Achieving the Dream

Overview

Achieving the Dream is a national initiative designed to help more community college students earn a degree or certificate or successfully transfer to continue their further education. Begun in 2004 with the support of the Lumina Foundation as well as other key national partners, Achieving the Dream has, as its particular focus, student groups that traditionally have faced the most significant barriers to success. The initiative emphasizes the use of data to produce systemic change and focuses colleges on measurable outcomes.

The initial round of implementation (2004) involved community colleges in five states. One year later two additional states were represented; and this fall, community colleges in Pennsylvania and Washington have been added as well.

Our selection was through a competitive application process. We are joined in Pennsylvania by six sister institutions: Community College of Allegheny County, Community College of Beaver County, Delaware County Community College, Montgomery County Community College, Northampton Community College and Westmoreland County Community College. Funding for the initiative in Pennsylvania is being provided by the Heinz Foundation.

For us at Community College of Philadelphia, the title “Achieving the Dream” may be new, but the goals and values of the initiative are not. They align perfectly with elements of our strategic plan and with outcomes that we have already articulated as essential to our mission and our vision. Our aspiration of serving Philadelphia as a “premier learning institution where student success exemplifies the strength of a diverse, urban community college” is precisely what Achieving the Dream is all about.

Achieving the Dream declares that its core values are “a student-centered vision, a culture of evidence and accountability, and a commitment to equity and excellence.” Those same values are explicit in our current strategic plan.

Achieving the Dream asks that we utilize data in every aspect of our decision making, in our development of strategies for improvement, and in establishing the benchmarks by which we will measure our students’ success. This same commitment is explicit in our most recent Middle States self-study and in the Middle States’ visiting team’s final recommendations.

Achieving the Dream places particular emphasis on progress toward points on our educational continuum: outcomes associated with completion of developmental programs; completion of gateway courses that lead to defined curricula; and accomplishment of degrees and certificates. These same outcomes are at the forefront of our thinking.

Each college in the initiative has the support of a coach and a data facilitator. Data facilitators, generally trained as institutional researchers, help the institutions analyze and use data to develop strategies for improvement, monitor progress, and evaluate results. Both our coach and our data facilitator will be available to us throughout the coming academic year and will make periodic visits to our campus. We shall also be able to tap best practices identified at other participating Achieving the Dream colleges and benchmark our progress against other large, urban institutions.

This initiative represents a significant opportunity to move our strategic agenda forward in tangible and dramatic ways. In seizing this opportunity, let’s keep our collective focus on the core elements of our vision: learning, diversity and student success.

Stephen M. Curtis
President
Community College of Philadelphia

For more information email achievingthedream@ccp.edu.