Achieving the Dream
Southwest is Achieving the Dream
Achieving the Dream is a national organization dedicated to helping community college students succeed. The organization is focused on student groups that have faced the most significant barriers to success, including low-income and minority students. Achieving the Dream is student-centered and seeks to close the achievement gap and improve student outcomes.
Southwest marks its fourth year as an Achieving the Dream institution. Our commitment to improving student success is stronger than ever.
Learn about our student success initiatives [PDF: 51Kb]
Programs and Initiatives
As part of Achieving the Dream, we developed new resources and services to help students succeed.
New Student Orientation
To help inform students about campus services, we implemented New Student Orientation as part of the matriculation process. During these sessions, students will:
- Become familiar with college processes and resources
- Learn tips and strategies for college success.
Freshman Year Experience
This 4-day program is designed to introduce new students to college life, including informational workshops and team-building exercises for students.
Click Here to learn more about our Freshman Year Experience.
Faculty Academy
Our Faculty Academy improves faculty teaching styles and trains faculty to engage students more effectively. Core faculty participants also train other faculty members in these techniques.
Our first faculty group successfully completed a year of Faculty Academy activities including:
- Training to identify and teach to a variety of learning styles and models
- Techniques to better engage students in the classroom and to break down communication barriers between faculty and students
- Understanding the range of research, publishing, and writing possibilities open to faculty
- Sharing best practices from the Faculty Academy to other faculty members
2013 Faculty Academy Schedule [PDF: 77Kb]
Supplemental Instruction
We offer four to five classes in supplemental instruction, and plan to increase this number of in the next academic year.
Quick Fact
| Our Supplemental Instruction targeted Developmental Math 115 and English 21 and 28. Approximately 1,500 students were served in 49 class sections by 22 facilitators |