Achieving the Dream

Achieving the Dream was conceived as a national initiative in 2004 to enable more community college students to succeed, especially students of color and low income students.  Achieving the dream defines success by the rates at which students:

• successfully complete remedial or developmental instruction and advance to credit-bearing courses,
• enroll in and successfully complete the initial college-level or gateway courses in subjects such as math and English,
• complete the courses they take with a grade of "C" or better,
• persist from one term to the next, and
• attain a certificate or degree. (http://www.achievingthedream.org/goal)

Tulsa Community College has participated in Achieving the Dream since 2006.  A Lead Team representing academic and student affairs at all four TCC campuses directs TCC’s Achieving the Dream activities. Based on national research and student success data at TCC and across the nation, TCC innovations enable more students to graduate and reach their educational goals. All innovations are assessed annually and evaluated for continuous improvement.

Current innovations:

• New Student Orientation: A fun, interactive workshop that provides helpful information about enrollment, Blackboard, TED, financial aid, choosing classes and succeeding at TCC.
• MathPath: A low cost, non-credit refresher course that helps students improve their scores on TCC’s math placement test.  Successful students have a better chance of reducing the number of developmental math courses required for their degree plans.

Recent innovations:

• Academic Strategies: A three-credit course designed to teach study habits, time management, and student success skills to first-time TCC students.  This successful innovation has been incorporated into TCC’s regular course offerings and is required for all students testing into developmental education.
• African American Male Student Success Team: A mentoring program that connects African American males who work at TCC with African American male students to help them achieve their goals.  The College is investigating how to expand this successful innovation to include more African American male students.
• Course Redesign of Beginning Algebra: A redesigned developmental math course that most students are required to take.  The redesigned course uses cooperative learning techniques to promote effective learning and success in college-level math.  This innovation has changed the way beginning algebra is taught at TCC.  TCC’s Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has expanded the scope of the Course Redesign learning techniques in beginning algebra for multi-disciplinary applications and providesongoing faculty development.

Data show that these innovations are working. To view data reports summarizing the results of TCC’s Achieving the Dream innovations, click here.