Seattle Central Community College
Of the total 1,243 students attending Seattle Central Community College’s Seattle Vocational Institute (SVI), in 2009-2010, 53% were African American, 38% had less than a high school diploma, 20% held GED Certificates, and 99% received some form of financial aid. SVI is a division of the college with a specific mission to provide basic skills, vocational and workforce training opportunities through competency-based, open-entry, short-term programs that lead to jobs. These statistics clearly demonstrate the comprehensive institutional value of new President Killpatrick’s strategic priority to integrate this school-within-the-school into an integral division of the greater college community, and to prioritize the strategies for SVI student success.
Other student success initiatives include:
- Ready, Set, Transfer (RST) Program designed to take students from a starting place, often pre-college math, through to completion of Associate of Science degrees, and transfer to a four-year institution.
- Math Path study sessions designed to encourage developmental math students to spend more time on tasks related to college-level math courses.
- Integrative Assignments: A new approach to Learning Communities.
- Community of Learning, Inquiry and Practice (CLIP) development of Men of Distinction peer mentoring and social support network group which is targeting the achievement gaps of African American Males in English composition.
- An Enhanced Learning Support Network made possible by implementing a new training course for tutors.
Seattle Central Community College is perched atop Capitol Hill, in the heart of Seattle. No Northwest community college embraces or enjoys a richer mix of cultures, lifestyles, ages and nationalities than Seattle Central. The college’s halls ring with accents of Asia, Africa, Europe and all of the Americas.
Seattle Central is a member of the League for Innovation, a prestigious group of community colleges who have been selected for membership based on their educational excellence.
Seattle Central will create a coordinated learning support network to assist students via services designed to increase their success in developmental and gateway courses. The network will be the primary mechanism for implementing and coordinating various student success interventions.
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.
