Opening Doors: A Case Study

In order to clearly show the reasoning behind the effects of lack of instructional support at BRCC, various juxtapositions can be made starting with one of the top Community Colleges in the country, Kingsborough Community College. Consistently ranking in the upper half of the top 100 community Colleges in the U.S., the institution was recently involved in an “Opening Doors” demonstration conducted by the nonprofit organization MDRC, along with six other community colleges around the U.S. in the year 2003. The college began implementing customized instructional support. Conjointly meeting with faculty and advisors on a regular, sometimes bi-weekly basis. The students were able to obtain performance feedback based on their performance in the classroom. This allowed the students to pinpoint individual problem areas therefore increasing performance success in the classroom. The Community college boasts that in 2012 the overall graduation rate for any specified program …show more content…
Eligibility was targeted towards low-income students, mainly African American single mothers. Yearly scholarships of up to $1,000.00 were based on the fulfillment of meeting certain academic benchmarks. The result, students were more likely to enroll as full time students therefore increasing the percentage of courses passed. Unfortunately, the long-term effects or results such as decrease in the time spent in obtaining degrees was unable to be obtained due to the temporary closure of the colleges during and after hurricane Katrina . Many of the involved students in the study had moved away. According to a report from 2011 from Complete College America, graduation rates were especially low for low-income students and/or minorities. The completion percentages in 2005 as fulltime and par time students were 29.0% and 19.6%