Press Release July 02, 2009

Media Advisory
Contact: Monica Gomez
Public Information Officer
San José/Evergreen Community College
(408) 759-0626
monica.gomez@sjeccd.edu

(SAN JOSÉ, CA—July 1, 2009)  Achieving the Dream:  Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed, has just added San José/Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD) to its list of more than 100 community colleges in the country.  This week, 20 new community colleges in seven states joined the initiative, and only one other in California.  With the addition of these colleges, the initiative has grown to include 102 institutions – 98 colleges and four universities -- in 22 states.

Achieving the Dream is a long-term national initiative to help more community college students succeed — particularly those students who traditionally face the most significant barriers to success, including students of color and low-income students.  The initiative is built on the belief that broad institutional change, informed by student achievement data, is critical to significantly improving student success rates.

“Achieving the Dream is needed in California as we struggle with not only accountability, but educational policies and strong institutional leadership that strive for equity in student learning outcomes.  Our two colleges, San José City and Evergreen Valley, have been using the Equity Scorecard to analyze data.  Now, our participation in Achieving the Dream will bring the data into organized institutional improvement,” says Rosa G. Pérez, Chancellor, SJECCD.  

Each new college has made a two-year commitment to focus its efforts on closing performance gaps among students in targeted populations.  “Achieving the Dream colleges are identifying methods for increasing student success and implementing interventions to create institutional improvements for all students,” said Carol Lincoln, a senior program director at MDC, Inc., the managing partner of Achieving the Dream and its national director. “We’re excited about bringing these new colleges into Achieving the Dream and continuing our tradition of providing educational and societal benefits to colleges, students and communities around the country.”

 “Achieving the Dream colleges have proven successful at ensuring that a student success agenda is a clear strategic focus at all levels of the campus community,” said Jamie P. Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation for Education, which has been the initiative’s primary funder since its inception in 2004. “We’re very pleased to help provide this opportunity to additional colleges and, more importantly, to the students they serve.”
Achieving the Dream helps participating colleges implement strategies designed to help more students earn degrees, complete certificates or transfer to other institutions to continue their studies. The initiative emphasizes building a culture of evidence, in which colleges use data to identify effective practices, improve student success rates and close achievement gaps.

The San José/Evergreen Community College District agreed to join Achieving the Dream’s Initiative for its reputation on putting an emphasis on student equity.  That is in line with our vision as a district and it’s connected to our commitment to social justice.

This most recent expansion of Achieving the Dream has been made possible with grants provided by four foundations across the country. Lumina Foundation for Education is making matching grants to provide first-year funding for community colleges in California, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Vermont. The Kresge Foundation is supporting an institution in Michigan. The Greater Texas Foundation is supporting several community colleges in Texas. The Vermont Community Foundation is providing grant support in Vermont. In some cases, the colleges themselves are funding their participation in the initiative.

Incoming Achieving the Dream Community Colleges
The following community colleges have joined the initiative:

CALIFORNIA
College of the Sequoias, Visalia
San Jose/Evergreen Community College District

• San Jose City College, San Jose
• Evergreen Valley College, San Jose

ILLINOIS
Danville Area Community College, Danville
Elgin Community College, Elgin
Morton College, Cicero
Triton College, River Grove
Harper Community College, Palatine

INDIANA
Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana

KANSAS
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park

MARYLAND
The Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore

MICHIGAN
Macomb Community College, Warren

NEW YORK
LaGuardia Community College, Long Island City

SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville Technical College, Greenville

TEXAS
Austin Community College District, Austin
Blinn College, Brenham
Odessa College, Odessa
Richland College, Dallas
Temple College, Temple

VERMONT
Community College of Vermont, Waterbury