ATD announces Alliance for Community College Learner Success cohort

Across the country, community colleges generate social mobility for their students and build economic resilience in the regions they serve. But over the past decade, enrollment in these institutions has declined by nearly 2 million students. This trend, exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, reflects long-standing obstacles to higher education for too many of America’s learners.

While many colleges have intensified their focus and adapted their approach toward student success, achieving stronger outcomes demands deeper, more systemic reform tailored to each institution’s unique community context.

To address the challenges facing disproportionately impacted learners inside and outside of the classroom, Achieving the Dream (ATD) created the Alliance for Community College Learner Success.

Today, ATD announced the institutions that will participate in the Alliance:

• City Colleges of Chicago System (Illinois)
• Contra Costa College (California)
• Little Priest Tribal College (Nebraska)
• Mountwest Community & Technical College (West Virginia)
• Mt. Hood Community College (Oregon)

“We are excited to partner with four colleges and one community college system to help them address the structural barriers in place that affect disproportionately impacted students,” said Francesca I. Carpenter, executive director of equitable programming and inclusive learning at ATD. “Through solution-oriented collaboration, these institutions will take critical steps to reimagine student success on their campuses and develop comprehensive, prioritized action plans to bring their efforts to life.”

With support from ECMC Foundation, colleges in the Alliance will work closely with ATD coaches and peers to analyze their current student success efforts, engage in deep professional learning, and identify practices that expand access and momentum for learners who have faced persistent obstacles in credential attainment.

Over the course of the initiative, colleges will:

• Conduct in-depth data analysis to examine student access, progress, and success
• Improve their ability to serve disproportionately impacted learners by providing tailored teaching and learning and holistic student supports
• Identify a data-informed plan that will advance student access and success
• Build a change effort sustainability plan that is integrated into their student success agenda
• Share what they have learned with the broader higher education community so that peer colleges can benefit from their expertise

ATD’s experience working with hundreds of colleges nationwide has shown that real transformation happens when institutions commit to using data, community insight, and evidence-based strategies to reimagine how they serve students. The Alliance builds on this approach by helping colleges embed sustainable, high-impact practices that will improve student outcomes and strengthen their student success agendas.