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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.
Resources for Colleges
Click here for resources from the National Achieving the Dream website.
Resources include:
Equity Leader Challenges, Encourages Achieving the Dream
PolicyLink founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell gave a rousing keynote address on the last day of the 2009 Strategy Institute. Click here for her remarks on equity and the role of Achieving the Dream community colleges.2008 STRATEGY INSTITUTE
Resources From the 2008 Strategy Institute
The 2008 Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute took place in Atlanta, Ga., February 4–8, 2008. Nearly 900 people participated, including teams of faculty and administrators from each of the 83 Achieving the Dream colleges in 15 states, as well as state policymakers, coaches and data facilitators working with the colleges, invited guests and representatives from partner organizations and funders. Institute 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.Round 4 Kick-Off Institute
Round 4 Kick-Off Institute Presentations
The Round 4 Kick-Off Institute took place in Dallas, Texas, July 8-11, 2007. Nearly 270 people participated, including representatives from the 26 new Achieving the Dream colleges and seven Achieving the Dream states, several new foundations and partner organizations. Participants attended introductory sessions of the Achieving the Dream initiative such as; Values that Guide Achieving the Dream, Building a Culture of Evidence, Data-Driven Process for Institutional Change, among others.2007 STRATEGY INSTITUTE
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.2006 STRATEGY INSTITUTE
Resources From the 2006 Strategy Institute
Achieving the Dream's second annual Strategy Institute took place in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., January 29 - February 1, 2006. Nearly 400 people participated, including representatives from the 35 Achieving the Dream colleges and seven Achieving the Dream states, several foundations and partner organizations, and numerous outstanding resource people.2005 STRATEGY INSTITUTE
The 2005 Achieving the Dream Strategy Institute featured workshops by national experts on a variety of strategies related to student retention and success. Presentation and workshop handouts addressed the first-year experience; developmental education; learning communities; collaborative learning; strategies to engage faculty, students and the public; and other topics.
THE DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS LEARNING ROUNDTABLE
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.
Strategies
Strategies at Achieving the Dream Colleges
Each Achieving the Dream college develops strategies based on its analysis of institutional strengths, problem areas and achievement gaps.Resources From Achieving the Dream Strategy Institutes, 2005 - 2008
Colleges participating in Achieving the Dream meet during the winter for a Strategy Institute. Many of the resources are available online.
National Research on Developmental Math
The Developmental Mathematics Learning Roundtable
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.25 Steps to Effective Developmental Education
Author: Byron McClenney, former community college president now at the Community College Leadership Program, University of Texas.
Date: August, 2005
Byron McClenney has prepared a summary of 25 Steps to Effective Developmental Education based on his extensive experience and knowledge of research in the field. Byron manages the coaches who work with Achieving the Dream colleges; he also coaches three colleges himself.http://www.tacc.org/pdf/NCDEFinalReport.pdf
Building a Foundation for Student Success In Developmental Mathematics
Report and recommendations of the 100% Math Initiative: A statewide effort to improve the quality of developmental mathematics instruction at Massachusetts community colleges. The purpose of the 100% Math project is to develop, test and promote the implementation of faculty professional development, innovative classroom techniques and continuous effective monitoring and assessing strategies that will increase student success in developmental math. The 100% Math Initiative was supported by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education.Assessing and Improving Student Outcomes: What We Are Learning at Miami Dade College
Told from the point of view of the MDC's Office of Institutional Effectiveness, this paper describes how the college is sing the interpretation of a variety of data to make better-informed choices about the operation of student programs and services. MDC has made a number of changes in an attempt to improve student outcomes across its large, eight-campus college. While this endeavor continues to move forward, some specific strategies relevant to the college's developmental mathematics pathway that were launched a few years ago have begun to show promising results. What is more, the processes that took place in choosing, implementing, and assessing those strategies have to some meaningful extent been institutionalized through college-wide reform.Supplemental Instruction as a Strategy for Developmental Math
Supplemental Instruction is a promising practice for student success in developmental math. This document includes a description, data from three Achieving the Dream colleges using Supplemental Instruction and a link to a professional development opportunity.MERLOT: Putting Educational Innovations Into Practice
Find peer reviewed online teaching and learning materials. Share advice and expertise about education with expert colleagues. Be recognized for your contributions to quality education.
Software as a Strategy for Developmental Math:
Features of MyMathLab: http://www.mymathlab.com/features.html
Success stories of MyMathLab/MATHXL: http://www.mathxl.com/support/success.htmlReview of MyMathLab and ALEKS in Fall 2007 AMATYC newsletter: http://www.amatyc.org/publications/AMATYC-Review/Fall2007/index.htm
For Part I, click on "software reviews"Part II in the Spring 2008 AMATYC includes other software and presents a comparison of features:
http://www.amatyc.org/publications/AMATYC-Review/Spring2008/index.html
For Part II, click on "software reviews"
National Research on Persistence
Persist: A Comprehensive Guide for Success in Higher Education
Published by the JBL Associates and the ECMC Foundation, this report provides several strategies to increase student persistence:What Works in Student Retention? Two Year Public Colleges
ACT published their survey findings from 386 public two-year colleges.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 under prepared 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.
National Research on First-Year Experience
The Policy Center on the First Year of College
This is an independent, non-profit, higher education policy, advocacy, and research center located at 400 North Broad Street in Brevard, North Carolina. The work of the Policy Center is currently supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education, and is an extension of the work of John N. Gardner and his colleagues at the University of South Carolina’s National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. The two centers work cooperatively on issues of central concern for the success of first-year college students.Noel-Levitz Freshman Attitudes Report
This Noel-Levitz report describes the attitudes and motivations of first-year students at the very beginning of their college experience.
Are your students Starting Right? How do you know?
By all measures, attrition, particularly in the first semester, is a significant problem for community colleges and their students. Current research indicates that helping students succeed through the equivalent of the first semester (12–15 credit hours) can dramatically improve retention. Successfully completing the first semester, moreover, improves students' chances of attaining further milestones and, ultimately, earning certificates and degrees.A Meeting of the Minds: Two Perspectives on New Student Seminars
The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina hosted its first teleconference entitled, A Meeting of the Minds: Two Perspectives on New Student Seminars. The teleconference set the stage for an interactive dialogue among David Ellis, John Gardner, and the viewing audience. The two leading pioneers of the first-year movement discussed topics ranging from essential characteristics of a first-year seminar to assessment and many points in between.
http://www.sc.edu/fye/resources/fyr/index.html
First-year resources from the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience at the University of South Carolina.
http://valencia.cc.fl.us/studentsuccess/
First-year program at Valencia Community College.http://nrc.fye.sc.edu/resources/fyl/fslinks.php
Additional first-year program websites.