Achieving the Dream is a multiyear national initiative to help more community college students succeed. Too many students leave community colleges without earning a certificate or degree, or without transferring to continue their studies.
“The program focus is on student success not just access,” said Dr. Danette Toone, TC vice president for academic and community initiatives.
Toone told the TC board of trustees about the program at its Monday board meeting.
Achieving the Dream looks at the dynamics of the particular institution and assists in putting interventions in place that help the student successfully complete developmental courses and then move on to work on a degree or certification plan, she said.
Community colleges are really good at providing access, but not as good seeing the students through to completion, Toone said.
Achieving the Dream shifts the focus to success by looking at specific data that will help the college make informed decisions when placing students in different courses. The information collected could show that tutoring and mentoring might be needed for a certain segment of the student population.
“The data helps define what is happening at our institution,” Toone said.
The college will get a data coach who will show TC how to pull information out of data bases and the type of data the college will need to be studying.
“It helps you see where your students are and then you put programs in place for them,” she said.
Some colleges in the program have seen a 17 percent increase in retention of students who have been offered developmental classes. A lot of the development students are single parents with fulltime jobs who are trying to come back to get started with their education.
The Greater Texas Foundation is funding the fee that TC would have to pay to become an Achieve the Dream school.
Dr. Lee Ogburn-Russell, associate vice president of health professions, reported that as part of the stimulus package the National Institute of Health has a fund that is designed to build research facilities, with a section devoted to expanding simulated education for health care providers.
“Sounds like us,” Ogburn-Russell told the board.
Scott & White and Temple College are creating a grant that’s asking for $7 million to expand TC’s existing simulation center. The expansion would be a two-story structure taking in property behind the current facility, but would not interfere with the golf course, she said.
“We thought we were really in a good position to get this grant, but then we heard there’s something like 21,000 others applying,” Ogburn-Russell said.
If the grant is awarded, the college will be able to move standardized patient rooms out of the Pavilion, opening up more classroom space.
The TC simulation center is probably the only center that trains such a diverse group of health care professions, from certified nursing assistants all the way up to physicians who are doing subspecialties, she said.
The school will know in October if it is awarded the grant, Ogburn-Russell said
A new program, the Renewable Energy Training Institute, at Taylor will probably be getting a new name that includes the words green manufacturing, said Toone.
Toone said renewable energy will still be a focus of the project, but the name seemed to be too narrow in available opportunities for the institute.
The Texas Legislature has committed $800,000 to get the project started, Toone said.
Later this week Dr. Glenda Barron, Temple College president, and Toone will be in Austin talking to Dallas County Community College District, Austin Community College, Texas State Technical College System and Alamo Community College District.
“We’re looking at an I-35 corridor of green training,” Toone said. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us.”
