Blackboard and Achieving the Dream Join Forces to Help Increase Student Completion
Collaboration to Help Students Earn Market-Valued Credentials
WASHINGTON, March 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackboard Inc. today announced a powerful new collaboration with Achieving the Dream Inc. that will aim to address the most pressing challenges facing education, including workforce preparedness and improving completion rates.
Through the collaboration, Blackboard will engage with core team members from Achieving the Dream Colleges, which includes presidents, academic deans, directors of student success and other community college leaders, to gain a deeper understanding of the unique needs of community college students nationwide.
Blackboard and Achieving the Dream intend to engage in joint efforts that span from the changing needs of today's workforce and the widening of the skills gap, to the unique characteristics of learners in community colleges and the alternative models of education to support them. The two organizations plan to share their findings with the larger higher education community.
"The learners these community colleges serve are unique and face different sets of challenges," said Katie Blot, senior vice president of corporate strategy and industry relations for Blackboard. "This collaboration comes at crucial time, when companies like Blackboard need a deeper understanding of these challenges and how our capabilities can help address them. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Achieving the Dream and directly with their innovative institutions, who understand that we cannot remain stagnant if we want to improve the educational experience for our learners."
With over 200 partner institutions and 15 state policy teams working throughout 34 states and the District of Columbia, Achieving the Dream is a nonprofit organization that helps nearly 4 million community college students stay in schools, earn college certificates or degrees, and have a better chance of realizing their economic opportunity.
For more information about Blackboard, please visit www.blackboard.com or follow @Blackboard on Twitter. For more information about Achieving the Dream, please visit www.achievingthedream.org or follow @AchievetheDream on Twitter.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard is the world's leading education technology company. We challenge conventional thinking and advance new models of learning in order to reimagine education and make it more accessible, engaging and relevant to the modern day learner and the institutions that serve them. In partnership with our customers and partners in higher education and K-12 as well as corporations and government agencies around the world, our mission is to help every learner achieve their full potential by inspiring a passion for lifelong learning. For more information about Blackboard, follow us on Twitter @Blackboard.
About Achieving the Dream, Inc.
Achieving the Dream is a national nonprofit that is dedicated to helping more community college students, particularly low-income students and students of color, stay in school and earn a college certificate or degree. Evidence-based, student-centered, and built on the values of equity and excellence, Achieving the Dream is closing achievement gaps and accelerating student success nationwide by: 1) guiding evidence-based institutional improvement, 2) leading policy change, 3) generating knowledge, and 4) engaging the public. Conceived as an initiative in 2004 by Lumina Foundation and seven founding partner organizations, today, Achieving the Dream is leading the most comprehensive non-governmental reform network for student success in higher education history. With over 200 institutions, more than 100 coaches and advisors, and 15 state policy teams - working throughout 34 states and the District of Columbia – the Achieving the Dream National Reform Network helps nearly 4 million community college students have a better chance of realizing greater economic opportunity and achieving their dreams.
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. Actual results may differ materially as a result of various important factors. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.
CONTACT
Lauren Dyke, Blackboard Inc.
(202) 463-4860 ext. 2860 or [email protected]
Lynn Reddy, Achieving the Dream
(240) 450-3830 or [email protected]
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
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