Zane State College Receives National Award - Achieving the Dream

The average success rate across all developmental courses at Zane State College is 78%,
and most strikingly, developmental education students are closing the gap with collegeready
students in gatekeeper courses. Since 2009, three out of four students are
succeeding in college-level gatekeeper courses irrespective of their initial placement
status. These increases were seen during a period of unprecedented enrollment growth,
with disproportionately high numbers of students who need developmental education.
Significant, ongoing investments in professional development facilitated broader
understanding among the college employees about the college’s “personal touch”
philosophy, its access mission, and the realities of growing up in generational poverty
that shape so many of its students’ attitudes, behaviors, and expectations.
Zane State College, in partnership with a number of other Ohio colleges, started
innovative programs to increase retention. Among the programs was QuickStart, a free,
eight-week programs for students unsure about their ability to enter college successfully
and those who try to register late without completing a FAFSA. Tuition from QuickStart
students has sustained the program. The school also implemented other programs
including conditional admission, MathStart, learning communities, and pre-enrollment
computer training.
After the overwhelming success of the Math Advising Initiative, a program that
encourages students to take developmental math in their first quarters in college and
provides dedicated math advising for students at-risk, the college expanded the program
to include all development education students. As a result, first year completion of
developmental math increased by 21 percentage points, developmental English by 24
percentage points, and developmental reading by 13 percentage points.
The Leah Meyer Austin Award, sponsored by the Lumina Foundation and administered by the
American Association of Community Colleges, recognizes outstanding institutional achievement
in creating excellence and equity through: 1) committed leadership; 2) use of evidence to
improve policies, programs, and services; 3) broad engagement; and 4) systemic institutional
improvement.
Leah Meyer Austin is a former Senior Vice President at Lumina Foundation and shaped the
development of Achieving the Dream. Zane State may use the $25,000 cash award for any
student success purpose it deems appropriate. Achieving the Dream also gave Special
Recognition to Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas (Helena, AK) for its
excellence in culture change. The college received $10,000 to use toward student success
programs and initiatives.
Achieving the Dream is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to helping more community
college students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn
a college certificate or degree. Evidence-based, student-centered, and built on the values of
equity and excellence, Achieving the Dream is closing achievement gaps and accelerating
student success nationwide by: 1) guiding evidence-based institutional improvement, 2)
2