Eduardo J. Padrón
President
Office of the President
300 N.E. Second Avenue
Miami, Florida 33132-2297
305-237-3316
epadron@mdc.edu
Message From the President
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Miami Dade College Selected for the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network
Miami Dade College was one of only a handful of institutions selected today to take part in the 2012 Achieving the Dream National Reform Network – the nation’s most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for student success in higher education history. With student success at the heart of MDC’s mission to change lives through the opportunity of education, the College’s participation in the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network dovetails with our ambitious college readiness and completion agenda, MDC³.
MDC³ has been powered by the dedication of faculty and staff from across the entire College, and the policies and procedures developed in this first planning year promise to significantly affect students’ experience and completion success. This work will surely inform our participation in the Achieving the Dream network, and in turn, the network of colleges around the nation will serve as a source of new ideas as we move forward with MDC³.
As an Achieving the Dream Institution, MDC will continue to develop and implement research-based policies and practices that will afford us critical analyses of our institutional strengths, problem areas and achievement gaps. We will gain new input from the Achieving the Dream network and continue to build a culture of evidence toward improving student success.
Through this effort, MDC and other members of the 2012 cohort will collectively help 270,000 students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree. Beverly Fletcher, Achieving the Dream's senior director of organizational development and change, applauded MDC for "helping tackle one of society's most daunting challenges: success for more college students."
Your support will be critical as we continue to identify strategies to close achievement gaps and increase student retention, persistence and completion rates. If our students achieve their dreams, then the goal of prosperous communities and a strong nation will become reality. No greater priority exists.
Thank you.
Eduardo