Del Mar College
Student learning is Del Mar College's highest priority. Its strategic plan includes objectives to maximize student learning, improve retention, and enhance the management of student information. With Achieving the Dream, the college will:
- Improve the placement of students in developmental math courses with more accurate placement testing and more thorough orientation
- Provide professional development to help faculty and staff make data-informed decisions by
- Expand the success of Supplemental Instruction to developmental math courses
Achieving the Dream builds on P-16 student retention partnerships and initiatives like Supplemental Instruction, which provides peer-facilitated assistance to students in courses with high failure and withdrawal rates. The college has a relatively new Student Success Center, funded by a Title V grant in 2009, on its main campus as well as a Collegiate High School. Supplemental Instruction via the Student Success Center has proven beneficial for participating students. From Fall 2009 through Summer 2010, the percentage of SI students earning final grades of A, B, or C was consistently higher than the percentage of non-participating students.
Del Mar College (DMC), founded in 1935, serves Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend region near the Gulf Coast of south Texas. The college offers 50 university transfer programs and certificates in 80 occupational fields. In Fall 2009, the college had 12,070 students; 68% were students of color.
The college is a Title V Hispanic Serving Institution committed to providing educational opportunities to an underrepresented, academically and economically disadvantaged population. Fifty-nine percent of DMC students in Fall 2009 were Hispanic/Latino, and over half of the college's first-year, full time students received Pell grants.
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.
