San Jacinto College selected to participate in the new Achieving the Dream Texas Peer Coaching Initiative

$10,000 grant will allow San Jacinto College to spread effective practices throughout Texas and the nation

Amanda L. Booren -- September 24, 2012

PASADENA, Texas – San Jacinto College has been selected as one of seven community colleges in Texas to participate in the Achieving the Dream Texas Peer Coaching Initiative.

The initiative is designed to accelerate the transfer of effective practices from college to college with the long-term goal of positively impacting sustainable student outcome gains in Texas. Funding for the initiative comes through the Texas Guaranteed (TG) Public Benefit grant program. Achieving the Dream, Inc., a national nonprofit leading the nation’s most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for community college student success, was one of 30 organizations to be chosen by TG for a Public Benefit grant from a pool of 373 applicants.

Through the Texas Peer Coaching Initiative, San Jacinto College will provide support to at least two other Texas colleges on evidence-based student success strategies, and will receive a grant of $10,000 from Achieving the Dream, Inc., to assist with the activities associated with their participation in the initiative.

“As an Achieving the Dream leader college, we are honored to be selected as one of seven Texas community colleges for this initiative,” said Dr. Brenda Hellyer, San Jacinto College chancellor. “Our faculty and staff work hard every day to see that our students are successful through a variety of intentional initiatives to help students complete their courses and certificate or degree programs. We are happy to share what we have learned with other colleges to assist in their student success agendas.”

“San Jacinto College has already demonstrated commitment to and progress on the principles of Achieving the Dream, has shown an increase in student achievement, and is therefore poised to assist other institutions in the student success movement,” said Rachel Singer, vice president of Achieving the Dream, Inc.

With nearly half of all higher education students enrolled at community colleges, America cannot close its skills gap without a concerted effort tin increase community college persistence, retention, and completion through effective student success strategies. Many community colleges are on this path and have developed and implemented promising student success initiatives and realized increased student success outcomes. Though these colleges are making great progress, it is difficult to spread these effective practices to other community colleges so that more students can benefit from these interventions and so our nation can reach our education and workforce goals.

“At TG, we recognize that leadership matters,” said Jacob Fraire, vice president of student and institutional success at TG. “We are fortunate that Texas has a great core of Leader Colleges from which we can build a knowledge infrastructure for achieving success for all community college students. TG is pleased to serve as a funding and thought partner with Achieving the Dream on this very important initiative to spread effective practices throughout the state of Texas.”

San Jacinto College was named an Achieving the Dream Leader College in the Fall of 2011, after showing an increase in Fall-to-Spring persistence from 73 percent in 2007 to 78 percent in 2010. This improvement was associated with a combination of interventions including the First Year Experience Calling Program, Mandatory New Student Orientation, a student success course, free tutoring, and the Men of Honor program. Overall, these interventions have been scaled to reach 27 percent of students. Lessons learned from these projects, and more, will help inform the development of an Achieving the Dream peer coaching framework for college-to-college coaching that will advance the student success movement in Texas and across the nation.

Representatives from San Jacinto College, Achieving the Dream, Inc., and TG will convene for an inaugural Texas Peer Coaching Initiative Kickoff Institute at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The other six Texas community colleges that were selected to participate in the Achieving the Dream Texas Peer Coaching Initiative are Alamo Colleges, Brazosport College, El Paso Community College, Houston Community College, Lee College, and South Texas College.

About San Jacinto College

Surrounded by monuments of history, industries and maritime enterprises of today, and the space age of tomorrow, San Jacinto College has been serving the citizens of East Harris County, Texas, for more than 50 years. The Achieving the Dream Leader College is committed to the goals and aspirations of a diverse population of 30,000 students in more than 200 degree and certificate options, including university transfer and career preparation. Students also benefit from the College’s job training programs, renowned for meeting the needs of growing industries in the region. San Jacinto College graduates contribute nearly $630 million each year to the Texas workforce. San Jacinto College. Your Goals. Your College.

For more information about San Jacinto College, please call 281-998-6150, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.