Building a culture of evidence for community college student success: early progress in the Achieving the Dream initiative

In 2003, Lumina Foundation for Education launched a bold, multi-year, national initiative called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, to help students stay in school and succeed. The initiative is focused particularly on students who have faced the most barriers to success, including low-income students and students of color. Initially, 27 community colleges in five states joined the initiative; there are now 82 institutions in 15 states. Participating colleges commit to collecting and analyzing data to improve student outcomes - a process known as 'building a culture of evidence'. Specifically, colleges mine transcripts and gather other information to understand how students are faring over time and which groups need the most assistance. From this work, colleges implement strategies to improve academic outcomes. Colleges evaluate their strategies, expand effective ones, and use data to guide budgeting and other institutional decisions. Participating colleges receive a $50,000 planning grant followed by a four-year, $400,000 implementation grant, along with assistance from expert advisers hired by the initiative. This report describes the progress that the first 27 colleges have made after planning and one year of implementation.

Excerpt from summary reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

In 2003, Lumina Foundation for Education launched a bold, multi-year, national initiative called Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, to help students stay in school and succeed. The initiative is focused particularly on students who have faced the most barriers to success, including low-income students and students of color. Initially, 27 community colleges in five states joined the initiative; there are now 82 institutions in 15 states. Participating colleges commit to collecting and analyzing data to improve student outcomes - a process known as 'building a culture of ...  [+] Show more