Texas Completion by Design

Dallas County Community College District/Cedar Valley College Selected by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a National Leader in Student Completion

Three Distinct Phases

• Phase I – Planning – 12 months
  • TX CBD will design a model pathway to completion that will help more young people stay in college and complete. The pathway will be founded on proven practices and data-based evidence.
  • Working with the experts, CDAT will perform a pathway/systems analysis for each institution to show where we are losing our students
  • TX CBD will collectively develop a model pathway to completion based on proven practices, using the knowledge gained from the analysis
  • Timeframe: June 1 – April 30, 2011
• Phase II – Implementation – 24-36 months
  • If the model pathway is approved by the foundation, it will be implemented at pilot colleges within the TX cadre.
  • Strategy discussions surrounding the plan for statewide scale will begin
  • Timeframe – beginning Fall 2012
• Phase III – Scaling – 12 months
  • Following successful implementation, this phase will focus on policy implications and changes, and the scaling up of the project for national impact.
  • Timeframe – no later than Fall 2015

DCCCD and Cedar Valley College Recognized as National Innovators in Increasing College Completion

Gates Foundation grant will build on their success and help more community colleges better serve students

For immediate release — July 13, 2011

(DALLAS) — Dallas County Community College District/Cedar Valley College is one of five Texas community colleges collaborating as part of a national effort to devise and share new approaches to help more young people obtain a degree, certificate or credential. The schools will share a $500,000 planning grant to launch the five-year "Completion by Design" project in Texas.

Participating colleges include Lone Star College System as the managing partner along with Alamo Colleges, Dallas County Community College District/Cedar Valley College (DCCCD), El Paso Community College and South Texas College. This group represents more than 235,000 students, one-third of all community college students in Texas. Cedar Valley College, part of the Dallas County Community College District, will be the pilot institution for the district.

The "Texas Completion by Design" colleges are among those chosen from four states for the national Completion by Design project, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The colleges were selected because of their innovative ideas on improving the completion rates on their campuses. They were picked for the project after a rigorous competition that was announced last October at the White House Summit on Community Colleges.

"The Completion by Design grant provides opportunities for the DCCCD to build strategic partnerships with Lone Star, El Paso, Alamo and South Texas community colleges," said Dr. Wright Lassiter Jr., DCCCD chancellor. "Together we will work together, learn and engage in planning to change systems, structures and policies that impact student success."

"With today's world undergoing rapid, unprecedented change, pursuing higher education and obtaining a postsecondary credential, whether it is a certificate or degree, equates to improved employment and pay opportunities," said Dr. Jennifer Wimbish, Cedar Valley College president. "It is our responsibility to help produce a skilled workforce for emerging high-demand occupations. Consequently, citizens will be better prepared to solve the problems of our times."

Completion by Design aims to build on proven, existing practices already under way at these forward-thinking community colleges that are already working to address the needs of today's students. They are doing this by focusing on new approaches to areas such as financial aid counseling, course scheduling and advising.

Today, community colleges serve nearly 11 million students, and enrollment has surged as the recession caused many Americans to return for additional training and education. Community colleges also are evolving to serve today's students, who often are older and work full- or part-time to support families while attending school to obtain a degree or credential.

But too many students never finish. According to recent federal data, just 22 percent of first-time, full-time students in community college graduate in three years. For Hispanics and African-Americans, the rates are even worse, at 17 percent and 14 percent.

In Texas, only 10 percent of seventh-grade Hispanic students complete a college credential within six years after scheduled high school graduation. Seventy-one percent of all Hispanic enrollments in higher education in Texas are in community colleges — and more than half of those leave without a credential.

Solving this problem is important for our students, our economy and our country. A report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce forecasts that, by 2018, 63 percent of jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. The report also shows that, without a dramatic change in course, the labor market will be short 3 million educated workers over the next eight years.

The "Texas by Completion" colleges will work to transform community college policy and student success initiatives for the state. Phase I consists of a collaborative planning period for representatives from each partner school to review best practices, create a model pathway to completion and design the implementation of the program.

Once the implementation plan submitted by the Texas group in April 2012 is approved by the foundation, additional funding would be awarded. Phase II will consist of implementing the plan at a pilot campus at each institution. If positive outcomes are achieved, Phase III will be the scaling and adoption of the program across the other colleges within the Texas team and other community colleges in the state. It is anticipated that all three phases of the Completion by Design grant will take approximately five years to complete.

"We believe that today's students — particularly low-income students — need smarter, affordable postsecondary options that lead to high-quality outcomes," said Hilary Pennington, director of education, postsecondary success at the Gates Foundation. "Completion by Design aims to give them that, and we are excited to support the innovative work being conducted by these outstanding colleges."

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About the Dallas County Community College District-Cedar Valley College

DCCCD is the largest undergraduate institution in the state of Texas. The district and its seven individually accredited colleges — Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland — serve more than 80,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students each semester. Cedar Valley College, which opened its doors in 1977, served more than 6,500 credit and 1,000 continuing education students for spring 2011. DCCCD also includes five community education campuses that provide access to higher education for historically underserved or fast-growing populations in Dallas County. The district's top priority is to serve students and support economic development.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. Learn more at http://www.gatesfoundation.org or join the conversation at Facebook and Twitter.