July/August Issue of Data Notes Available

Data Notes is a bimonthly newsletter that presents data from the national Achieving the Dream database. Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, is a multiyear national initiative to help more community college students succeed. The initiative focuses particularly on student groups that traditionally have faced significant barriers to success, including students of color and low-income students.

The July/August issue of Data Notes, “Academic Outcomes of High Risk Students,” has just been released, and is available at: http://www.achievingthedream.org/Portal/Modules/ad91771c-1578-450a-a4fd-4381285f15ce.asset.

Many postsecondary students possess risk factors that are associated with decreased rates of persistence and credential completion. Traditional students—those without risk factors and with greater rates of postsecondary success—are in the minority. This issue of Data Notes examines Achieving the Dream data for students identified as possessing risk factors, by intensity of risk. The outcomes of students with none, one, two, and three or more risk factors were compared. The vast majority—92 percent—of Achieving the Dream students came to college with at least one risk factor. Although students possessing risk factors did not complete or transfer at the same rates as those with no risk factors, the study indicates that persistence through the third year was found to be inversely related to the number of risk factors students possess.

If you have access to the Achieving the Dream Web submission site, you can find the companion reports for individual colleges at www.dreamwebsubmission.org.