Lansing Community College
Lansing Community College seeks to assess honestly and understand thoroughly which policies, procedures, and pedagogies need improvement. With Achieving the Dream, the college will:
- Raise the percentage of students completing a credential or transferring within three years, employing Mandatory Student Orientation for developmental students, as well as increased use of Educational Development Plans (EDPs) for students approaching degree or certificate completion with a desire to increase the level of attainment
- Increase student success rates in developmental courses using initiatives such as the Arithmetic Boost program, designed to help refresh students’ knowledge of numbers
- Implement a ‘W’ and ‘0’s Review Committee to assess reasoning behind failing grades and withdrawals from developmental courses
- Move student success to the center of the college’s agenda, and allow it to be visible through processes led and driven by faculty, particularly in gateway courses and for students of color by incorporating student success data into program self-evaluation.
Achieving the Dream builds on Strategic Horizons and Program Analysis, two initiatives the college launched in 2009. Strategic Horizons supports facilitated conversations within and across traditional department boundaries to involve faculty and staff in decision-making and to create a shared vision for the college's future. Program Analysis involves information gathering, analysis, brainstorming, and institutional action to make programs sustainable.
Lansing Community College offers 240 associate degree and certificate programs, as well as several international study programs. A university center provides students with access to bachelor's and master's degree programs from partner universities. With 3 campuses and 4 off-campus learning centers, it is Michigan's third largest community college. In Fall 2009, it had 21,125 students; 34% were students of color. Nearly 40% of the Lansing ATD cohort’s students of color enrolling for the first time in Fall 2009 were referred to developmental education courses. A 2009 study of data from the school established that fewer than 12% of LCC students complete a credential within three years. Increasing student completion rates is the LCC’s highest priority.
The college is focused on three major fundamental changes as it prepares to meet the academic, workforce, and economic needs of central Michigan residents. It wants to help more students identify and declare academic majors, progress through developmental courses, and complete academic and career-related goals.
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.
