March 28, 2024

College Joins Achieving the Dream Network

Achieving the Dream

College of Southern Maryland has announced it has joined Achieving the Dream, a network that includes more than 220 colleges in 43 states dedicated to improving student success. As a network institution, the college will work on cutting-edge reforms alongside ATD coaches to build institutional capacity and connect with peers, fostering learning, and sharing information.

“Achieving the Dream is a network of people across the country that will support us as we focus on what it is we need to do to help our students in finding their paths and finish what they started. This is something that is going to be very powerful for Southern Maryland,” said CSM President Dr. Maureen Murphy. “CSM is joining Achieving the Dream for three years, and the ultimate result is that our students will be so much better off. They will help us identify exactly what we need to do. We will really understand what our students’ needs are and we can shape our programs and services around their needs. Most of all we can help our students find their paths and finish what they start in a timely manner that improves their lives, the lives of the families and really enriches our entire communities.“

“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,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, ATD president and CEO. “Colleges that join the ATD Network show an exceptional commitment to becoming the kind of institution that will lead the nation into the future.”

Achieving the Dream will help the college pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement across seven institutional capacities in areas like leadership and vision, teaching and learning, and data and technology. ATD’s approach brings together existing college success efforts and offers valuable support in preparing for accreditation, which brings about discussions of 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.

“Achieving the Dream brings together everybody across the college. We’re all in it,” Dr. Murphy said. “Every single one of us is responsible for student success in a very different way. It’s not just in the classroom. It’s not just with the advisors. Every single one of us touches these students on their journeys and we can help make a difference in where they go. Achieving the Dream helps us identify those things more clearly.”

A team from CSM will meet with leaders from 15 other colleges in Phoenix, AZ, in June to plan the launch of the work. Dr. Murphy said the college’s concentration will be on student success to solidify a shared vision and allow the focused, evidence-based work to fulfill the goals of the college’s strategic plan. The work includes improving student progress and completion, providing targeted programming to meet regional needs, and to function as one regional college.

“Our focus areas are going to be around guided pathways, something we’ve started already by mapping our curriculum. We’ve also connected our guided pathways with our short-term workforce training because we know that sometimes that’s what our students need more than a degree,” Dr. Murphy said. “CSM is the primary cog in the economic development engine in our region when it comes to developing the workforce. Our students will be able to identify their career paths and their career goals, how that connects those high demand occupations right here in Southern Maryland, and we will be supporting them all the way until they achieve those credentials.”

Colleges in the network report data from metrics that answer critical questions about who attends college, who succeeds in and after college and how college is financed. To achieve goals of social mobility and equity, the metrics offer information on how low-income and other underserved students fare.

As colleges in the new cohort progress in the network, they can apply to participate in initiatives supported by philanthropic funding and managed by ATD. These initiatives can help incubate new ideas, helping colleges refine practices based on evidence of what works and allow ATD to disseminate knowledge to the broader network and the field.

Achieving the Dream

Achieving the Dream is at the head of a growing network of more than 200 community colleges that are committed to helping all students achieve their goals for academic success, personal growth, and economic opportunity. ATD is making progress closing academic achievement gaps and accelerating student success through a unique change process that builds each college’s institutional capacities.

For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.

Leave A Comment