College Student Retention And Success - 1423 Words

Amber Caplan 01/28/16 College Student Retention and Success Part 1: Identify the student retention and success initiative The Achieving The Dream Initiative Many institutions face challenges retaining and graduating community college students. Students, faculty, staff, and administrators need work together to find ways to help these students succeed. Through the use of the Achieving the Dream initiative, the organization can help community colleges and their students to stay with their school and become successful academically and professionally. The Achieving The Dream initiative was founded by the Lumina Foundation in 2004 and other organizations such as, American Association of Community Colleges (AACC); Community College Leadership†¦show more content†¦and George A. Davis Foundation, the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation and TERI (non-profit organization) (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2016). According to the Achieving The Dream website, http://achievingthedream.org/, they focus on â€Å"College Readiness, Community Engagement, Culture of Evidence Inquiry, Equity, Faculty Staff Engagement, Financial Literacy, Institutional Change, Knowledge Sharing, Scaling Change, State Policy Reform, Student-Centered Supports, Technology in Education, Visionary Leadership, and Workforce Preparation.† Within community colleges, many students are of low income status and/or students of color who face challenges staying in school due to struggles they may encounter at home financially, academically, and more. They have various resources such as their Knowledge Center with a database of studies and reports on what the organization has done. There are also many initiatives they run to help students receive scholarships for colleges to having institutions and staff teach students valuable retail skills. They have a Technology Resource Research Center with a database of many resources institutions can review such as surveys and articles on increasing retention. Also lastly, they have an Achieving The Dream Interventions Showcase featuring initiatives and programs done by community colleges such as First Year Seminar Courses that promote student success and show the results of many interventions