Patrick Henry Community College
Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) uses a robust online advising tool, cooperative learning, and accelerated developmental education to support the success of low-income students and students of color.
PHCC’s strategies intentionally overlap. Its online tool—based on statistical models— has helped improve advisors’ decisions about placing students in accelerated developmental math courses. Cooperative learning techniques helps facilitate students’ progress in accelerated
math courses. Each innovation’s effect on overall student outcomes is uncertain; however, trends are positive.
- Two-year completion rates increasedfrom 10% for the 2005 first-time-incollege (FTIC) cohort to 13% for the 2008 cohort
- Fall-to-fall persistence ratesincreased from 54% for the2005 cohort to 68% for the 2008 cohort
Founded in 1962 as a branch of the University of Virginia’s School of General Studies, PHCC became an autonomous two-year college in 1964. The college hosts the Piedmont Governor’s School, Virginia’s Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and Old Dominion University’s TeleTechNet, which offers 18 undergraduate and eight graduate programs through distance learning. Radford University also offers a nursing degree program on campus.
PHCC serves Martinsville and the residents of three rural southern Virginia counties. In Fall 2009, the college had 3,500 students. Of those students, 61% were female, 25% African American, 2% Hispanic, and 48% received Pell Grants.
Data inform PHCC’s Achieving the Dream work and its plans to continue:
- Cooperative Learning techniques throughout the college to enhance student engagement and critical thinking
- The Southern Center for Active Learning Excellence with support from its non-profit foundation; in addition to training nearly all full-time and adjunct PHCC faculty, the center has hosted 18 colleges and 141 individuals on site and traveled to 29 institutions to train more than 470 individuals in innovative cooperative learning strategies
- Accelerated Learning for developmental math, and English; Accelerated Learning permits simultaneous enrollment in a college-level course and a developmental course
- Case Management Advising that boosts advisors’ intuition with statistical models that predict which courses fit students’ needs based on student-provided information
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.
Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges
Leader Colleges are demonstrating the power of the Achieving the Dream Student-Centered Model of Institutional Improvement. They show us it is possible to raise persistence and graduation rates, close achievement gaps, and change lives. Leader Colleges embody the ultimate goal of Achieving the Dream, and as such, serve as mentors within our community of learners.
To be eligible for Leader College distinction, colleges must show three or more years of improvement on one or more of these five measures:
- Course completion
- Advancement from developmental to credit-bearing courses
- Completion of college-level math and English courses
- Term-to-term and year-to-year retention
- Completion of certificates or degrees
