Los Angeles Mission College
Los Angeles Mission College’s vision for student success is to provide high quality learning opportunities in a supportive environment.
With the guidance of Achieving the Dream, the college plans to:
- Ensure student recruitment, retention, and success
- Efficiently allocate resources to provide quality programs and courses that meet student needs
- Assess and modify educational programs, disciplines, and courses to promote student learning and maintain appropriate academic standards
- Improve students’ success in earning certificates and degrees, continuing their education, seeking employment, and attaining personal goals
Mission College is particularly interested in the promotion of equity and diversity as an Achieving the Dream Institution. College leaders have identified a specific focus on providing education opportunities and support success for all students, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, personal barriers, or developmental level. The college’s mission and goals include increasing awareness through educational events for underrepresented groups and those who are often seen as "invisible" in society. The college also recognizes the importance of engaging internal and external community stakeholders in decision-making for program improvements and addressing achievement gap concerns.
Los Angeles Mission College is located in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles and serves the educational needs of those in the San Fernando Valley region where 41% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, and some communities have poverty rates well below the regional average. The college has been an educational and cultural hub for communities of Southern California, where the poverty and unemployment rates are among the nation’s highest. Mission College opened its doors to students in February 1975 as the youngest, and ninth, college established in the Los Angeles Community College District. Now enrolling over 10,000 students and graduating 14% of entering full-time, first-time students in 2009, the college has joined the Achieving the Dream Network.
As of Fall 2009, 77% of students at Mission College were enrolled part-time and over 60% of the total student population were female. More than 90% of the college’s 10,790 students were students of color, with Hispanic and Latino students comprising 70% of the total enrollment population. More than 70% of the college’s students require or qualify for some type of student financial aid.
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.
