Achieving the Dream Coach
Achieving the Dream Coach will strive to establish trusting relationships with the chief executive, his or her leadership group, the core team, and all other work groups in the colleges. The working relationships, launched during the July Institute, will grow through at least four visits (fall and spring combined) and frequent e-mail and telephone contact. Through the collaborative work, it will be possible for the colleges to successfully complete plans leading to an Implementation Grant for 2008-2009. Ideally, the planning work will move the Achieving the Dream agenda to the core of college operations and begin the institutional change process to increase student success.
Coach and college leaders will share common goals to do the following:
- Create a culture of inquiry, learning, and accountability to values and data- driven decision-making.
- Work with the data facilitator to create a Data Team which will develop a candid analysis of the current state of performance with respect to success for low- income and students of color.
- Examine the beliefs, assumptions, behaviors, structures, and related factors that promote the existing pattern of student achievement and attainment.
- Engage students, faculty, community members, and other stakeholders in dialogue about the analysis and proposed plans to Achieve the Dream.
- Identify “breakthrough” strategies, goals, and activities.
- Identify technical assistance and learning resources to facilitate college work.
- Link plans to the allocation and reallocation of resources, thus leveraging the Achieving the Dream grant money.
- Set performance targets or benchmarks and monitor college progress.
- Build personal conviction, knowledge, and capacity among college stakeholders to create and sustain a powerful action plan.
- Develop priorities and action plans to enhance student success.
Coach will endeavor to be a critical friend by asking clarifying, tough questions. They will try to surface unspoken concerns, and help people imagine new ways to look at things. Their task will be to listen with empathy and model collaborative behavior. They will not do the work, but they will help the college build the capacity to do its own work.
Coach: Christine Johnson McPhail
Christine Johnson McPhail is currently Emerita Professor of higher education and founder of the Community College Leadership Doctoral Program at Morgan State University. She formerly served as the President and Chief Instructional Officer at Cypress College in southern California. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) and the Council for the Study of Community Colleges (CSCC); Advisory Council for the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the National Center for Postsecondary Research (NCPR) at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) ;Coach, Achieving the Dream; formerly served as the Affirmative Action Officer, Division J, American Education Research Association (AERA); Editorial Board for the Community College Journal of Research and Practice; Editor of a recent AACC publication, Establishing and Sustaining Learning Centered Community Colleges. She was the featured international keynote speaker at the Guardian Further Education and Skills Summit 2007 in the United Kingdom. Her research interests lie in the intersection of three fields of higher education: leadership, governance, and learning.