Overview

Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count is a multiyear national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The initiative is particularly concerned about student groups that traditionally have faced significant barriers to success, including students of color and low-income students. Achieving the Dream works on multiple fronts, including efforts at community colleges and in research, public engagement and public policy. It emphasizes the use of data to drive change. (Achieving the Dream)

Achieving the Dream aims to bring about significant changes in state policies—including regulations, laws, funding and incentives, administration and governance—to promote improved outcomes for community college students. The initiative seeks to promote a state policy culture that uses evidence to influence decisions about resources, rules, and accountability. This kind of data-driven culture must be grounded in state data systems that provide a rich array of accessible information about student outcomes. Over time, policy changes sparked by Achieving the Dream should support significant improvement in student outcomes in participating colleges and across the state’s community colleges. (Jobs for the Future)
 

ACtD Partners

Community College Research Center

Jobs for the Future

Knowledge Works Foundation

Lumina Foundation for Education

MDC
 

Nellie Mae Education Foundation

Dougherty, Kevin J. and Hong, Esther (2005) State Systems of Performance Accountability for Community Colleges: Impacts and Lessons for Policymakers
 

Jaquette, Ozan (2006) Making Performance Accountability Work: English Lessons for U.S. Community Colleges
 

Jobs for the Future (2005) Building Support for Student Success: A Framework for Achieving the Dream's State Policy Work
 

Mills, Jack (2003) State Data Systems and Privacy Concerns: Strategies for Balancing Public Interests

Prince, Heath (2005) Standardization vs. Flexibility: State Policy Options on Placement Testing for Developmental Education in Community Colleges

Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (October 2007) Developmental Education Placement Policies and Student Success In the Connecticut Community Colleges
 

Research Report (available soon)

Jobs for the Future: An Achieving the Dream Policy Brief (October 2007) Power Tools: Designing State Community College Data and Performance Measurement Systems to Increase Student Success.

Jobs for the Future: An Achieving the Dream Policy Brief (October 2007) Power Tools: Designing State Community College Data and Performance Measurement Systems to Increase Student Success. Executive Summary.