Community colleges in five states selected to participate in first phase of national initiative to increase student success

Durham Technical Community College has been chosen to participate in Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a new initiative designed to enhance the academic success of low-income and minority students. Each college received a $50,000 investment grant to develop plans for addressing this challenge and will be eligible for additional funding to implement their plans.

Achieving the Dream is a multi-year initiative funded by Lumina Foundation for Education and involving several national partner organizations. The first phase of the initiative will directly involve the selected colleges in Florida, North Carolina, New Mexico, Virginia and Texas. In future years, the initiative will expand to involve eligible community colleges in additional states. Currently in the planning phase, the national initiative was launched in the fall of 2004.

A team of national reviewers selected the 27 participating institutions from among 60 community colleges that submitted proposals. Eligible colleges were regionally accredited, public, associate degree-granting institutions. Each college was required to have an enrollment that was at least 33 percent minority students or 50 percent students who receive government-supported financial aid.

According to the reviewers, those colleges selected most effectively demonstrated their commitment to increasing student success and best communicated their vision for accomplishing this at their institutions.
Durham Tech's vision for increasing student success is expressed in the proposal submitted to the Lumina Foundation:

VISION

In order to conduct research, to learn best practices from those who have been successful boosting graduation rates for low-income students and students of color, and to design and carry out programs that assist those students in substantive and measurable ways, Durham Tech envisions a comprehensive effort by every area of the college. We know that this effort can result in powerful, positive, and lasting change for all students. We are ready to make the commitment that can make this change.

Research shows that low-income students and students of color may have a difficult time completing programs of study because they are academically unprepared, have financial concerns causing hardship and requiring long work hours, and have family responsibilities they are often unable to meet when they are also in school. We know we must try to understand these needs; collect data which assists in clarifying the scope and types of problems students face; and design, implement, and evaluate programs to make a better learning environment for students. We also know that students in these high-risk groups are sometimes discouraged about their chances for academic success and, therefore, never become engaged in the educational process. Furthermore, high-risk students often do not have clear academic plans and strategies for achieving those plans. We want to change this situation at Durham Technical Community College.

• We intend to learn about student engagement. We want to know how our students interact with one another, with faculty, and with subject matter both in classes and outside the regular academic setting. We want to know what our students' academic goals are and whether the students are in danger of not reaching those goals because they have vague academic plans or insufficient connection to the college. We will gather data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and use the survey data we collect to make changes to serve Durham Tech students better. CCSSE will provide useful, dependable data for use in designing more engaging learning environments.
• We intend to design an advising system that will support especially our low-income students and students of color. We envision an advising system in which at-risk students and members of the college's faculty and staff develop the kinds of relationships in which students not only feel secure and receive guidance but also learn to monitor and plan their own academic progress. A system such as the Career Portfolio program with which students keep track of their developing abilities will be useful. Durham Tech is dedicated to helping all students become independent learners who have clearly articulated educational plans, who understand how to achieve those goals, and who have the flexibility and agility in critical thinking that enables them to prepare for their futures.
• We intend to provide a way to have a continuing conversation about learning on our campus. Our vision has a learning component for all stakeholders. As Durham Tech becomes a learning college, we are aware of the need to have a conversation among faculty, staff, students, and members of the community to engage them in this substantive change. Developing our Learning College Vision Statement provides the foundation for this change. The Teaching-Learning Center is poised to provide ways for faculty and staff to discuss with and learn from each other. The data gathered will guide us as we continue to carry on the campus conversation about learning. We know students must be a part of this conversation and members of the community will want to tell us their visions for the college. We have begun this process, and we are ready to listen and learn.
• We intend to prove with data that the efforts outlined will lead to student achievement. We are committed to a data-driven effort that will show our students, faculty and staff, and our community that our learning college is making a recognizable, positive difference for all students but especially for those who have not yet met or even designed their educational goals.

We anticipate that substantive change on our campus will cause a restructuring of the ways in which we operate every day. We are prepared for making this change; but, more importantly, we embrace it. We know we must gather data to show us what our current reality is. But we do not assume data analysis alone will cause positive change. We are aware that merely understanding the problem will not, in itself, cause faculty, staff, students, and the community to want change. We understand that our vision must be shared by all stakeholders and implemented through the commitment of all in order to make short-and long-term changes. Our vision is to inspire change through careful self-assessment, planning, implementation and leading by example as we engage others in the process. We know this is a difficult undertaking but want to do no less for our students, for our community, and for ourselves.

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