Achieving the Dream – Leading the Change for Student Success
Achieving the Dream is BC’s opportunity to refocus efforts on improving student success. Achieving the Dream (ATD) is a network of more than 200 colleges, each committed to seeing all students fulfill their higher education dreams. ATD provides a framework for guiding institutional change and nurturing a culture focused on student success. Rather than impose new initiatives, ATD coordinates existing efforts to improve implementation and facilitate data-informed decision-making using equity as a guiding principle. ATD provides a framework to recognize and eliminate systemic barriers to student success. Watch this ATD Video to find out more.
Student Success Vision
Bellevue College transforms the lives of students by eliminating gaps in opportunity and achievement for our diverse student community. Each student reaches their academic and career goals through an intentionally-designed college experience that reflects quality, creativity, and equity.
Based on the results gathered from the Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool (ICAT), three work groups comprised of members from across the college were formed to work on student success priorities:
6 Institutional Measures
The Data Team has developed a set of six (6) institutional outcome measures that the college can use to identify areas for improvement and measure success over time. Percentages are based on 2016 data.
- Fall to Winter persistence is 86%.
- Fall to Fall persistence is 73%.
- Three year completion or transfer rate is 47%.
- Six year completion or transfer rate is 58%.
- Proportion completing college level English within one year is 46%.
- Proportion completing college level Math within one year is 29%.
Leading Indicators: “BC will ensure that every student will“
The ATD Core Team developed leading indicators for their work that show more immediate progress:
- Develop an educational plan
- Participate in advising
- Choose a Pathway in their 2nd quarter at BC
- Engage with support services to assess their progress regularly
- Complete college level English and Math in their first year
- Be taught by faculty who use student engagement practices
Current Progress
- The Integrated Student Supports (ISS) Collective will meet on a quarterly basis to bring campus partners together in the spirit of increasing communication, collaboration and building capacity. They will meet today from 1pm–3pm in N201. All are welcome to attend.
- BC was awarded a highly competitive Department of Education Title III Strengthening Institutions Grant to focus on Student Success.
- An intake form to connect students proactively to services has been completed by over 100 students for winter 2020 and will continue scale up.
- The BC Pathways workgroup finalized the BC Pathways. Faculty are creating discipline-specific course maps which are due in February. Here is a short video from the SBCTC for more information about Pathways.
- The First Year Seminar (FYS) is a student success course designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills to achieve their long-term goals. The course curriculum proposal was submitted to the Curriculum Advisory Committee. The faculty training is being developed and the application process will be released by the end of the winter quarter.
- The Faculty Professional Development (FPD) Workgroup is investigating high impact practices through the Faculty Commons “High 5 Next Steps” Learning Community this year. If you are a faculty member who has taken High 5 and would like to participate in the faculty research project, contact the Faculty Commons.
- TargetX (BC’s customer relationship management system) implementation Phase One was completed in fall quarter and is on target for an all campus rollout in fall 2020.
- ATD is working with the Council for Inclusion and Diversity to improve the communication of disaggregated student success data by race and ethnicity categories.
- In December, ATD held a retreat to clarify how and when BC will ensure every student receives the supports they need to succeed. We used the Bulldog Trail created by Dr. B (AVP of Student Affairs) to determine at what point in a student’s life cycle they obtain various supports and interventions: advising, orientation, first-year seminar, etc.
How to get informed or involved:
- ISS Collective will be held today from 1pm–3pm in N201. We invite the campus community to hear more about the work of ATD and the Integrated Student Supports group.
- We will continue with the ATD theme at the winter and spring All Faculty Meeting, addressing some of these topics there.
- ATD Core Team meetings are open to the public and generally occur on the 2nd Monday of each month from 3:00-4:30 p.m. in the East Boardroom, B-201B.
- We will hold an ATD Office Hour at the Faculty Commons in D104 on Monday, February 3 from 2pm-3pm. Please drop-in and learn more about our work and ask questions.
- BC Pathways Team is currently working with transfer program areas to review courses and build course maps in each focus area. Please contact your chair if you would like to participate and gain access to the Canvas site with resources.
Thank You!
Achieving our goal requires collaboration grounded in communication, gathering input from stakeholders, and making decisions based on data and feedback. Many thanks to the large number of faculty and staff engaged in ATD Student Success work.
Contact us:
For this effort to be successful, everyone needs to play a part. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our ATD Co-Leads, Jennie Mayer, Esteban Maldonado, and Zak Yousuf
Files and Resources on ATD :