among those participating in Achieving the Dream.
Getting faculty to see through students’ eyes
Community College Times, August 15, 2008
To ensure her college continuously serves the needs of its students, Shirley Reed, president of South Texas College (STC) relies on data to map areas needing improvement. The college has also used structured student focus groups to gauge students’ perceptions of the college, including barriers they face. STC is an Achieving the Dream college.
Michigan’s Jackson CC uses ATD as a model for success
Diverse Community College, July 31, 2008
Using Achieving the Dream as an example for how to best reach some students, Jackson Community College is reaching out to black males to get them involved in the town of Jackson, about 80 miles west of Detroit.
Bay de Noc combines ATD work with $1.87 million grant to increase student success in math and science
Daily Press, July 19, 2008
The federal Title III grant is awarded to universities and community colleges and is designed to increase student success in math and science courses. Bay College President Dr. Laura Coleman said the money will be spread out over the next five years beginning Oct. 1 with a check for $393,000.
Arkansas CC gets $400,000 commitment to aid ATD initiative
Malvern Daily Record, July 18, 2008
The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has announced the funding of the Achieving the Dream initiative at Ouachita Technical College in Malvern, providing the college with the first $100,000 installment of a $400,000 grant to increase student success in higher education.
Oklahoma City CC significantly increases Multicultural English Comp class options
Oklahoma City Community College Pioneer Online, July 2008
OCCC’s English Department has increased the sections of Multicultural English Composition I classes being offered this fall from one to five sections. The Multicultural English classes are designed specifically for students who speak English as their second language.
San Antonio’s Northwest Vista ranks 10 th among top-producing associate degree institutions
San Antonio Business Journal, July 1, 2008
Northwest Vista College has become one of the top producers of associate degrees in the nation, according to a leading educational publication. Community College Week ranked Northwest Vista 10th in the nation among the Top 100 Associate Degree Producers of 2008. The school, part of Alamo Community Colleges, conferred more than 600 associate degrees and certificates over the past year. From 2003 to 2007, Northwest Vista also increased its associate degree attainment rate by 42.8 percent. Achieving the Dream has been key.
Syracuse professor says Achieving the Dream measurements make a difference
Inside Higher Ed, June 9, 2008
Professors Vincent Tinto and Cathy Engstrom completed a four-year study of basic skills learning communities on 19 campuses across the country, including 13 two-year colleges. With funding from the Lumina Foundation for Education and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, they surveyed nearly 7,000 students in basic skills learning communities and in comparison classrooms using a modified version of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and tracked their persistence over three years. The bottom line? “(S)uffice it to say that basic skills learning communities improve student performance and persistence. They do so, in part, because of the way the courses that comprise the learning communities are aligned in their actions so that what is learned in a basic skills course can be applied in the other course or courses that make up the learning community,” says Tinto.
Community Colleges use data to improve
Inside Higher Ed, May 27, 2008
Two major efforts to use data to improve community colleges have now been around long enough that some institutions are able to report on what they did with all of the data they produced. The National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development included a presentation of results, including how Achieving the Dream has helped some community college to “tackle retention issues, especially in the first year that students are enrolled.”
University of New Mexico-Gallup hosts Community Talking Circle
Gallup Independent, May 13, 2008
(photo w/cutline info only)
Allegheny Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County gets board approval for new construction
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 9, 2008
Big Bend President says Achieving the Dream is an important part of improving student math success and persistence
Columbia Basin Herald, May 7, 2008
Discussing his college’s past, present and future, Big Bend Community College President Bill Bonaudi says the success of the college is measured by the success of students. He notes that the college joined Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count to improve retention rates and student success with an initial focus on developmental math.
Hispanic student faces unique challenges at community college
San Antonio Express-News, April 20, 2008
Through the lens of Daytona Beach Community College, which touches the lives of 30,000 students in Volusia and Flagler (Fla.) counties every year, a newspaper series looks at success strategies and a look at community colleges' role in the economy, the challenges they face, and a look at how they're actually doing.
Cooperative learning: Training for 'real world'
Martinsville Bulletin, April 18, 2008
Patrick Henry Community College is transforming its classroom culture through cooperative learning and other active learning strategies in an effort to become a learning centered college.
Minority student numbers down at Wayne Community College
The News-Argus, March 30, 2008
Despite support efforts, including the addition of minority clubs and receipt of a three-year grant targeting the problem, the number of minority students continues to drop at Wayne Community College in North Carolina.
Funding, accessibility remain on plate for ’08
Community College Times, March 28, 2008
Based on current interests of policymakers, funding priorities of major foundations and discussions with college leaders, the most pressing policy issues affecting community colleges today include funding, access and student success, says George Boggs, president of the American Association of Community Colleges.
Economist named MCC president
The McComb Daily, March 29, 2008
Marking his 40th year as a member of the Macomb (N.Y.) Community College faculty, James Jacobs has been selected to serve as the new MCC president.
At colleges, men of color too much in minority
Mlive.com, March 11, 2008
A college education has never been more important. Today's growing college enrollment reflects that need — except among men of color.While enrollment at two-year, degree-granting institutions grew 44 percent between 1984 and 2004, the percentages of men who enroll in college and earn college credentials has fallen. The numbers are particularly troubling for men of color.
JCC students need remedial classes
MLive.com, March 9, 2008
Educators at Jackson Community College hope to reduce the need for developmental-education courses by using Achieving the Dream data to track students' progress and intervene when they stop showing up for class or their grades slip.
San Jacinto College plans science summer camp
The Pasadena Citizen, March 2, 2008
The San Jacinto College Achieving the Dream initiative plans a Student Outreach for College Success (S.O.C.S.) summer enrichment program, offering students with an interest in a science-related field an opportunity to participate in a college-level program.
Math professor impacts students’ lives
Town Talk News, Feb. 26, 2008For many Delaware County Community College students, attending class is one of many aspects of an over-crowded week.
What to Measure and Reward at Community Colleges
Insidehighered.com, Feb. 25, 2008
Over the years, a number of states have experimented with financial incentives based on performance measures like graduation rates; but a newly approved program in Washington state takes a bold and different approach—rewards for student progress past key "momentum points," as well as for completion.
Students rewarded for hard work
thefacts.com, Feb. 17, 2008
The nursing program at Texas’ Brazosport College is growing with the community.
'Culture of evidence' changes classrooms
Community College Times, Feb. 15, 2008
At the annual Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute, faculty and staff from 79 community colleges and four universities shared what they are learning from data analyses of their students’ progress and the outcomes from pilot programs developed to address the problems identified by the data.
Banker interested in student numbers to expand economic opportunity
Community College Times, Feb. 15, 2008
When Darla Moore, who became the highest paid woman in banking in the early 1990s by resuscitating several bankrupt companies, looks at educational attainment and socio-economic data from South Carolina and across the U.S., it’s not as a casual observer.
Community Colleges Want More to Graduate
phillyburbs.com, Jan. 30, 2008
A report commissioned by the nonprofit College Board supports Achieving the Dream and creation by colleges of a "culture of evidence."
Project targets gap between high school, college work
mysanantonio.com, Jan. 21, 2008
A new partnership in the San Antonio has formed the Pathways Project to study student data and make sure high school and college course work bear some resemblance to one another.
Lumina Foundation for Education awarded $6.8 million in grants in last quarter of 2007
insideindianabusiness.com, Jan. 15, 2008
Lumina Foundation for Education awarded more than $6.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 41 organizations in 18 states and the District of Columbia to help increase college access and student success.
Everyone benefits when students stay competitive in today's work force
The Island Packet, Jan. 14, 2008
South Carolina’s Technical College of the Lowcountry has embarked on a number of efforts designed to help students achieve their goals.
Student groups helping Bay improve courses
Daily Press, Escanaba, Mich., Dec. 14, 2007
The Bay College Board of Trustees Wednesday outlined several steps the college will take to help meet student needs. The college’s Achieving the Dream initiative led to creation of several focus groups that surveyed 92 students, which represent 4 1/2 percent of the total student population. Bay College President Dr. Laura Coleman said the two overall areas the college will work on following the findings of the focus groups are college student preparedness and advising students.
Gap in college success a concern
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., Nov. 27, 2007
South Carolina college officials say schools must do more to help students, especially blacks, graduate from high school and college if they want to increase the state’s percentage of adults who hold college degrees. The number of black students is expected to increase by 2025 because the black population in the state is increasing faster than the white one. At Trident Technical College, officials are aware of the need to improve graduation rates, and the school is now part of Achieving the Dream, an initiative that will examine problems with retention and offer strategies to help students complete programs.
Big Bend uses multi-year grant for student success
Columbia Basin Herald, Nov. 9, 2007
Big Bend Community College is utilizing a grant of up to $400,000 to help students stay in school. The money, part of the college’s participation in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, is used to support student success. Last year, staff at the college analyzed data with a primary goal of determining challenges to keeping students in school, said math and English instructor Gail Erickson, who is part of the project’s core committee. This year, the strategies that were identified are going to be implemented, Erickson said.
TCC employees discover the importance of the “Achieving the Dream” initiative
Oklahoma Higher Education Campus E-clips, Nov. 6, 2007
Earlier this year, Tulsa Community College was one of three Oklahoma schools added to a multi-year national initiative to help community college students succeed. Now, TCC is taking the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative to the next level. For the first time in the history of the college, TCC was closed on Oct. 16 for a staff development day. All full-time faculty and staff members attended an informational workshop at the Tulsa Convention Center introducing and explaining the Achieving the Dream initiative.
TCC uses off day to work on student achievement
Tulsa World, Oct. 17, 2007All regular Tulsa Community College faculty and staff members, from maintenance workers to senior administrators, convened at the Tulsa Convention Center for a daylong conference on improving student retention and graduation. The event was the rollout of the college’s involvement in Achieving the Dream, a nationwide initiative encompassing 83 colleges and universities in 15 states.
Houston WR Davis to Speak today at LC
The Baytown Sun, Baytown, Texas, Oct. 16, 2007
Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Davis spoke at the Lee College about personal leadership and his life experiences. His appearance was part of Lee College’s “Rise to Leadership” fall speaker series funded by the Achieving the Dream initiative.
OCCC’s goal to raise state grad numbers
The Pioneer, Oklahoma City Community College, Oct. 8, 2007
Oklahoma is ranked just 42 among the 50 states for the percentage of residents who possess a college degree, according to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. OCCC will work to help increase the number of college graduates in this state over the next 10 years as part of its long-range plan, “The Way Forward and Why it Matters.” The college’s Achieving the Dream work will play a role in the plan by addressing the preparation and success of students early in their college experience.
Missing men?
The Baytown Sun, Sept. 30, 2007
Promoting a college-going culture among all students is paramount to Lee College, but data indicate that men have fallen behind women in attaining college degrees. The college has recently begun to turn around a trend declining in male enrollment, however, getting men to enroll is only the beginning. To have an educated populace, students must graduate with a certificate or degree. Lee College was chosen last year to be part of a national initiative entitled Achieving the Dream. The initiative and financial support is designed to promote student success by analyzing enrollment and academic success data of the student population by a number of factors including gender.
Lee College to hold meeting on gender gap
The Baytown Sun, Sept. 30, 2007
From the late 1940s through the mid-1970s male students were the majority on college campuses, however today, the seats of many college lecture halls are filled more frequently by female students than their male counterparts. Lee College recently hosted a town hall meeting on the topic of the growing gender gap in education. A panel discussion was led by Lee College Chief Academic Officer Bruce Scism and included Director of the college’s Achieving the Dream Initiative Jeremy Jones.
Bay joins national ‘Achieving the Dream’ initiative
Daily Press, Escanaba, Mich., Sept. 20, 2007
Bay College has joined the national Achieving the Dream initiative, designed to ensure that all students meet their academic goals. At Wednesday’s monthly board meeting, the trustees had an opportunity to learn more about the initiative and what Bay will be doing in its planning year.
Dream Achievers
Community College Week, Aug. 27, 2007
Altering customs, shedding mores, adopting new practices and dropping old ones is demanding work – particularly when the ultimate payoff is distant and uncertain. Yet that is what the Lumina Foundation for Education is asking of community colleges taking part in its ambitious "Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count" initiative, a multiple-year, long-term effort to change the colleges at their very core.
College Learning Success Course Pays Off at Community Colleges
WCTV, Tallahassee, Fla., Aug. 9, 2007
Some Tallahassee Community college students spent the day reflecting on their time in the College Learning Success course. While they're looking back, TCC says these courses prepare students for what's ahead. “It’s really turning out to be probably one of the most effective success interventions that TCC has to offer,” said Sheri Rowland, TCC Director of Student Success Center.
Brazosport College receives $400,000
The Facts, Brazosport, Texas, Aug. 9, 2007
Brazosport College has been awarded a grant worth up to $400,000 to implement strategies designed to help more of its students succeed. The multi-year grant from Houston Endowment comes as part of the national initiative Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
College gets grant for student success
The Facts, Brazosport, Texas, Aug. 6, 2007
After almost a year of research and grant-application preparation for the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count national initiative, Alvin Community College recently was awarded a $400,000 grant from Houston Endowment Inc. to be used toward activities that lead to more student success.
Officials: Minority Focus Could Improve College Recruiting
Arkansas Trails Nation in Enrolling High School Graduates
The Morning News, Springdale, Ark., Aug. 3, 2007
Arkansas is less likely to send high school graduates to college than the national average, and minority recruitment is one way to combat that problem, education officials say. Identifying and resolving the various problems of minority and low-income students should not only help those who are in college to succeed, but bring more of those students into the system, according to the interim director of the Department of Higher Education. Four community colleges around the state are participating in Achieving the Dream, an initiative designed to encourage enrollment and track retention of minority and low income students.
UH community colleges join initiative
Pacific Business News, Honolulu, Jul. 3, 2007
The University of Hawaii's community colleges will join a national initiative to help students succeed academically. UH's seven community colleges -- which enroll about 25,000 students each year -- will become part of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, as part of a five-year project. The organization provides support for implementing strategies designed to help low-income students earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to four-year universities.
Henry Ford Community College gets $50,000 grant
The Detroit Free Press, Jul. 3, 2007
Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn has received a $50,000 grant to help plan and launch new program called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The college is one of six from Michigan, and 26 overall, joining the initiative this year. The program provides colleges with support to work on strategies designed to help more students earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to other institutions to continue their studies.
Laboratories of achievement
The Boston Globe, Jul. 1, 2007
In Massachusetts, community colleges often double as punching bags. They get hit for having low graduation rates, for not doing enough to train the state's work force, for not being as good as their peers in California and North Carolina. But tongue lashings won't help the colleges find the ingredients for student success. Happily, four of the state's 15 community colleges are getting good news. Bunker Hill Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Roxbury Community College, and Springfield Technical Community College have each been awarded private Achieving the Dream grants -- $450,000 over five years to find ways to drive student success.
Bay joins national initiative
Daily Press, Escanaba, Mich., Jun. 28, 2007
Bay College has been selected to join “Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count,” a national initiative to help more community college students succeed. Bay College will receive a $50,000 grant to plan and launch Achieving the Dream this year, and will then become eligible for an implementation grant worth up to $400,000 over four years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
JCC Joining National Initiative
WLNS.com, Lansing, Mich., Jun. 27, 2007
Jackson Community College has been selected to join a national initiative, making the college eligible for a $450,000 grant. The initiative is called achieving the dream: community colleges count and it’s meant to help community college students succeed. JCC is one of 6 from Michigan and 26 throughout the country joining the initiative this year.
JCC receives $450,000 grant
Jackson (Mich.) Citizen-Patriot/Mlive.com, Jun. 26, 2007
Jackson Community College will receive a $450,000 grant to plan, launch and implement student success strategies. The college has been selected to join Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative started by the Lumina Foundation for Education to help more low-income students and students of color at community colleges succeed. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation will fund JCC's grant and three other Michigan community colleges.
Achieving the Dream expands to Ark., Mass.
Community College Times, Jun. 21, 2007
Eight colleges in Arkansas and Massachusetts are joining Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The colleges are part of the initiative’s latest ex pansion, which has added 24 colleges in eight states, bringing the total number of participating institu tions to 82 colleges in 15 states.
Teaching Success
Inside Higher Ed, Jun. 18, 2007
Study skills courses at community colleges really do help students succeed, at least in Florida, a study of the state’s 28 community colleges finds. Sixty percent of students who enrolled in for-credit “success courses,” classes that teach students skills for note-taking, test-taking and time management, had “academic success” during the study’s five years, while just 40 percent of students who did not take success classes had the same success and had earned a degree or certificate, transferred to a state university or continued enrollment in a community college. The study was sponsored by the Lumina Foundation’s Achieving the Dream initiative, which aims to help community college students succeed by analyzing data on student achievement. Several Florida community colleges are participating in the project.
Academic-Skills Courses Improve Community-College Students’ Chances of Earning a Degree, Report Says
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jun. 18, 2007
Community-college students who take courses designed solely to improve their academic and planning skills are not only more likely to stay in college than other students, but, five years later, are more likely to have earned a degree or transferred to a four-year institution, according to a new report. The report, “Do Student-Success Courses Actually Help Community College Students Succeed?,” is based on a study of about 37,000 students who were enrolled at Florida’s 28 public community colleges.
New college performance plan will help students
Pioneer, Oklahoma City Community College, Jun. 11, 2007
In July, the college kicks off its first year with Achieving the Dream, a national program that helps community colleges develop plans to improve student performance, OCCC President Paul Sechrist said. Achieving the Dream will work with OCCC administrators to examine student needs and develop strategies to improve the college, Sechrist said.
Mass. community colleges get diversity grants
Boston Business Journal, Jun. 8, 2007
Four Massachusetts community colleges have received major grants as part of Achieving the Dream, a national initiative that aims to assist low income students and students of color to earn degrees. Initial grants of $50,000 to four community colleges in the state will be followed by additional funding for implementation grants of up to $400,000 for each school, provided over four years.
Two-year colleges to benefit from study, grants
Arkansas News Bureau, Jun. 8, 2007
State Department of Higher Education Director Linda Beene announced that four two-year schools will receive $450,000 grants through Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. The schools are National Park Community College in Hot Springs, Ouachita Technical College in Malvern, Pulaski Tech and Phillips Community College. Beene said the grants will enable the schools to help more students, particularly minority and low-income students, get into college, succeed academically and go on to continue their education at four-year schools.
Research offices understaffed, report says
Community College Times, Jun. 8, 2007
Institutional research (IR) is a highly valued tool to help community colleges gather and analyze data about their students and pro grams, but many public two-year colleges lack the staff and resources to undertake such research, according to a new study. IR administrators at community colleges said that aside from demonstrating to state and federal officials and accrediting agencies how the institutions are performing and how well they are serving students, such data can be used to improve programs. The three-year-old Achieving the Dream: Community College Counts initiative uses longitudinal data on students to help participating colleges improve programs and develop new strategies.
STCC gets grant to boost scores
The Republican, Springfield, Mass., Jun. 07, 2007
Students who lag academically will soon get a boost at Springfield Technical Community College, thanks to a $450,000 grant announced yesterday. The college has been selected to join Achieving the Dream, a five-year Lumina Foundation for Education initiative that will provide focused academic assistance and support services to students in need. The grant is one of just four given in Massachusetts, and the only one in the western part of the state.
4 Colleges Chosen for National Initiative
Arkansas Business, Jun. 7, 2007
Four Arkansas two-year colleges joined a national higher education initiative, funded in Arkansas by a $3.5 million grant from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, to help more minority and lower-income students earn degrees and certifications. Officials of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education announced the colleges that will join “Achieving the Dream,” at a news conference on Thursday.
Programs Aim To Benefit Two-Year Colleges
The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas, Springdale, Jun. 7, 2007
State Department of Higher Education Director Linda Beene announced that four two-year schools will receive $450,000 grants through Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. The schools are National Park Community College in Hot Springs, Ouachita Technical College in Malvern, Pulaski Tech and Phillips Community College. Beene said the grants will enable the schools to help more students, particularly minority and low-income students, get into college, succeed academically and go on to continue their education at four-year schools.
Phillips College joins national initiative to help students succeed
The Daily World, Helena, Ark., Jun. 6, 2007
Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (PCCUA) has been selected to join “Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count,” which is a national initiative designed to help more community college students succeed. PCCUA will receive $450,000 to plan, launch and implement student success strategies.
The new college try
The Boston Globe, May 31, 2007
Community colleges in Massachusetts have been struggling. Their graduation rates are low, and they're scrambling to do better in the face of tight funding. But there's good news, too. Launched in 2004, a national initiative called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, has been handing out grants. Funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education in Indianapolis, the initiative has given funding to 82 colleges in 15 states -- and Massachusetts is one of the latest recipients.
An $88-Million Experiment to Improve Community Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 20, 2007
Four years ago, the Lumina Foundation for Education assembled several dozen of the country's foremost experts on community colleges. Officials of the Indianapolis-based foundation wanted to discuss raising transfer and graduation rates, particularly those of minority and low-income students, at two-year colleges. They wanted to build a campus-based movement to increase community colleges' graduation and transfer rates and decided to provide financial support to dozens of institutions across the country, creating a network of colleges that could share information with each other and eventually influence nearby colleges. To judge effectiveness, the foundation would closely track students before and after the interventions. Some ideas would certainly fall short, but the colleges would know what worked and what did not. The project was named Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
'Institutional Mythology' vs. Facts
Inside Higher Ed, May 21, 2007
At a time that community colleges are under growing pressure to collect and analyze data to improve what they do, their capabilities in institutional research are far behind where they should be, according to a new report. “Institutional Research and the Culture of Evidence at Community Colleges” is based on a national survey of community college institutional research offices and a smaller set of case studies involving the senior officials at colleges who use institutional research. The research was conducted by the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University for Achieving the Dream.
Foundations Pledge $3.5 Million to Strengthen Massachusetts Community Colleges
Philanthropy News Digest, May 16, 2007
The Boston Foundation has announced that four community colleges in Massachusetts will be selected later this spring to receive funding through Achieving the Dream, a multiyear initiative created to strengthen the ability of community colleges to help students of color and low-income students earn degrees and certifications. The four colleges will be chosen through an RFP process, with the final selection expected to be completed by early June. The Boston Foundation, in partnership with the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, and the Education Resources Institute (TERI), will provide a total of $3.5 million to support the initiative.
College try: Can Massachusetts community colleges make the grade?
Commonwealth magazine, Spring 2007
The community college system has long been heralded as America’s great gateway to opportunity, offering job training and a path into higher education, often for lower-income students who are the first in their families to attend college. An open admission policy has long been a cornerstone of community colleges, but attention is turning toward what happens to students once they get in the door. As in other states, Massachusetts is taking a fresh look at success rates at its community colleges and in June, four Massachusetts community colleges will join Achieving the Dream.
PJC named an ‘Achieving the Dream’ college (free registration required)
The Paris (Texas) News, May 9, 2007
Paris Junior College has been named an Achieving the Dream college, becoming a member of a national multi-year initiative to help more community college students succeed. PJC submitted a proposal to become one of the participants as a demonstration site in Achieving the Dream and was one of 24 colleges in eight states selected in round four.
Trident awarded grant to boost graduations
The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C., May 1, 2007
Trident Technical College officials want to increase the percentage of low-income and minority students who graduate or complete training programs, and a national grant could help them achieve that goal. The school was one of four of the state's 16 technical colleges selected for the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative. The national program offers expertise and money for programs to help their students, especially minorities, succeed.
Achieving the Dream to expand to 24 more colleges
Community College Times, Apr. 27, 2007
Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed, will add 24 new colleges in eight states, bringing the total number to 82 participating institutions in 15
states.
For Achievers, a New Destination
The New York Times, Apr. 22, 2007
It’s not without reason that community colleges are often considered the schools of last resort. They have long offered low-cost local schooling for students who couldn’t attend four-year colleges because they lacked the requisite grades or the requisite funds, or were looking for specific job training. “Open admissions” has been the guiding principle, and the colleges work with large populations of students who are underprepared, but as four-year universities have become more expensive, good students who want to save money are turning to community colleges to earn their core undergraduate credits.
Three colleges join initiative to help more earn degrees
The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, Apr. 22, 2007
Three Oklahoma community colleges have been chosen to participate in a national effort to help at-risk students succeed. Oklahoma City Community College, Rose State College and Tulsa Community College are the first Oklahoma schools to join the Achieving the Dream initiative, a project started by the Lumina Foundation for Excellence. The initiative helps colleges help more students, particularly those who are minority and low-income, earn degrees or certificates or transfer to other institutions.
'Success coaches' target students early on
The Miami Herald, Apr. 22, 2007
Just about every student who walks through the door of Jodi Elam’s classroom has an excuse for dropping out. From long hours at work to bad grades in high school to family stress at home -- Elam, a Broward Community College professor, has heard them all. It's her job to teach her students that those excuses don't have to drive them away. “You can sit there and you can be angry and you can be hostile that you have all this work to do,” Elam told one of her classes before midterm exams. “Or you can sit down and do it.” The “Achieving the Dream” program targets students during a make-it-or-break-it period: their first year of college. It assigns them a professor, such as Elam, designated a “success coach.”
NVC developmental math program credits success to extra weekly lab hour
The Ranger, San Antonio, Apr. 20, 2007
With developmental math classes often times being the biggest road blocks for college students, Northwest Vista College has made their developmental math program its No. 1 priority. As a result, according to Cindi Bluhm, academic leader of the academic foundations program at Northwest Vista, they have a success rate of 70 percent of students passing their developmental math classes. The program has received recognition from certain organizations and has shared its strategies and data with other schools, the district board of trustees and is working with the districtwide initiative Achieving the Dream.
Experiences of 2 Colleges in Achieving the Dream (subscription required)
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Apr. 20, 2007
Administrators at Paul D. Camp Community College in rural southeastern Virginia decided that if they were going to help students improve their grades and get them to graduate, they had to first improve the skills of the people teaching them. With professional development opportunities already in place for full-time faculty, but little available for adjunct faculty members, who teach 55 percent of for-credit courses at the college, they decided to focus on adjuncts and track their students' results before and after training. At Durham Technical Community College in North Carolina, black students account for about 40 percent of the student body. Like many institutions, Durham Tech struggled with keeping black males enrolled and on the path to degrees. So about three years ago they started the Minority Male Leadership Project, which pairs students with male mentors who are themselves members of minority groups.
State To Join Initiative For Two-Year Colleges
Arkansas News Bureau, Apr. 19, 2007
Arkansas has been invited to participate in a multi-state initiative designed to help low-income and minority students attending community college improve graduation rates, the state Department of Higher Education said Wednesday. The "Achieving the Dream" initiative provides data to participating two-year colleges to identify best practices that all colleges involved can use to increase student graduation rates.
VC to take part in 'Achieving the Dream'
Victoria (Texas) Advocate, Apr. 18, 2007
The Victoria College will be among 82 colleges in 15 states participating in a survey designed to help more community college students succeed. The Lumina Foundation for Education announced Tuesday it chose VC to take part in “Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.” The Victoria College will work closely with an Achieving the Dream coach and a data facilitator during the first year of this multi-year process as they develop and prioritize their objectives.
ATC selected for initiative to raise graduation rates
Aiken (S.C.) Standard, Apr. 17, 2007
Aiken Technical College is one of four in South Carolina to be selected for a multiyear national initiative to help low-income students and minority students improve graduation and certification rates. The project, “Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count,” will provide a collection of data and information from participating colleges to identify best practices that all can use to increase student success and close achievement gaps.
Quick Takes: 24 Community Colleges Added to 'Achieving the Dream'
Inside Higher Ed, Apr. 17, 2007
Achieving the Dream, a national effort to help community colleges find ways so that more of their students complete programs and/or transfer to earn bachelor’s degrees, announced Monday that it is adding 24 colleges, bringing the total number of participating colleges to 82.
TCC, others join program to help at-risk students
Tulsa World, Apr. 12, 2007
Tulsa Community College wants to help low-income, minority and first-generation college students succeed academically and graduate at higher rates through Achieving the Dream, a national initiative of the Lumina Foundation for Education. TCC, Oklahoma City Community College, Rose State College in Midwest City and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education have been accepted collectively into the program for five years.
Achieving the Dream reports analyze effects of state policies
Community College Times, Mar. 30, 2007
Reports examining seven of the nine states participating in a program geared toward helping low-income community college students succeed shows various approaches to the issue among the states. The studies, conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College at Columbia University (New York), provide an in-depth analysis of policies of the states participating in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count. Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia were the first states that CCRC examined, focusing on the differences and similarities in access, success and performance accountability.
Education walk no stroll
The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa., Mar. 25, 2007
In an effort to encourage high school students from disadvantaged parts of Bethlehem, Pa., to pursue higher education, students from Lehigh University and Northampton Community College went door-to-door in a “Walk for Education” in gritty parts of south Bethlehem. The walk, a first in the Lehigh Valley, tried to sell parents and youngsters on the benefits of higher education and offered tips and brochures on filling out college financial aid and admissions forms. The program coincided with NCC’s participation in Achieving the Dream.
Community college study of achievement obtains funding
The Daily Tar Heel, Chapel Hill, N.C., Mar. 5, 2007
The Lumina Foundation for Education announced Thursday it will contribute $18 million to an initiative to aid community colleges research student achievement. The program, Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, aims to increase graduation rates and help community college students reach their goals. "Achieving the Dream is all about improving outcomes among students who attend community colleges," said Leah Austin, senior vice president of program development and organizational learning at Lumina. "What we want is for students to complete whatever it is they set out to complete."
Quick Takes (sixth item)
Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 2, 2007
The Lumina Foundation for Education announced Thursday that it would spend another $18 million on its “Achieving the Dream” effort through 2012.
News Blog: Lumina Foundation Increases Its Support for Community-College Project (subscription required)
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mar. 1, 2007
The Lumina Foundation for Education will give up to $18-million over the next five years to a national project working to improve the academic outcomes of students who attend two-year colleges, the organization announced.
Community College Only Path to Higher Ed for Many
National Public Radio, Feb. 23, 2007
Kanese Cook has been attending Valencia Community College in Orlando, Fla. (an Achieving the Dream college), on and off for the past seven years. But she hasn’t yet earned an associate’s degree because of the other demands in her life. Like many students here and at other community colleges, Cook’s life is complicated, even chaotic. She is one of millions of Americans for whom community college is the path to a brighter future. These campuses enroll 46 percent of all U.S. college students, playing a key role in educating the students who can't afford or can't get into a four-year school.
Educators: Improve minority learning
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Feb. 20, 2007
Community colleges in Allegheny, Westmoreland and Beaver counties are studying ways to reduce the number of minority students who must enroll in remedial classes. "It's really important to our future," said Charlene R. Nunley, a retired president of Montgomery College in Maryland who will serve as a coach for the Achieving the Dream initiative at Community College of Allegheny County. "We really need to have this improved." CCAC is one of seven community colleges in the state participating in Achieving the Dream this year for the first time
Changes to improve students' success don’t happen over night
Community College Times, Feb. 2, 2007
Community colleges use data to drive improvement
Community College Times, Feb. 2, 2007
Colleges use Achieving the Dream to meet higher goals
Community College Times, Feb. 2, 2007
Commentary: It’s time to move beyond access to success
Community College Times, Jan. 5, 2007
Director updates Achieving the Dream
The Ranger, San Antonio, Feb. 2, 2007
Jo-Carol Fabianke, director of Achieving the Dream, provided an update to the Academic Accountability and Student Success Committee Dec. 4. She made a presentation to the committee of the Alamo Community College District board of trustees summarizing the ACCD’s Achieving the Dream activities. She reported on some of the steps the colleges are taking to improve student success, including making orientation compulsory for all first-time-in-college students, adding one lab hour to math courses, referring at-risk students in developmental courses for additional support, aligning developmental and college-level English for similar outcomes across the colleges, referring students to writing centers and providing developmental sessions for adjunct faculty.
Community colleges aim for more respect
Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 17, 2007
With their low tuitions and convenient locations, community colleges serve nearly half the country's undergraduates – everyone from second-career starters to new immigrants to fast-track high-schoolers. But by some counts, fewer than half of community college students meet their educational goals, and that has a ripple effect in efforts to educate local workforces and make the United States more competitive. Community colleges are becoming more aware of their shortcomings, experts say, in areas such as student advising, teaching methods, and the process of transferring academic credits, and taking steps to address them.
Beaver college part of plan to help students succeed
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 22, 2006
Community College of Beaver County has joined with its counterparts in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties in a national initiative to assist more community college students in succeeding. For the next year, the successes and failures of students who enrolled in almost any class or program at the college will be put under an analytical microscope. Gender, race and age statistics will be gathered, as will information about each student's educational background.
ACCD sets its sights on rising to the top
San Antonio Express-News, Nov. 19, 2006
After two weeks on the job, the new chancellor for the Alamo Community College District has declared, along with trustees, that they're going to build the best community college district in the nation. Chancellor Bruce Leslie said he's tackling a "big, hairy goal" which means taking a hard look at numbers that make community colleges across the nation flinch, such as graduation rates, retention rates and remedial education, and making them better.
Achieving the Dream program targets student success
The Ranger, San Antonio, Nov. 17, 2006
One focus of Achieving the Dream is trying to improve student success. Public Agenda, a nonprofit opinion research firm, was hired to help the district colleges address the community's issues by organizing the districtwide community conversation in April. The community conversations allow college administrators to identify student needs and ways of targeting those needs.
Big Givers Turn to Poorly Financed Community Colleges
The New York Times, Nov. 13, 2006
As college diplomas become increasingly important and higher education costs continue to shoot upward, charitable foundations, seeking to ensure that low-income students attend college and graduate, are increasingly turning their attention to public two-year colleges. Three years ago, Lumina Foundation for Education created Achieving the Dream, a program to improve student success at community colleges by helping the colleges use data to analyze how their students were doing and find ways to increase student retention and graduation rates. Other foundations have joined that initiative, which now includes 58 colleges in nine states, and Lumina officials say there is a waiting list of both colleges and financers.
Coming of Age at Minimum Wage
WUNC Public Radio, Chapel Hill, NC, Nov. 8, 2006
Anthropologist Carol Stack, who has observed inner city young adults juggling minimum wage work and higher education ambitions, and Christine Kelly-Kleese, head of Developmental Studies at Durham Technical Community College, join host Frank Stasio to discuss the role community colleges play in helping low-income students climb the American economic ladder. Kelly-Kleese discusses Durham Tech’s involvement in Achieving the Dream and what it means for these students. "I think Achieving the Dream is one of the most absolutely, right-on projects that exists for these kids," says Stack.
Community Conversation seeks ways to reach out to the larger community
The Ranger, San Antonio, Oct. 20, 2006
About 50 people gathered at the Community Conversation on Improving Student Success in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center Tuesday to suggest ideas for this college to reach out to the community. Discussion included expressing concerns about the three-peat policy, guiding students from pre-K through 12th grade and on to college, teaching teachers to teach, mentoring and involving parents in education.
Community colleges to focus on ways to boost student success
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 12, 2006
Community colleges in Allegheny, Beaver and Westmoreland counties have joined a national initiative aimed at helping more students succeed. For the next year, the successes and failures of students enrolled in almost any class or program at the colleges will be put under an analytical microscope. Gender, race and age statistics will be gathered, as will information about each student's educational background. The initiative is called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
Go Back to Press Room
|