Harper College
Harper College’s interventions are all being designed to target student populations suffering from the largest achievement gaps; including a focus on students with developmental education placements, and the African American male subset of that developmental population.
Harper College has implemented three targeted interventions and is investigating the potential for improved student success to be driven through two additional strategies. These interventions include:
- The REACH Summer Bridge Program, which is designed for students who test into at least two developmental courses. The program starts two weeks prior to the Fall semester, and focuses on structured support that inspires persistence.
- Choice Scholars, which is a four-week summer preparatory bridge program for students with certain ACT or Compass scores; designed to improve reading, writing and math skills.
- Partners for Success, which is designed to improve college-level math readiness by aligning goals with the requirements for academic math success at the college level.
- Accelerate for Success, designed to permit the retaking of the COMPASS test , and to potentially permit for the testing-out-of certain developmental courses and
- Connect for Success: An early alert program designed to require progress checks on, for, of and by first year students enrolled in at least two developmental courses.
Located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, some 40% of Harper College’s Fall 2010 students were students of color and 20% of all undergraduates were Pell grant recipients.
Harper College was the first community college in Illinois to require orientation, assessment and placement for its full-time, first time in college students. The college is considered one of Illinois’ top colleges and career training schools and provides 15,700 full-time, and over 40,000 part-time students with distance learning, and certificates each year. The college also provides students with job-ready degrees and certificates in nursing, computer technology, business, marketing, e-commerce, law enforcement, and other areas.
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.
