Achieving The Dream? Did It Work?

 

‘Achieving the Dream’ produces little change at community colleges
By Jennifer Gonzalez, the Chronicle of Higher Education
Seven years into an ambitious project by Lumina Foundation to help more community-college students stay enrolled and graduate, a study has found that while colleges have changed their practices significantly, student outcomes have remained relatively unchanged.

This judgement based on student attainment may not be fair to Achieving the Dream which was designed to increase data use in community colleges as a first step toward higher student completion. Data may be a necessary , but not sufficient condition, and cannot overcome very poor secondary school preparation.