Middlesex Community College: Middlesex Community College Joins Achieving The Dream Network To Strengthen Student Success, Address Equity ...

Press release from the Middlesex Community College:

Caitlin Buckley

8/19/2021

Middlesex Community College announced it is joining the 2021 cohort of the Achieving the Dream (ATD) Network, a network of more than 300 colleges in 45 states and the District of Columbia, dedicated to improving student success. As a Network institution, Middlesex will work to improve equitable outcomes for students, bolster student retention and completion, and expand holistic supports to meet students’ evolving needs. MCC is one of five community colleges joining this cohort.

“ATD’s support will help Middlesex scale up the programs we have in place – such as guided pathways, transfer resources, workforce preparedness, among others – from an equitable lens to make education and all the benefits that come from it more accessible,” said Phil Sisson, MCC’s President. “Successful implementation of more equitable support services, resources and programs at Middlesex will lead to better prepared graduates who will continue on to learn, work and thrive in our communities.”

The colleges are joining ATD after the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the nation’s health and economic inequalities and the resulting economic fallout disproportionally hit working class families and racially minoritized communities.

“Colleges that partner with ATD must be both aspirational in how they engage change and be willing to take a hard look at where we are falling short,” Dr. Karen A. Stout, ATD president and CEO, said. “For ATD, that begins with centering equity within our institutions, understanding our students and their lived experiences, and tearing down structures and policies that are barriers especially for racially marginalized students.”

The five institutions have shown that student success and achieving equitable outcomes is at the core of their work. They will partner with ATD over the next three years to expand the use of best practices for student success and equity, receive guidance in transforming to a student-centered institution, and build a culture of data to identify barriers to student success, using qualitative and quantitative evidence to drive changes in policies and practices across the institution.

“When a student earns a credential from Middlesex, they have earned the key to increased economic opportunities,” said Arlene Rodríguez, MCC’s Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs. “But when a student has to stop attending, we want to know what we can do to get them back on track and stay on track to reach their goals. Working with ATD will give use those extra resources to dive deeper into our student data – both the percentages and stories as told to us by the students themselves – to make sure that our practices are working for all students at the time they need the support.”

Teams from each of the five colleges convened at a Virtual Kickoff Institute Aug. 3 to 4, 2021, which will set the stage for their work as ATD Network institutions. College teams will meet virtually with their ATD coaches and begin to organize their student success work for the year, including preparing for campus-based Kickoff work in the fall. Their Kickoff experience will include an introduction to ATD’s Institutional Capacity Framework, which helps colleges align all of their student success initiatives and interventions.

Nicholas Papas, MCC Professor of English and Program Coordinator of the Accelerated Learning Program & Reading, was one of the Middlesex representatives at the ATD Kickoff. Through this experience, he is looking forward to making relevant and practical changes to lend to student success, rather than talking about what he calls “pie in the sky idealism.”

“I appreciated the practical problem-solving element that undergirded the entire kickoff,” Papas said. “We’re talking about understanding complex problems and developing – and implementing – complex solutions.”
 
In addition to Middlesex, the Achieving the Dream 2021 Cohort includes:

• Southeast Arkansas College (AR)
• East Mississippi Community College (MS)
• Central Ohio Technical College (OH)
• Madison College (WI)

Achieving the Dream (ATD) leads a growing network of more than 300 community colleges committed to helping their students, particularly low-income students and students of color, achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity. ATD is making progress in closing equity gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities in seven essential areas. ATD, along with nearly 75 experienced coaches and advisors, works closely with Network colleges in 45 states and the District of Columbia to reach more than 4 million community college students. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, MCC has been a proven leader in education for more than 50 years. Middlesex puts the student first. Meeting each learner where they are, MCC provides them with a safe, welcoming and engaging place to learn. Offering more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses – Middlesex features flexible course formats and a variety of award-winning student support services and resources. Student success starts at MCC!

This press release was produced by the Middlesex Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.