Achieving the Dream
Achieving the Dream helps participating colleges implement strategies designed to help more students earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to other institutions to continue their studies. The initiative emphasizes building a culture of evidence, in which colleges use data to identify effective practices, improve student success rates and close achievement gaps.
JCCC is one of 102 institutions - 98 colleges and four universities - in 22 states to participate in the program.
The Lumina Foundation for Education, which funds Achieving the Dream, has a goal to raise the proportion of the U.S. adult population who earn high-quality college degrees to 60 percent by the year 2025, an increase of 23 million graduates above current rates, according to Dr. Marilyn Rhinehart, executive vice president, Instruction. Currently, approximately 39 percent of American adults complete a two- or four-year degree. Each college makes a two-year commitment to focus its efforts on closing performance gaps among students in targeted populations.
JCCC's first step is to gather data to determine which student groups are less successful than others and which high-enrollment courses have the lowest success rates. While Achieving the Dream is about data, Rhinehart says that every number represents a person.
"Every piece of data has a story that can help us understand how we can make the greatest difference to a student. We need to learn how we can take down barriers to student success and give students the courage and confidence to succeed," Rhinehart said.
"The analogy I like to give comes from my high school band teacher, who said the band is only as good as its fourth-chair clarinet player," said Jeff Frost, dean, mathematics, and core team leader for Achieving the Dream at JCCC. "If you can make the fourth-chair clarinet better, the whole band sounds better. This program is not for the first-chair trumpet player. This program is for the fourth-chair clarinet player."