Achieving the Dream

Report reveals Achieving the Dream progress
Understanding and making better use of data can improve student outcomes. Building a Culture of Evidence for Community College Student Success describes the early progress of Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, a national initiative to help more community college students succeed.

Do student success courses help community college students?
Student success courses may help students form goals for college and careers, develop good study habits, and learn about campus resources. The Community College Research Center has conducted a study examining the relationship between enrollment in student success courses and credential completion, persistence and transfer.

Achieving the Dream expands in three states
Fourteen more colleges will join Achieving the Dream in Arkansas, Massachusetts and Michigan . This is Achieving the Dream's first expansion into Michigan. The colleges are part of the initiative’s latest expansion. Today, 84 institutions in 15 states are part of the initiative to help community college students succeed.

Making Opportunity Affordable

College opportunity may not be available to all, survey reveals
Higher education is key to a successful future and that cost should not prevent qualified students from attending, according to a recent public opinion survey. Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education sponsored a survey that examined the public's attitudes toward higher education. The survey also reveals a growing concern that the opportunity to attend college may not be available to all qualified students.

Reinvesting in college access and success
The future economic growth of the United States, our standard of living, and the success of our young people depend on surmounting crucial higher education challenges. How can the nation ensure that students are learning more and acquiring the essentials to compete in the global economy?

KnowHow2GO

KnowHow2GO launches in Nebraska
KnowHow2GO is a national public service information campaign, in partnership with the Ad Council, Lumina Foundation and the American Council on Education. The campaign encourages students to take steps to plan for college. Nebraska's Gov. Dave Heineman launched a companion state effort, KnowHow2GONebraska.org, on June 13. EducationQuest Foundation is coordinating Nebraska's campaign.

Young teens lack college readiness information, survey says
Middle-schoolers have high hopes for college, but nearly 70 percent say they have little or no information about what academic classes they need to prepare for college. A Voice from the Middle, released by The National Association of Secondary School Principals and Phi Delta Kappa International reveal contrasts between young teens' educational goals and their beliefs about how they will achieve these goals. The findings corroborate earlier research that formed the basis for KnowHow2GO.

YMCA and KnowHow2GO host Orlando teen summit
More than 275 students gathered in Orlando for the Black and Hispanic Achievers Teen Leadership Summit where they and their parents learned how to prepare for college. At the summit, Fonzworth Bentley, former assistant to P. Diddy and the voice of KnowHow2GO's Wanna Go radio PSA , announced the winner of a KnowHow2GO and YMCA of the USA contest. The contest encouraged teens to create their own PSAs about the steps to college. Learn more about "On the Road and Off to Orlando" and the YMCA's partnership in the KnowHow2GO campaign. Listen to the student-created public service announcements.

Demography is not destiny, according to Pell Institute report

[ ACCESS & SUCCESS ]

Even though students from poorer economic backgrounds are generally less likely than their wealthier peers to complete college degrees, institutions can take steps to increase the proportion of low-income students who remain enrolled and graduate, according to a new Pell Institute report. Read Demography is not Destiny: Increasing the Graduation Rates of Low-Income College Students at Large Public Universities.

Study says immigrants will shape future economy

[ ACCESS FOR IMMIGRANTS ]

A new report from the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research examines the effects of immigration on higher education and workforce needs in Indiana. The study finds that immigrants will be important to supplement Indiana's shrinking workforce and provide support to retirees. Read Indiana Immigration and Workforce Patterns.