Grays Harbor College
As an Achieving the Dream Institution, the college’s highest priority is to learn how to better look at institutional data about student success and achievement and then formulate campus-wide responses. College leaders are particularly interested in using Achieving the Dream’s guidance to help Grays Harbor to:
- Determine what data would best inform their policies and processes
- Create or use tools that would provide that data
- Develop processes for sharing and using the data most efficiently
- Tackle tough issues in a way that creates positive feelings and results
Achieving the Dream would provide the expertise needed for Grays Harbor to determine when more sophisticated statistical analyses should be used by starting with the correct questions and then determining what data would best inform that discussion. Grays Harbor seeks to address the needs of low-income, minority students, and underrepresented students whether their goal is basic education, workforce training, or to transfer to a four-year institution. The institution’s goal is to provide the opportunity to these students as well as reduce the obstacles that disadvantaged students face in achieving their educational goals.
Grays Harbor College was established in 1930 with a tradition of helping its students succeed and has remained the top priority ever since. The college services students in Washington’s Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, and as a rural college, it is the only higher education institution in the two-service county area. In alignment with the college’s tradition, its leaders feel a strong commitment to helping each and every student succeed.
According to a 2000 research report, 86% of the college’s students were in the lower two quintiles of income. Due to the current state of the economy and high unemployment in the institution’s area, Grays Harbor is certain that poverty remains just as high or even higher. Sixty-five percent of the total student enrollment for Fall 2009 attended Grays Harbor full-time, nearly 20% were students of color, and more than half (55%) of the students were over the age of 25. Only 19% of Grays Harbor’s students who take a Developmental Education math course successfully complete a subsequent college math course, and the overall graduation rate for students who began their studies in the Fall 2006 semester was only 27%.
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.
