Grayson College named Achieving the Dream Leader College

Grayson College was recently named one of six community colleges to become an Achieving the Dream Leader College. This distinction is bestowed upon colleges who have made measurable progress toward improving student outcomes over a three-year period.

“We are so terribly proud of the work by GC faculty and staff who are laser focused on student success,” GC President Dr. Jeremy McMillen said. “Over the last several years Grayson College has intentionally focused on course completions and accelerating the time to degree while maintaining high quality programs that lead to positive outcomes for all students. We have consistently seen increases in courses being completed with As, Bs, and Cs, with last year representing the highest success by this measure in the last 20 years.”

GC has participated in Achieving the Dream, a national reform networks focused on discovering innovative solutions and effective practices and policies leading to improved outcomes for all students, since 2014. Over 220 colleges participate as members of this national network of community colleges.

“This year we implemented a free College Connections course, a required course for all new students that is designed to help them connect with our college success coaches, select their career, identify their college pathway and build a relationship with a faculty advisor,” Dr. Jeremy McMillen said. “Additionally, we launched our accelerated learning model whereby most of the courses offered in our academic transfer pathways were offered in an eight-week format.”

The eight-week format allows for a more focused effort in fewer courses while encouraging deeper relationships to emerge between students and faculty. The college’s course completion results from the fall 2018 term were up four percent over the prior year, which was already at a 20-year high.

“We have implemented a number of strategies in order to accelerate time to degree, which is important for our students and for business and industry in our region,” Dr. Jeremey McMillen said. “While these processes are still being improved, the college has managed to accelerate our time to degree substantially. Grayson College’s efforts have resulted in our graduates completing their degree nearly 9.5 months faster than is the average.”

The college’s efforts to accelerate time to degree include redesigning pathways so that the courses are clearly defined and are aligned with students’ university choice as well as launching Student Planner, the internally developed technology to support students staying on path. GC has also implemented an automatic graduation process whereby students who have reached enough hours to graduate are identified and their degree is proactively awarded.


Attachment: Photo of Grayson College President Dr. Jeremy McMillen making the Achieving the Dream Leader College announcement.
Please reach out to GC Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator Rhea Bermel with any questions – 903.647.8342 or bermelr@grayson.edu.