ERIC Number: ED625600
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Dec
Pages: 17
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Fostering College Institutional Change: A Study of Achieving the Dream in Florida
Cerna, Oscar; Dukes, Dominique; Perera, Sumner
MDRC
Implementing institution-wide, systemic change is typically a long and often challenging task for college leaders to undertake. Because each institution is different, the combination of internal and external factors that drive institutional change can vary greatly from college to college, and from moment to moment. Achieving the Dream (ATD), which began as a national initiative launched by the Lumina Foundation in 2004, provides expert guidance and tools for community colleges to enact positive institutional change aimed at closing achievement gaps and accelerating student success. To further its support of institutions within its network, ATD partnered with MDRC in 2019 to investigate recent institutional change efforts at nine ATD colleges in Florida. This set of colleges in Florida represents a diverse set of institutions with varying enrollment sizes, geographic environments, and levels of engagement in the ATD network. Some have been in ATD since its inception in 2004, while others joined as recently as 2018, which provides an opportunity to better understand the different stages of institutional change and the factors that facilitate change at these colleges. This brief summarizes what stakeholders from these nine Florida colleges consider to be the common driving factors that prompted or sustained key institution-wide reforms that were reported by college leaders, faculty, and staff--as well as by ATD administrative leadership coaches, equity coaches, and student success data coaches assigned to the nine colleges. The brief also takes a closer look at these key factors and reforms at three case study colleges from this group of Florida institutions that capture different narratives of institutional change, particularly: (1) A college addressing the challenges of building wider-scale institutional commitment for reforms--Florida State College at Jacksonville (Florida State); (2) A college making strides to narrow down and prioritize various student success goals, strategies, and areas of reform--Palm Beach State College (Palm Beach); and (3) A college demonstrating strong organizational structure and progress on reforms--Broward College (Broward).
Descriptors: Organizational Change, Achievement Gap, Colleges, Community Colleges, Educational Improvement, Outcomes of Education, COVID-19, Pandemics, Strategic Planning, Equal Education, Decision Making, Cooperation, Leadership, Leadership Styles, Inclusion, Data Use, Data Collection
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Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: ECMC Foundation
Authoring Institution: MDRC
Identifiers - Location: Florida
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A