Resources
Overview
Increasing Student Success at Community Colleges: Institutional Change in Achieving the Dream
Date: revised July 2006
This 15-page paper presents the rationale for Achieving the Dream and lays out the approach to institutional change that the colleges are pursuing to increase student success. The initiative emphasizes the use of data to diagnose problems, guide priorities, and assess impact. Colleges use leadership teams to mobilize broad-based involvement of people within the college and in the larger community. They seek to develop an institutional culture of inquiry, evidence and accountability.
NOVA Presentations
National Research
Developmental Mathematics Learning Roundtable Briefings
Date: November 2006
Sponsored by the Student Success Institute of the Community College Leadership Program of The University of Texas at Austin. The Developmental Mathematics Learning Roundtable provided an opportunity to convene with participating Achieving the Dream college/university delegates and resident faculty to share and elevate knowledge of effective interventions pertaining to developmental mathematics.
Paths to Persistence: An Analysis of Research on Program Effectiveness at Community Colleges
Community colleges are designed to be open-door institutions, and they play a crucial role in providing access to college. During the last decade, educators and policy-makers have shifted their attention beyond access to examine the success of students once they enter community college. Accreditation agencies and state regulators are increasingly scrutinizing measures of student outcomes such as persistence and completion rates. At the same time, national initiatives by foundations and the U.S. Department of Education are focused on developing policy and institutional practices that will improve success rates for community college students. This report presents a critical analysis of the state of the research on the effectiveness of four types of practices in increasing persistence and completion at community colleges: 1) advising, counseling, mentoring and orientation programs; 2) learning communities; 3) developmental education and other services for academically underprepared students; and 4) college-wide reform. The report draws lessons from the research about effective institutional practices. It also evaluates the state of program-effectiveness research at community colleges, identifies promising areas for future research, and makes recommendations for improving related research.
Resources from the 2007 Strategy Institute
The third annual Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 21-24, 2007. More than 670 people participated, including teams of faculty and administrators from each of the 58 Achieving the Dream colleges in nine states, as well as state policymakers, coaches and data facilitators working with the colleges, and representatives from the partner organizations and sponsoring foundations. Most participants attended sessions on strategies for increasing student success, while members of state policy teams discussed plans for advancing the Achieving the Dream policy agenda in their states.Noel-levitz FreshmanAttitudes report
This Noel-Levitz report describes the attitudes and motivations of first-year students at the very beginning of their college experience:
National Freshman Attitudes Report 2007Persistence & Retention Publication
Published by the JBL Associates and the ECMC Foundation, this report provides several strategies to increase student persistence:
Persist: a Comprehensive Guide for Success in Higher EducationACT published their survey findings from 386 public two-year colleges.
What Works In Student Retention? Two Year Public Colleges