Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College wants to broaden its knowledge of the practices and policies that lead to student success and then to implement them systematically.
With Achieving the Dream, the college will:
- Increase first-year student success through acquisition and application of effective skills through incorporating On Course student success principles throughout academic and student support divisions of the college, and create a culture of success that promotes student retention and completion
- Align student success policies, practices and procedures through process improvement: reviewing, evaluating, and revising current success interventions
- Develop an intentional, data-informed culture
- Refine data retrieval and distribution mechanisms
- Offer professional development that enables faculty and staff to identify problems, set priorities, and assess progress toward student outcomes
The college has instituted a number of student success initiatives including a freshman seminar, an early warning academic alert system, a transfer advising center, and high school-to-college transitional programs. AB Tech’s main goal is to increase the percentage of student retention, progression, and completion. Faculty will be imperative to the implementation of these goals; they will be expected to incorporate more learner-centered strategies that focus on effective skills in teaching. An ongoing system of review and revision will be sustained through the normal process of departmental evaluation.
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College (AB Tech) is the largest postsecondary institution in western North Carolina. It began as an industrial education center in 1959, was a technical institute beginning in 1964, and became a community college in 1979. In addition to a 144-acre campus in Asheville, the college has two satellite campuses. In Fall 2009, it had 7,540 students in degree and certificate programs; 16% were students of color. AB Tech sponsors a Minority Student Leadership Academy to increase retention and graduation rates among minority students, as well as to provide leadership activities and training
Inadequate preparation for postsecondary education creates challenges for students and the college. Nearly 60% of entering students require some type of remediation. Completion rates for the 2009-2010 school year’s developmental courses were merely 8% for math, 41% for English, and 43% for reading. By the end of the third year of their involvement with Achieving the Dream, AB Tech hopes that their work will help raise the current rates to 25% for math and 65% for English and reading.
The Achieving the Dream Model
Achieving the Dream community colleges commit to our Student-Centered Model of Institutional Improvement. Based on four principles, the model frames the overall work of helping more students, particularly low- income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree.
Each college approaches the work differently, but Achieving the Dream’s five-step process provides practical guidelines for keeping the focus where it belongs and building momentum over time. Throughout the process, Achieving the Dream coaches offer customized support and help each college’s core team implement data-informed programs and policies that build long-term, institution-wide commitment to student success.
