Three Los Angeles Community College District schools – East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Harbor College and Los Angeles Pierce College – are among the 16 community colleges selected from across the country to be designated the 2014 Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges.
“Student success is our district’s highest priority,” said Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, LACCD chancellor, “and this national recognition of our colleges reaffirms the transformational work that our colleges are engaged in to improve student outcomes.”
LACCD is the nation’s largest community college district, serves one-quarter million students a year in more than 36 cities in Los Angeles County at its nine colleges and includes local West Los Angeles Community College. The District covers almost 900-square miles and has educated and trained the region’s diverse workforce since 1969.
This national honor is bestowed on community colleges that commit to improving student success and closing achievement gaps. These colleges have shown how data can inform policy and practice to help community college students achieve their goals, resulting in improved skills and better opportunities for employment.
The LACCD colleges are the only California schools awarded this ATD status.
East Los Angeles College was singled out because it increased developmental-education English success rates for all first-time-incollege students from 21.8 percent in 2007 to 34.1 percent in 2010. The developmental-education English success rates for African American students increased by 20 percentage points and for Pell recipients by nine percentage points.
“It is indeed an honor for East Los Angeles College to be selected as a Leader College by ATD,” ELAC Pesident Marvin Martinez said. “This type of recognition certainly makes ELAC a national leader in its ability to serve students of color in our region. Our faculty and staff also deserve this honor for their hard work in developing programs that help students of color succeed in the classroom on a pathway to college and career success.”
Los Angeles Harbor College earned the honor for its increased fall-to-spring persistence rates for all students in the ATD cohort from 64.6 percent in 2009-10 to 69.6 percent in 2012-13. The fallto- spring persistence rates for Hispanic students increased by eight percentage points.
“Los Angeles Harbor College is extremely proud of our successful partnership with Achieving the Dream, resulting in more students attempting and completing more units, staying enrolled from one semester to the next, and completing English and math at a higher rate through innovative interventions such as our First Year Experience program,” Harbor College Pesident Dr. Otto Lee said. “Building on that success, we’ve expanded that program to include all new incoming students through the creation of the Harbor Advantage. As an Achieving the Dream Leader College, we look forward to sharing our successful and sustainable interventions with community colleges throughout the state and nationally.”
Lastly, Los Angeles Pierce College was also named due to its increased ratio of all credit hours successfully completed from 66.3 percent in 2009-10 to 69.5 percent in 2012-13.
“This recognition is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our faculty, staff, and administrators to achieve our collective goals of engaging the completion agenda, demonstrating accountability, cultivating partnerships, and ensuring student success,” Los Angeles Pierce College President Dr. Kathleen Burke said. “Our teams have worked hard and we have integrated our plans to focus on the college vision of seeing more CAPS (Completion, Accountability, Partnerships, Student Success) at commencement. To be recognized as a Leader College validates our student-centered approach and affirms our commitment to providing quality educational programs. Most importantly, this recognition highlights the hard work of our students. It is their commitment to learning and progressing that allows Los Angeles Pierce College to be a Leader College.”
This year’s honored community colleges come from 10 different states.
“These sixteen institutions have demonstrated that better student outcomes are possible when institutions focus on policies and practices that help students learn at high levels and overcome challenges life throws at them,” said Carol Lincoln, Achieving the Dream Senior Vice President. “These colleges are working hard to move the needle for whole cohorts of students, and deserve recognition for their relentless efforts and promising achievements.”
