Delta College
Student success is the preeminent priority of the college's strategic plan, department tactical plans, and key performance indicators. Delta College wants Achieving the Dream's guidance to mobilize faculty and staff to use the evidence contained in its data warehouse and on its dashboard of indicators. With Achieving the Dream, the college will:
- Increase student persistence at Delta College. Currently, the success rate at Delta is 82%. Delta hopes to increase this by at least 2% during the 2011-2012 academic year and by at least 1% in the following years by piloting an enhanced orientation to disadvantaged students entering their first semester at Delta.
- Improve student success rates at Delta by offering the MyAlert program, whereby all faculty and staff can refer at-risk students for additional support. They will also employ the Math Cubed program, a learning community in which the first three developmental math courses can be completed within one semester at a higher rate of success.
- Raise student retention rates at Delta College. Currently, Delta’s retention rate is approximately 79% and the college’s goal is to increase this by 1.5% during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Achieving the Dream builds on two of the college's federal grant-funded projects: one has improved retention with mentoring; the other has added counseling to developmental learning communities. Other student success efforts at Delta College include a math booster program, a developmental education study group, and online orientation. Delta is a charter member of the National League for Innovation in the Community College, which signifies its devotion to the improvement of learning through experimentation and innovation.
Delta College serves the residents of Bay City, Midland, and Saginaw. In addition to its main campus, the college operates three centers (one with a planetarium), a public radio station, and a public television station. Delta offers more than 50 transfer programs and 100 career degree and certificate programs, and academic offerings are continually reviewed and updated. In Fall 2009, Delta had 11,350 students, 20% were students of color and of those students 76% needed at least one developmental course.
The severe contraction of the automotive industry has increased the incidence of situational poverty in the college's central Michigan service area, which also includes neighborhoods with generational poverty. The college has seen rising numbers of low-income, first-generation students during the past five years and expects this trend to continue. In Fall 2009, 65% of entering students were referred to developmental education courses. Most students are not prepared for college-level math.
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.
