Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has joined Achieving the Dream, a network of more than 220 colleges in 39 states dedicated to improving student success. As a Network institution, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will innovate to implement, align, and scale cutting edge reforms, work with Achieving the Dream coaches to build institutional capacity, and connect with peers to foster learning and share information.
“This is a terrific opportunity, a new type of ‘perfect storm’ combining positive energy, new ideas, and employee engagement, to work together to improve an already extraordinary college,” said Dr. Anna Fellegy, vice president of academic affairs at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. “It’s important that we work from the inside out and not have an outside organization tell us what to do. We are our own best resource because we know ourselves well, we live our college mission, and we focus on our students.”
Achieving the Dream offers a capacity-building framework and companion self-assessment that allow colleges to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement across seven institutional capacities in areas such as leadership and vision, teaching and learning, and data and technology. Achieving the Dream’s approach integrates and aligns existing college success efforts and offers valuable support in preparing for accreditation, fostering conversation about goals, and making bold, holistic institution-wide changes because initiatives that don’t reach most of a college’s student body have not shown strong results.
“Colleges that join the Achieving the Dream Network show an exceptional commitment to becoming the kind of institution that will lead the nation into the future,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “The strength of local and regional economies, our ability to rebuild the middle class, and the possibility that a new generation will achieve their goals depends on community colleges.”
A team from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College and teams from the other colleges joining Achieving the Dream during 2017 met in Cleveland this past summer to launch their Achieving the Dream work, which will initially focus on student success. A two-person team of Achieving the Dream coaches were on campus September 12-13 to work with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College employees.
“I believe you are going to have a lot of positive experience and knowledge to share with the other 200-plus colleges involved in the Achieving the Dream network,” said Shar Davis to the Core Achieving the Dream Team at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College during her visit to campus. Davis, who is from Ohio, along with Dave Pelham of Tennessee, are the Achieving the Dream coaches working with Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. “You already score high on the Achieving the Dream assessment areas, and you have quality processes ingrained in your institution. Participation in Achieving the Dream will continue to enhance and build on those strengths, and then by sharing your successful strategies with other network colleges you will be helping those schools. I think Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is positioned to make big contributions to our Achieving the Dream Network of colleges.”
Achieving the Dream Network colleges report data using metrics that answer critical questions about who attends college, who succeeds in and after college, and how the college utilizes its finances. To advance goals of social mobility and equity, the metrics provide information on how low income and other underserved students fare. Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will analyze its effectiveness in relation to performance, efficiency and equity metrics at points during the student experience from access through post-college outcomes.
As a college in the new cohort progress, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College may apply to participate in initiatives supported by philanthropic funding and managed by Achieving the Dream. These initiatives help incubate new ideas so colleges can refine practices based on evidence of what works and allow Achieving the Dream to disseminate knowledge to the broader network of postsecondary institutions in the United States.
 
More about Achieving the Dream, Inc.
Achieving the Dream leads a growing network of more than 200 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. Achieving the Dream is making progress closing academic achievement gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities in seven essential areas. Achieving the Dream, along with more than 100 experienced coaches and advisors, works closely with Network colleges in 39 states and the District of Columbia to reach more than four million community college students.