FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATELY
DATE: October
11, 2007
CONTACT: Jeff
Wagnitz, (206) 878-3710, ext. 3373, jwagnitz@highline.edu
Lisa
Skari, (206) 878-3710, ext. 3705, lskari@highline.edu
TO HELP
MORE OF ITS STUDENTS SUCCEED
Grant awarded as part of national ‘Achieving
the Dream’ initiative
“I am proud to lead an institution that is
recognized for its student-centered vision and its commitment to helping
students succeed. We know that many
students at the College face significant barriers, especially students of
color, immigrants, refugees, and the poor.
The Achieving the Dream initiative will assist us in broadening our
capacity to collect and use data more effectively in assessing strategies
designed to enhance students’ performance and to support their efforts to
complete their degrees,” says Dr. Jack Bermingham, interim president of
Highline Community College.
In
addition to financial support, Achieving
the Dream provides participating colleges with a range of assistance to
implement strategies aimed at helping more students ¾
particularly students of color and low-income students ¾ earn degrees and
certificates. Administrators at Highline work closely
with an Achieving the Dream coach and a data facilitator who provide hands-on
help with the use of data.
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Collecting
and analyzing data is an important part of the college’s commitment to
Achieving the Dream. The initiative emphasizes building “a culture of
evidence,” in which colleges closely monitor student achievement data and use
what they learn to drive critical decision-making. Participating colleges use
their data to determine the most effective practices and areas for
improvement. Data also helps identify
new strategies and guide where to devote institutional resources.
Since
joining Achieving the Dream last summer, Highline has spent the year conducting
its initial planning. The college was awarded the grant based on its
demonstrated commitment to improving student success and its plan for
accomplishing that goal. The college will use the grant to:
Achieving the Dream was launched in 2004 with start-up funding
from Lumina Foundation for Education, which continues to pay part of the cost
of the initiative. Eighteen additional funders, including College Spark
Eight national
partner organizations work with Lumina to guide the initiative and provide
technical and other support to the colleges and states. They are: the American
Association of Community Colleges; the Community College Leadership Program at
the University of Texas-Austin; the
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More about Achieving the Dream, including a full list of
participants, can be found online at www.achievingthedream.org.
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