Thirteen members of the Berkshire Community College (BCC) faculty, staff, and Administration
joined thousands of influential leaders, scholars and practitioners from more than
300 colleges and organizations at Achieving the Dream (ATD)'s 18th annual signature
event, DREAM 2022. ATD's immersive virtual experience provides interactive learning
and key insights about evidence-based reform strategies that are transforming higher
education.
DREAM 2022 centered on five key themes that represent opportunities to effect meaningful
change in our communities.
Building stronger pipelines to and through postsecondary education.
Adopting a holistic, equity-focused approach to community vitality.
Eliminating systemic barriers to student success.
Fostering a sense of belonging through teaching and learning excellence.
Leveraging data and analytics for institutional and community well-being.
The BCC CORE Team finalized our 2022 ATD Action Plan (PDF). The plan is grounded in
Student Success strategies that cut across both Academic and Student Affairs and focus
on individualized student support, goal setting for future academic pursuit and career
exploration, and skill development for the citizenship in the future. The ATD Data
teams focused work has informed planning, goals setting, and strategic thinking and
the plan will align with the BCC strategic plan.
Adam Klepetar, Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management aklepetar@berkshirecc.edu 413-236-2140
Laurie Gordy, Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs lgordy@berkshirecc.edu 413-236-2103
Achieving the Dream and BCC
Conceived in 2004, Achieving the Dream (ATD) now leads the most comprehensive non-governmental
reform movement for student success in higher education history, and its efforts are
gaining attention.
ATD accepts grant applications from community colleges; recently, BCC won a grant
to become part of an ATD cohort called Building Resiliency in Rural Communities for
the Future of Work.
Nearly half of all students seeking higher education choose a community college. Fewer
than half of those students actually finish what they start. ATD, a national program
that partners with more than 300 community colleges, including BCC, is determined
to change that statistic.
BCC was a successful candidate due to its committed leadership, its equity goals aligned
with those of the grant and ATD, and its preparation of a compelling argument for
inclusion.
BCC announces the creation of Introduction to Liberal Arts, a first-semester course
available this fall for all students declaring liberal arts majors without concentrations.
With a focus on career and educational planning, the course engages students in thinking
critically about their academic and/or career plans. Faculty involved in developing
course content represent a range of liberal arts disciplines, including communications,
biology, music, psychology, English and math.
BCC was pleased to announce it has received an allocation of $869,377 from the state
legislature as part of a $16 million fund distributed to all 15 community colleges
in the Commonwealth. The allocation is earmarked for the Supporting Urgent Community
College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) Fund, which focuses on vulnerable
populations.
First-time-ever-in-college (FTEIC): All full-time and part-time students who are enrolled for the first time in postsecondary
education (no previous college credits or degrees) in at least one credit-bearing
course (including developmental courses but excluding other non-credit offerings)
at the College in the given fall term. Students who were dually enrolled at your college
and in high school are excluded.
Sharing Five Central Goals and Outcomes of ATD Project:
Create a student success vision statement
Build a data-informed culture of inquiry across the college; leverage PDP
Identify equity gaps for low-income, first generation, BIPOC students and create plan
to close gaps
Identify and cultivate more strategic partnerships
Prepare students for the "future of work," with an emphasis on the "digital economy"
and living wage jobs
Completion of a certificate or degree within four years
Overall
124
16%
103
14%
122
17%
92
15%
Age
Under 20 years
81
16%
58
12%
84
18%
62
15%
20 – 24 years
20
16%
12
14%
10
10%
12
16%
Over 24 years
23
15%
33
20%
28
17%
18
16%
Enrollment Status
Full-Time
87
25%
65
21%
85
29%
58
24%
Part-Time
37
9%
38
9%
37
9%
34
9%
Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native
1
25%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Asian
2
11%
4
21%
1
6%
1
8%
Black
2
5%
6
15%
5
13%
7
18%
Hispanic
6
13%
4
8%
7
16%
7
15%
Multiracial
1
6%
3
10%
2
18%
0
0%
Pacific Islander
1
100%
0
n/a
0
0%
0
0%
White
109
18%
84
15%
103
18%
73
16%
Unknown or Other Ethnicity
2
7%
2
6%
4
11%
4
11%
Gender
Female
71
17%
58
15%
63
15%
54
16%
Male
53
14%
45
13%
59
20%
38
15%
Unknown or Other Gender
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pell Status
Pell Recipient
71
17%
52
13%
68
20%
53
17%
Non-Pell Recipient
53
15%
51
14%
54
14%
39
14%
Transferred and completed a baccalaureate degree within six years
Overall
144
19%
149
20%
166
23%
127
21%
Age
Under 20 years
123
25%
115
23%
132
29%
101
24%
20 – 24 years
11
9%
17
20%
21
22%
17
22%
Over 24 years
10
6%
17
10%
13
8%
9
8%
Enrollment Status
Full-Time
63
18%
62
20%
57
20%
49
20%
Part-Time
81
19%
87
20%
109
25%
78
22%
Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaska Native
1
25%
0
0%
0
0%
0
0%
Asian
7
37%
7
37%
8
50%
2
15%
Black
3
8%
3
7%
3
8%
2
5%
Hispanic
1
2%
5
10%
9
20%
7
15%
Multiracial
4
22%
2
7%
1
9%
0
0%
Pacific Islander
1
100%
0
n/a
1
100%
1
50%
White
117
19%
118
21%
134
23%
105
23%
Unknown or Other Ethnicity
4
15%
14
44%
10
28%
10
29%
Gender
Female
78
19%
79
20%
106
25%
86
25%
Male
66
18%
70
20%
60
20%
41
16%
Unknown or Other Gender
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Pell Status
Pell Recipient
38
9%
38
10%
33
10%
42
13%
Non-Pell Recipient
106
30%
111
31%
133
35%
85
30%
Institutional Capacity Assessement Tool
The Achieving the Dream Institutional Capacity Assessment Tool is an online self-assessment
to help colleges assess areas of strength and improvement in the Institutional Capacity
Framework. Institutions may also use the tool to measure changes in capacity over
time.
The purpose of this Results Summary is to display the aggregated responses from all college participants and disaggregated
results by functional area and role to identify areas where there is a convergence
or divergence of opinion. The results may be used for individual reflection and as
a springboard for campus conversations on overarching themes, strengths to celebrate
or build on, opportunities to build, and actions to build capacity.
In addition, the completion of the self-assessment allows Board members, administrators,
faculty and staff to evaluate their institution's level of capacity in relation to
what improved capacity could look like.
The following are testimonials from the team that worked on the Northern Essex Community
College Achieving the Dream work in 2006:
First, one enormous benefit of ATD is the sheer size and scope of the network, and
how easily it can be leveraged for professional collaborations. For example, through
the ATD coaches NECC was able to connect with some folks from Southwestern Tennessee
CC earlier this year to deliver our Professional Day programming on racial equity
gaps. They provided opportunities for both Academic and Student Affairs to participate
in the conversation, too, which was really powerful.
Second, the coaches have been an integral part of NECC's work. They have two ATD coaches
who each bring a slightly different lens of expertise. One is their data coach, and
she has helped us to identify metrics for student success, use metrics and data to
design, guide, and measure initiatives, and has helped lead campus groups through
data discussions that would otherwise have been difficult to have on our own. The
other coach has really helped guide some of NECC's professional learning, especially
around equity, and continues to help us identify ways to support faculty and staff.
This data focus was especially important in creating and progressing NECC's Integrated
Student Experience strategic goal work over the last five years.
Third, adding to the data piece, the relationship with ATD is what has allowed NECC
to make so much progress with equity data dashboards, including being able to have
conversations with faculty about their individual course completion data. Without
the coaches' help and years of support to become a data-driven campus, NECC would
not be where they are with our data work. The coaches had helped NECC be a college
that can and does talk about data from an informed perspective (qualitative and quantitative),
which was a really necessary foundation for being able to add the equity perspective
in 2019.
Finally, we also want BCC to know how amazing the tools, conferences, and networking
opportunities are. Obviously, we, at NECC, have had our own things (data, the Integrated
Student Experience as a strategic goal, etc.) but all of that started and has grown
because of the resources available through the annual conference. Because of ATDs
size, they can attract impactful keynote speakers and presenters, and the size of
the network means you can hear from other colleges all over the country doing just
about anything you might be thinking of starting up at BCC.
From our work with ATD, NECC has gained the resources, support, and knowledge we need
to make impactful changes in student success work on our campus, and we have continually
seen that work make a difference in our students' academic lives. We have learned
to use data for strategic insights from our knowledgeable coaches; we have built collaborative
working relationships with colleagues from other network colleges; and the ever-grown
body of resources available through the ATD conferences and online toolkits helps
us continue to grow our internal expertise.
DRAFT Mission Statement for Student Success:
At BCC, student success is the heart of everything we do. From connection to completion,
and at each step along the way, we will guide and assist you in exploring and attaining
your academic and career goals. Through integrated academic and support services across
the college experience, and clear, concise academic pathways that align to you interests
and aspiration. We believe in you and your potential and will do all that we can to
help you achieve your goals.
Question, comments or concerns? Leave us some feedback!
