Delaware Tech named an Achieving the Dream Leader College

Delaware Technical Community College is one of four colleges in the country to be named a 2021 Leader College with Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit organization that leads a nongovernmental reform movement for student success in higher education.

The Leader College designation recognizes colleges that have shown steady improvement in student success outcomes by closing equity gaps that can prohibit students from achieving their academic goals. Leader Colleges play important roles in accelerating adoption of effective practices within the Achieving the Dream network and across higher education.

“Community colleges are uniquely positioned to serve as equitable hubs of social mobility and equitable transformation in the areas that they serve. The ATD Network’s Leader Colleges demonstrate strong commitments to growing as these hubs, with data to show significant progress toward building an equitable, student-centered culture on campus,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “We are proud to recognize the new and renewed Leader Colleges in the ATD Network, and to continue partnering with them to advance equity and opportunity in their communities.”

Leader Colleges are recognized for the quality of their work in whole-college reform, resulting in increased completion rates for all students. They develop innovative ways to work with other colleges to share knowledge and facilitate an exchange of ideas about evidence-based reform strategies.

“We are incredibly honored to be recognized as an ATD Leader College for our efforts to close equity gaps that can undermine our students’ success,” said Dr. Mark T. Brainard, president of Delaware Technical Community College. “This reflects the hard work and dedication of our faculty and staff college-wide, and we look forward to continuing our work with other network colleges as we remain laser-focused on our mission of putting students at the center of everything we do. A special thanks to the Delaware Tech ATD core team that has provided leadership for these efforts over the past two years and led this very valuable work for our students.”

The ATD selection committee reviewed many strong applications using the rubric shared with colleges during the application process. Key themes emerged among the strongest applicants: developing equitable cultures that look deeply at outcomes for underserved student groups; a stronger focus on improving outcomes for students eligible to receive Pell grants; and clear links between evidence-informed efforts and improved student success metrics.

The other 2021 Leader Colleges are Cleveland State Community College in Tennessee, Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College in Minnesota, and South Central College in Minnesota. Also, 16 other institutions recertified their status as Leader Colleges.