Elgin Community College
During its first year participating in Achieving the Dream, Elgin Community College (ECC) embraced the spirit of a culture of evidence and demonstrated a genuine commitment to student success by laying the groundwork for the implementation of core initiatives.
ECC is working to create cohesion among its initiatives. After a year of development and planning, the college is looking to drive collaboration among the following strategies in the coming year:
- Academic Advising—Collaborate with the Developmental Education workgroup to identify students most in need of advising; and work with the First Year Experience team to embed advising within the College 101 course and New Student Orientation.
- First Year Experience—Identify synergies among College 101, GSD 101, RDG 110 and other student success courses; research the feasibility of mandating College 101 for all part-time and developmental students; and scaling participation of full-time faculty in student success courses.
- Developmental Education—Bring to scale the Summer Bridges program and MTH099; further professional development through the CETL system; further revise curricula; research the viability and benefits of peer tutoring.
- Culture and Relations—Roll-out competency training to key administrators, faculty and staff; hold team-building sessions with key departments.
Located in the Fox River Valley, mid-way between Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, in a city ranked among the ten fastest-growing cities in the state,; Elgin is home to some 19,275 students.
ECC strives for both academic excellence and student success. Its targeted assistance to students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students is based on the understanding that equity involves more than just access to the college’s resources. Roughly 40% of the college’s students are Hispanic and another 10% are students of color. Sitting at the intersections of urban and rural communities, Elgin’s diverse student population—while coming from varied backgrounds—face similar socio-economic hurdles along the way to persisting and earning degrees and/or certificates.
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.
