The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Silver Spring, MD (June 28, 2016) – Aaniiih Nakoda College today announced it has joined Achieving the Dream (ATD), a network of more than 220 colleges in 39 states dedicated to improving student success. As a Network institution, Aaniiih Nakoda College will innovate to implement, align, and scale cutting edge reforms, work with ATD coaches to build institutional capacity and connect with peers to foster learning and share information.

“We are very enthused to be a part of Achieving the Dream. It is the focus of ANC to capitalize on Achieving the Dream projects that will provide additional support to our students and strengthen ANC’s institutional capacity now and into the future. ANC is just one catalyst in our area that is and will continue to be a leader in student success, provide economic contributions and to support the Fort Belknap Indian Community.”, said ANC’s President, Carole Falcon-Chandler.

“The strength of local and regional economies and the possibility that a new generation will achieve their goals depends on community colleges,” said Dr. Karen A. Stout, president and CEO of Achieving the Dream. “Colleges that join the ATD Network show an exceptional commitment to becoming the kind of institution that will lead the nation into the future.”

ATD offers a capacity-building framework and companion self-assessment that allow colleges to pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement across seven institutional capacities in areas such as leadership and vision, teaching and learning, and data and technology. With the capacity framework as a guide, ATD’s approach integrates and aligns existing college success efforts and offers valuable support in preparing for accreditation, fostering conversation about goals, and making bold, holistic institution-wide changes because initiatives that don’t reach most of a college’s student body have not shown strong results.

A team from Aaniiih Nakoda College and teams from the other colleges now joining ATD met in April and June to prepare to launch their ATD work, which will initially focus on ATD Network college; reports data using metrics that answer critical questions about who attends college, who succeeds in and after college and how college is financed. To advance goals of social mobility and equity, the metrics provide information on how underserved students fare. These metrics are categorized into performance metrics, efficiency metrics and equity metrics at points during the student experience from access through post-college outcomes.