Big Bend Community College
Big Bend Community College’s (BBCC) implementation of numerous Achieving the Dream strategies and interventions has so deeply impacted the college’s culture that a focus and dedication to student success is now written into the college’s Academic Master Plan.
BBCC has witnessed improved student success through its implementation of the following Achieving the Dream-inspired initiatives:
- Retention and graduation rates for Hispanic/Latino students participating in the College’s MAPA initiative are higher than rates for non-participating Hispanic students.
- Students who complete the College Survival Skills class have higher reenrollment rates than students who do not participate and the reenrollment rate improvement is most evidenced in the College’s female Latina student population. That reenrollment rate is 75% of those completing CSS as compared to 70% of those who do not take the class.
- Every student who participated in the Math Jam course in June 2010 placed at least one class level higher at the end of the class than they did prior to participating.
Students who attended New Student Orientation reenrolled at a rate of 82%; whereas students who did not attend NSO reenrolled at a rate of 67%.
Despite its relatively small size, BBCC services a diverse population in a large, rural, firing district. Thirty-two percent of BBCC’s 2,180 overall student population was Hispanic in the Fall 2010 semester.
Serving a district that covers over 4,000 square miles, and includes Grant and Adams Counties and the Odessa School District in Lincoln County, and which includes two-plus counties, BBCC admirably strives to meet and to overcome the barriers to higher education of its diverse and geographically divergent student-population base.
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.
