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College Access & Success Initiatives
Achieving the Dream
Our Work

 Achieving the Dream Nationally

Achieving the Dream is a long-term initiative that helps campuses collect and analyze data to finally close achievement gaps, and ensure success for all college students. Initiated by the Lumina Foundation for Education, the initiative is already transforming the practices of 35 community colleges across the country.


What Dreams Will Students Achieve?

Achieving the Dream is about helping more and more community college students succeed. Designed to strengthen community colleges by helping them create a student-centered vision, the initiative promotes a culture of evidence and accountability, and a commitment to excellence and equality that's necessary to boost student achievement. To this end, these colleges have pledged to help more students:

  • complete remedial courses and begin for-credit courses;
  • enroll in and complete required courses such as introductory math and English composition;
  • complete these courses with a "C" or higher;
  • re-enroll the next semester, and all subsequent semesters;
  • earn their certificates and/or degrees.


How will Ohio Achieve the Dream?

Supported by KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Lumina Foundation, several community colleges in Ohio will join 30 other community colleges across the country to advance these imperatives. Ohio's Achieving the Dream action plans include:

  • Supporting colleges through the change process. Participating colleges collect and analyze student data to understand where students are dropping out and why. Colleges will adopt strategies to improve student services, concentrate on identifying and closing achievement gaps, and strengthen institutional practice to ensure success for all.
  • Advocate for state and federal policy.
    Achieving the Dream is committed to recommending promising public policy alternatives that have achieved success in other states. Policy work should help establish higher student achievement and new standards for community college data collection that will, in turn, drive policy. For example, Ohio's financial aid policies don't match the needs of low-income community college students. Compared to other states, Ohio ranks 40th in the amount of assistance we provide to low-income students to support higher education.
  • Build community support to improve outcomes.
    Community support can help students succeed at all levels by opening doors to learning opportunities, such as internships or job placement. Local businesses can support their own workforce by partnering with community colleges for training.
  • Build knowledge of best practices and policy.
    Many community colleges have developed best practices, and many states have developed "best policies" that have improved outcomes for students, but they're not well-documented. Developing national databases that document student performance, set benchmarks for college performance, and record outcomes over time are necessary for practice and policy change.

To learn more about the Lumina Foundation for Education's work, visit www.luminafoundation.org.

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