Achieving the Dream (ATD) is a multiyear national initiative developed to help more community college students succeed. ATD works on multiple fronts to increase the number of students who earn degrees, certificates or transfer to other institutions.

Its multifaceted approach includes efforts at participating community colleges, research on effective practices, public policy work and public outreach. At the core of the ATD initiative is the use of data to drive changes that will improve student outcomes.

Members of the intitiative include 14 national partners, 83 community colleges in 15 states and many dedicated individuals. Since ATD is a data-driven intiative, participants submit data to the ATD database for analysis and assessment. Researchers use the data to evaluate the progress of the cohorts of community college students.

In addition to data collection and analysis component of ATD, the initiative focuses on building public support for community colleges and advocating for public policies that advance the mission of community colleges.