Achieving the
Dream
Walmart PRESS
(Persistence, Retention
and Student Success) for
Completion Grant
Program
Request for Proposals
This project is a partnership between Achieving the Dream
and Walmart. Funding for the project comes from the
generous support of Walmart Foundation.
Proposal Submission Deadline: May 11, 2012
Contents
Summary ....................................................................................................................... 1
Proposal Background ................................................................................................... 2
Institution Eligibility ...................................................................................................... 4
Description of Funding Commitments ........................................................................ 4
Selection Criteria .......................................................................................................... 5
Expected Outcomes...................................................................................................... 5
Evaluation...................................................................................................................... 7
Dates, Timelines, and Project Phase Descriptions ..................................................... 8
Proposal Submission ................................................................................................. 10
Questions .................................................................................................................... 10
Walmart PRESS for Completion Proposal Narrative ................................................ 11
Institution Contact Information ................................................................................................. 11
Evidence of Student Success .................................................................................................. 11
PRESS for Completion Project Plan........................................................................................ 13
Part 1: Faculty and Staff Engagement .................................................................................... 13
Part 2: Peer Coaching............................................................................................................. 16
Proposal Checklist ...................................................................................................... 17
“Our nation needs a better educated workforce and community
colleges are widely recognized as the lynchpin in addressing this
challenge. This new partnership with Walmart initiates a doublingdown effort by Achieving the Dream and our Leader Colleges to
address common reform challenges and ensure that more students
persist through school and earn their credential or degree.”
-Carol Lincoln, Achieving the Dream Senior Vice President
Summary
Achieving the Dream is pleased to release this request for proposals for the
Walmart PRESS for Completion (PRESS for Completion) grant program. The
PRESS for Completion grant program is just one of the exciting opportunities
that will be offered to Achieving the Dream Institutions as part of the growing
Achieving the Dream re-granting program. These grants will allow institutions
to incorporate cutting-edge research and scale proven student success
interventions with the aim of accelerating and sustaining better student
outcomes. Promising practices and knowledge gained by recipient
institutions will be disseminated across the Achieving the Dream National
Reform Network to benefit student success outcomes nationwide.
Achieving the Dream invites proposals for the PRESS for Completion grant
program from active Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges. 1 PRESS for
Completion grants will fund up to 15 Achieving the Dream Leader Colleges
with awards of $100,000 per institution over a period of just over two years
(June 1, 2012- August 31, 2014).
Leader Colleges that receive PRESS for Completion grants will implement
broad and substantive faculty and staff engagement strategies to increase
the numbers of faculty and staff involved in Achieving the Dream reform
efforts at the institution. To bring about broader cultural change, the selected
Leader Colleges will then prepare to become peer coaches to other
Achieving the Dream Institutions.
Recipients will receive technical assistance and support from Achieving the
Dream. Achieving the Dream will also assist institutions in developing
tracking, evaluation, and monitoring tools to assure that the work informs the
larger Achieving the Dream National Reform Network and, most importantly,
increases student success.
1
Only those Leader Colleges active in the Achieving the Dream Network at the release of this request for proposals
are eligible to apply for the PRESS for Completion grants.
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Proposal Background
With nearly half of all higher education students enrolled at community
colleges and fewer than half of those students earning a credential within six
years, America cannot close its skills gap without a concerted effort to
increase community college persistence, retention, and student success
rates. Over the past eight years, Achieving the Dream has changed the focus
of community colleges from increasing access to higher education to also
ensuring the success of community college students.
Achieving the Dream has seen substantial improvement over the years
among the institutions in its network, especially among its Leader Colleges,
which have distinguished themselves by improving one or more measures of
student success for three consecutive years. While the improvements are
encouraging, the circle of faculty (including adjuncts), and student services
personnel most engaged in the work is modest compared to the total number
of faculty and staff at the institutions, leaving many students untouched.
Further, the reform work has not yet eliminated silos limiting vital
collaboration with and among academic departments and student services.
The potential for increasing student outcomes through faculty engagement
was brought forward in the interim evaluation of Achieving the Dream
conducted by MDRC and the Community College Research Center. The
report, called Turning the Tide: Five Years of Achieving the Dream in
Community Colleges, identified several challenges in community college
reform and aspects of community college work that need deeper thinking and
greater focus. MDRC noted that the culture of inquiry and evidence had
taken root at nearly all of the institutions in the study but was strongest
among faculty directly affected by the new Achieving the Dream
interventions. Faculty in other programs of study had not yet adopted these
practices to improve their performance and impact. The report concluded
with recommendations for next steps: do more to involve adjunct and fulltime faculty; devote more attention to improving teaching and learning inside
the classroom (especially developmental education classrooms); pay more
attention to scaling up promising initiatives to reach more students; and
consider more proactive ways of supporting institutions that enter with very
weak data capacity.
To reach national goals for an educated workforce, greater numbers of
faculty and staff must become engaged so that both classroom and student
services reforms reach significantly greater numbers of students. Achieving
the Dream’s Leader Colleges have demonstrated improvements in student
success measures and are in the best position to take on deeper levels of
faculty engagement and forge stronger connections among student services
and academic and vocational departments.
Walmart recognizes the importance of community colleges and the role these
institutions play in supporting the health and well-being of both individuals
and communities. Based on this understanding, Walmart has partnered with
Achieving the Dream to help community college students by increasing staff
and faculty engagement at a select group of Leader Colleges within the
Achieving the Dream National Reform Network.
The Walmart PRESS for Completion grants (PRESS for Completion) will ask
15 Leader Colleges to deepen their level of faculty and staff engagement in
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their Achieving the Dream institutional reform work. Specifically, recipients of
the PRESS for Completion grants will do the following:
1. Examine the current level of faculty and staff engagement in the
institution’s Achieving the Dream reform efforts and set baseline
measures for faculty and staff engagement
2. Analyze current levels of student success outcomes at the institution and
the impact of faculty and staff engagement on these outcomes
3. Implement innovative engagement strategies to broaden the involvement
of faculty and staff (including adjunct and part-time) in the Achieving the
Dream reform work at the institution
4. Lead faculty and staff workgroups in the data-analysis of student
outcomes and in the identification and development of additional
institutional reform needed to increase these outcomes
5. Identify, develop, and implement new policies, practices, or procedures
to increase student success outcomes
6. Track, report on, and evaluate student outcomes and faculty and staff
engagement outcomes
7. Produce detailed case-studies and quantitative evaluations of the work
completed during the grant cycle
8. Participate in Achieving the Dream’s social media campaign to engage
student voices in institutional reform work
In addition, the PRESS for Completion grants will support collaboration
among the selected institutions and Achieving the Dream to disseminate
promising practices across the Achieving the Dream Network. This portion of
the work will include the development of a peer coaching model that builds
capacity among recipients to transfer critical knowledge efficiently to other
Achieving the Dream Institutions. All participating institutions will commit to
becoming a peer college coach, at the end of the 30-month project, to other
institutions wanting to learn more about effective faculty and staff
engagement practices.
Recipients will receive technical assistance and support from Achieving the
Dream. Achieving the Dream will also assist institutions in developing
evaluation and monitoring tools to ensure that the work informs the larger
Achieving the Dream Network and, most importantly, increases student
success.
More information about the principles guiding this work can be found in
Appendix A, including a report produced by an Achieving the Dream
Founding Partner, Public Agenda, titled Engaging Adjunct and Full-Time
Faculty in Student Success Innovation and excerpts from the MDRC Turning
the Tide report. The report by Public Agenda provides a framework and
principles and practices for helping institutions sharpen faculty engagement,
as well as additional research materials. Achieving the Dream recommends
that applicants refer to these reports as they craft their PRESS for
Completion grant proposals.
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Institution Eligibility
Achieving the Dream institutions that are active Leader Colleges in good
standing at the time of this request for proposals are eligible to apply for the
PRESS for Completion grants. Applicants must include a letter from the
president stating the institution’s intention to remain an active part of the
Achieving the Dream Network for the duration of the grant cycle, should the
institution be awarded a PRESS for Completion grant.
Description of Funding Commitments
Selected institutions will be eligible to receive up to $100,000 over a period of
just over two years, from June 1, 2012 – August 31, 2014. Funds will be
disbursed in two installments of $50,000 each to selected colleges.
Participants can expect to receive their first funding installment by June 15,
2012, after completion of the grant agreement. The second installment will be
released in summer 2013 after the institution submits interim financial and
narrative reports.
Selected institutions will also be expected to:
1. Participate in a June 2012 Kickoff event in Washington, DC and attend
special sessions at Achieving the Dream’s annual meetings (DREAM
2013 and DREAM 2014)

Note: Travel and lodging for these events is to be paid for by the
recipient institutions. Funds may come out of the institution’s
PRESS for Completion grant budget or operating budget.
2. Establish baseline and measurable goals for faculty and staff
engagement and student persistence, retention, and success
3. Demonstrate progress through annual reporting to Achieving the Dream
4. Agree to be an active member of the national PRESS for Completion
community of learners, including a commitment to become a peer
college coach at the end of the 30-month project, to other institutions
wanting to learn more about effective faculty and staff engagement
practices
5. Participate in Achieving the Dream’s social media campaign to engage
student voices in institutional reform work
6. Plan and carry out evaluations of PRESS for Completion work, including
the completion of detailed case studies
7. Present case studies on PRESS for Completion work at DREAM 2013
and DREAM 2014 and present final case studies that include student
outcome data by July 31, 2014
8. Submit annual financial reports of expenditures supporting an
institution’s PRESS for Completion work
Use of Grant Funds:
Funds devoted to the PRESS for Completion work may be used for faculty
release time, faculty stipends, consultants, office expenses, meeting
expenses (including food), local transportation, computer support
development, staffing, travel to project institutes, workshops, and related
software and equipment to support professional development activities. In
addition, up to $10,000 of these funds can be used toward the institution’s
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Achieving the Dream participation fees during the two year grant cycle. The
intention is for the grant funds to cover one-time implementation costs. If
grant funds are used to cover incremental costs, the institution must describe
how it will continue to cover those costs at the end of the two-year grant
period.

Note: These funds should not supplant existing investments in
faculty and staff engagement.
Applicants must submit a budget that defines projected expenditures for
fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2014. A budget template is included in
Appendix B.
Selection Criteria
A competitive proposal will demonstrate:
1. A comprehensive plan for broad faculty and staff engagement – including
adjunct faculty – in institutional reform work
2. Proof of the leadership and strategic focus necessary to:

Support and sustain an increase in faculty and staff engagement

Set ambitious goals over the two-year grant period and track
related inputs, outputs, and outcomes

Implement any new policies, procedures and practices that may be
identified to increase student success
3. A commitment to participate in the initial cadre of peer coaching
institutions in 2014
Priority will be given to those Leader Colleges that can demonstrate
improvement over the last three years on two or more of the five Achieving
the Dream student success metrics.
In addition, the PRESS for Completion review committee will seek to achieve
good geographic distribution, diversity in the size of the institutions selected
and the student populations they serve, a good sampling of unionized and
non-unionized institutions, and identify institutions that have multiple
campuses as well as single-campus sites. Selecting a range of rural,
suburban, and urban institutions will be important to further diversify the
types of institutions who will become peer coach institutions.
PRESS for Completion proposals will be reviewed by a committee of
Achieving the Dream staff and a select group of Achieving the Dream
Coaches and Data Coaches. PRESS for Completion applicants will be
notified via email no later than June 8, 2012 regarding their selection status
for the PRESS for Completion grant program. Notification emails will be sent
to the main contact listed at the beginning of the Proposal Narrative section
of this document.
Expected Outcomes
Institutions will report both qualitative and quantitative data to benchmark and
track faculty and staff engagement, student "Persistence and Success" rates,
student attitudes, and other relevant feedback on the implementation and
success of the PRESS for Completion grant program. Lessons from the
project will be disseminated across the Achieving the Dream Network via a
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national conference call open to all Achieving the Dream Institutions,
Walmart personnel, and other interested stakeholders, and through special
sessions at DREAM.
Achieving the Dream will work with selected institutions at the beginning of
the grant cycle to identify measurable outputs of faculty and staff
engagement. Some of the potential outputs institutions could report on are:

Outputs:
o Design of faculty/staff engagement for reform
o Reforms identified/initiated
o Number/percentage of full-time faculty engaged in Fall convocations or
another large convening, number/percentage in multiple meetings
o Number/percentage of adjunct faculty engaged in Fall convocation or
another large convening, number/percentage in multiple meetings
o Number/percentage of student services faculty engaged in Fall
convocation or another large convening, number/percentage in
multiple meetings
o Number of learning events for faculty and staff, with summaries of
participant assessments of the impact of the events on their teaching
and everyday work
o Number/percentage of Developmental Education students benefiting
from new policies and practices
o Total number of students benefiting from new policies and practices
o Number/percentage of participating institutions demonstrating readiness
to serve as peer coaches
o Unexpected/significant discoveries
In addition, because effectively engaging faculty and staff is directly related
to student success outcomes, institutions will also be required to select at
least two student success outcomes to report on. These outcomes will be
developed by the faculty and staff workgroups during the first quarter of the
PRESS for Completion grant cycle. Achieving the Dream will provide support
to institutions in the development of these outcomes. Some examples of
potential outcomes are:
o
o
o
o
o
Advancement from remedial to credit-bearing courses
 i.e. Increased percentage of students that complete college level
courses (Developmental Education and total students)
Completion of college-level “gateway” math and English courses
 i.e. Increased percentage of students who complete institutiondefined gateway courses, including introductory courses in
English and math
Course completion
 i.e. Increased percentage of students earning a “C” or better
 i.e. Increased percentage of students earning 30 credit hours
within their first year
Term-to-term and year-to-year retention
 i.e. Increased percentage of students who are retained from
semester to semester (students of color and total students)
Completion of certificates or degrees
 i.e. Increased percentage of students earning a certificate
backed by at least one year of college
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Evaluation
Participating institutions will be required to submit plans for and carry out
evaluations of their PRESS for Completion work. Achieving the Dream will
supply recipients with technical assistance to complete this evaluation work.
Each institution will design the evaluation with assistance from Achieving the
Dream to assess progress toward meeting the goals of the PRESS for
Completion work and the specific projects at each institution. Evaluations will
look at the impact of the grant on faculty and staff engagement and student
persistence, success, and retention. The evaluations will produce data and
information that the institutions will fold into case study reports focused on
the faculty and staff engagement work for sharing at DREAM 2013 and
DREAM 2014.
In addition, the participants will submit a formative and summative evaluation
of their PRESS for Completion activities as part of the institutions’ Achieving
the Dream 2013 and 2014 annual reports.
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Dates, Timelines, and Project Phase Descriptions
Note: Applicants should review the descriptions of project phases below carefully and incorporate these in their
proposed PRESS for Completion Work Plans.
Selection Process
RFP Released to ATD Leader Colleges
Leader College Monthly Call
March 23 - June 8, 2012
March 23, 2012
Discussion of the PRESS for Completion grant program and proposal
submission process.
PRESS for Completion proposals due
from institutions
PRESS for Completion recipients
announced
PRESS for Completion Phase 1:
Institution Planning
PRESS for Completion Kickoff event
Form and convene Institution Thinking
Teams
Faculty/Staff Convocation Launch
May 11, 2012
June 8, 2012
Summer 2012
Selected institutions will send faculty and staff leadership teams (five
representatives per institution) to Kickoff event in Washington, DC. Achieving
the Dream staff will work with team members to develop plans for identifying
project baseline measures for faculty and staff engagement and student
persistence, retention, and success. Institutions will present their PRESS for
Completion plans to other grant recipients and receive feedback.
Following the project Kickoff, each institution will bring additional faculty and
staff together as a Thinking Team to further refine their plan and review data
related to student persistence, retention, and success.
Each institution will be required to organize a Fall convocation or another large
meeting to bring together the cross-functional teams of faculty, adjuncts, and
student support staff. For an example of how this strategy can increase faculty
and staff engagement, see p. 15 of the Public Agenda report, Engaging
Adjunct and Full-Time Faculty in Student Success Innovation, found in
Appendix A.
Walmart PRESS for Completion
Request for Proposals
April 5, 2012
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June 24-26, 2012
Summer 2012
Early Fall 2012
PRESS for Completion Phase 2:
Development and Implementation
Faculty/Staff working groups
Sep 2012 - Sep 2013
Throughout the 2012 fall semester, faculty and staff at selected institutions will
review data of student outcomes and participate in the identification and
development of additional institutional reform needed to increase these
outcomes. Teams will develop plans to alter or introduce policies, practices
and pedagogies with a goal of implementing those new policies and practices
no later than the 2013 spring semester. The teams will also develop tracking
systems to document the engagement of faculty and staff and the
improvement in student performance and refine plans for evaluating their work.
Institutions Progress Evaluation due
Implementation of new policies,
practices and procedures
DREAM
Dec 2012
No later than Spring 2013
Second convening of grant recipients to share challenges, lessons learned,
exchange promising practices, and develop guidelines for a peer coaching
model. Selection of preliminary case studies presented by institutions at
DREAM 2013.
PRESS for Completion Phase 3:
Refinement
Faculty/Staff working groups refine
plans and Second Faculty/Staff
Convocation
Institution leaders will bring together the Thinking Teams, assess current
PRESS for Completion implementation work to date, and refine their programs
to maximize student persistence, retention, and success outcomes.
Summer/Fall 2013
September 2013
Fall 2013 to Spring 2014
Summer 2014
Each institution will report both qualitative and quantitative data to benchmark
faculty and staff engagement, student "Persistence and Success" rates,
student attitudes, and other relevant feedback on the implementation and
success of the PRESS for Completion work.
Walmart PRESS for Completion
Request for Proposals
Feb 2013
Summer 2013 - Spring 2014
Institutions Progress Evaluation due
Refined plans implemented and
tracked
PRESS for Completion Phase 4:
Outcomes and Evaluation
Institutions final Summative Evaluation
due to ATD
Sep-Dec 2012
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March 2012
July 2014
Proposal Submission
Proposals should be submitted by uploading the appropriate documents.
Uploading instructions will be found at www.achievingthedream.org/PRESS.
Achieving the Dream will accept submissions from April 11 to May 11, 2012.
All proposals must be submitted by 5:00 pm ET, Friday May 11, 2012.
Submissions should include all of the components listed below in the
specified format. Incomplete proposals will not be considered. Applicants
may want to consider submitting all of the components requested as a PDF
as one single PDF document.
1. Cover letter on letterhead (PDF)
2. Commitment letter from the institution's board of trustees (PDF)
3. Commitment letter from the institution’s president/chancellor (PDF)
 Note: The president/chancellor’s commitment letter should include a
statement assuring that the institution will remain in the Achieving the
Dream Network throughout the grant cycle should it be awarded a
PRESS for Completion grant.
4. Proposal narrative (PDF)
5. PRESS for Completion Summary Checklist (Located at the end of this
document)
6. Budget Template (Excel Doc-Located in Appendix B)
7. Additional partnership letters if applicable (PDF)
Narrative text should be entered in the appropriate boxes in the Proposal
Narrative section. The file names of all documents should include the
institution’s name, an accurate description of what the document is, and the
date (i.e. SpringfieldCC_WalmartProjectNarrative_5_11_12).
Questions
If you have questions regarding proposal completion and submission, or
other questions regarding the Walmart PRESS for Completion grant
program, please contact:
Sarah Hollister
Associate Director of Programs
shollister@acheivingthedream.org
Walmart PRESS for Completion
Request for Proposals
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Walmart PRESS for Completion Proposal Narrative
Institution Contact Information
Main Contact (To be notified of submission status)
Name:
Title:
Phone:
Email:
President/Chancellor
Name:
Phone:
Email:
Evidence of Student Success
Priority will be given to the Walmart PRESS for Completion (PRESS for Completion) applicants that can
demonstrate improvement over the last three years on two or more of the five Achieving the Dream
student achievement measures.
Note: Institutions must already report on their progress for one of these measures as part of the
Achieving the Dream 2012 Annual Report, which is due on April 30, 2012 (see question 12a in the 2012
Annual Report guidelines at: www.achievingthedream.org/annualreport). Achieving the Dream suggests
that institutions applying for a PRESS for Completion grant copy and paste their response to question 12a
from their 2012 Achieving the Dream Annual Report into this proposal and then also provide data for at
least one of the other five student achievement measures.
Those institutions which would like to apply for this priority should provide a graph or chart
presenting evidence of improvement in student achievement over three or more years for two or
more of the following Achieving the Dream student achievement measures (See Appendix C for an
example response):
●
●
●
●
●
Course completion
Advancement from remedial to credit-bearing courses
Completion of college-level “gateway” math and English courses
Term-to-term and year-to-year retention
Completion of certificates or degrees
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In the chart or graph:
●
●
●
●
●
Include baseline performance data and three additional years of performance data
Include the data source (e.g., College SAS Data File, DataTel, etc.)
Represent the performance data as a rate (percentage) and as a number of students
Include the number of students as a percentage of total enrollment
Disaggregate data, if applicable
Though preferred, measures do not have to apply to the entire student population. Colleges may
present student sub-group data on the five measures. For example, colleges may submit course
completion data for minority male students in developmental education.
Insert charts and/or graphs below.
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Request for Proposals
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PRESS for Completion Project Plan
Part 1: Faculty and Staff Engagement
Note: This section should not exceed 10 pages with answers.
In this section you will describe your plans to increase faculty and staff engagement in your
Achieving the Dream reform work.
Competitive proposals will present a plan that:






Outlines innovative strategies for engaging faculty and staff in Phases 1 through 4 of the
PRESS for Completion grant cycle (See the Dates and Timelines section of this document,
pp. 8-9, for a description of each of the phases and when they will occur.)
Effectively presents how the proposed faculty and staff engagement strategies address
previously identified barriers and challenges to engagement and collaboration and will,
ultimately, result in increased student success outcomes
Conveys how the PRESS for Completion work will inform the larger reform efforts at the
institution
Identifies a diverse PRESS for Completion Leadership Team to guide this work
o Note: Institutions should consider leadership team members who can assist in actively
engaging previously disengaged faculty and/or staff groups at the institution
Includes a sustainability plan to assure work will continue beyond the life of the grant
Includes a completed Budget template (found in Appendix B)
A. Briefly summarize the overall faculty and staff engagement in your institution’s Achieving
the Dream reform work to date. Please consider the following in your summary: the level of
engagement of full-time and adjunct faculty and staff in the institution’s Achieving the Dream reform
efforts; types of engagement activities previously employed (i.e. faculty collection and/or analysis of
data, faculty and staff development of interventions, professional development, pedagogy and/or
policy analysis); previous cross-institution collaboration (i.e. collaboration between and among
student service staff and faculty, adjunct and full-time faculty, administrators and faculty);
identification of any categories of faculty or staff that have NOT been engaged successfully and
why; a summary of any collective bargaining or other contract arrangements that have helped or
impeded the engagement of faculty and/or staff.
Project Plan: Part 1, Question A
Enter Answers Here
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B. Two-Year PRESS for Completion Work Plan: Present your institution’s proposed PRESS for
Completion two-year work plan in the text boxes below.
Note: These plans should not propose specific new programs or services for students. The
development of any new or changed strategies will be the product of the faculty and staff
workgroups that your institution will coordinate as part of your PRESS for Completion work.
1. Summarize the strategies your institution will use to broaden and deepen the engagement
of faculty and staff in Phases 1 through 4 of the PRESS for Completion grant cycle. Include
a description of how your institution will use the PRESS for Completion resources to implement
each of these strategies. For a review of the PRESS for Completion Phases, see the Dates and
Timelines section of this document on pp. 8-9.
Project Plan: Part 1, Question B.1
PRESS for Completion Phase 1: Institution Planning
Enter Answers Here
PRESS for Completion Phase 2: Development and Implementation
Enter Answers Here
PRESS for Completion Phase 3: Refinement
Enter Answers Here
PRESS for Completion Phase 4: Outcomes and Evaluation
Enter Answers Here
2. How does your institution envision these proposed strategies resulting in the broader
engagement of faculty and staff in your institution’s reform efforts to increase student
outcomes?
Project Plan: Part 1, Question B.2
Enter Answers Here
3. How will the PRESS for Completion work at your institution inform the larger reform
agenda at your institution? Answers should include an assessment of how your institution will
integrate lessons learned throughout the grant cycle in the ongoing reform efforts at the
institution.
Project Plan: Part 1, Question B.3
Enter Answers Here
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4. Provide a list of core team members who will guide the PRESS for Completion work at
your institution below. This Leadership Team should include at least five members: a lead
administrator (president/chancellor preferred), a student services representative, a faculty
representative, and at least two additional team members of the institution’s choice.
 Note: Leadership Teams can include more than five representatives if the institution wishes.
However, only five representatives from the Leadership Team will be required to attend the
PRESS for Completion Kickoff in Washington, DC June 24 – 26, 2012.
Leadership Team Members
Name
Title
Role/ Contributions of Team Member
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
[Name]
[Title]
[Enter text here.]
5. Provide a list of any partners or in-kind donations your institution plans to leverage in
your PRESS for Completion work and what each partner will contribute. (Optional)
Project Plan: Part 1, Question B.5
Enter Answers Here
6. Provide a description of how your institution will sustain the PRESS for Completion work
after the life of the grant. Answers should include an assessment of the type of processes and
decisions your institution will undergo to continue this work after the two-year grant cycle.
Project Plan: Part 1, Question B.6
Enter Answers Here
7. Complete the PRESS for Completion budget template (found in Appendix B) and submit
this along with the other components of your PRESS for Completion grant proposal.
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Part 2: Peer Coaching
In addition to deepening faculty and staff engagement at community colleges, a second goal of the
PRESS for Completion grant program is to prepare recipients to be peer coaches to other
institutions in the area of faculty and staff engagement.
In this section you will describe any previous experience your institution has had as a peer
coach to other institutions (not required for participation) and how your institution
envisions becoming a peer coach for transmitting lessons learned during the PRESS for
Completion grant cycle.
Competitive proposals will successfully demonstrate:


A vision for expanding your institution’s role as a peer coach related to faculty and staff
engagement
A clear assessment of how participation in the PRESS for Completion grant program will
contribute to this vision
A. Describe any previous experiences your institution may have had as a peer coach to other
institutions or as a recipient of peer coaching. Answers might include: what types of strategies
your institution has used to build these relationships (i.e. site visits, faculty, or staff cross-institution
collaboration); types of institutions that have been involved in these collaborative efforts; how your
institution has ensured that other institutions have learned from your institution (if applicable) and
applied it to their own work in increasing student success.
Project Plan: Part 2, Question A
Enter Answers Here
B. How do you envision best sharing lessons and strategies regarding faculty and staff
engagement as a peer coach? Answers might include: strategies your institution will employ;
types of institutions you wish to coach; and any other information you think will successfully convey
your institution’s vision for and ability to be a peer coach.
Project Plan: Part 2, Question B
Enter Answers Here
C. What type of support do you anticipate needing from Achieving the Dream to be successful
as a peer coach?
Project Plan: Part 2, Question C
Enter Answers Here
Walmart PRESS for Completion
Request for Proposals
Page 16
March 2012
Proposal Checklist
Proposal Item
Done?
1. Cover letter on letterhead (PDF)
2. Commitment letter from the institution's board of trustees (PDF)
3. Commitment letter from the institution’s president/chancellor (PDF) ·
Note: The president/chancellor’s commitment letter should include a
statement assuring that the institution will remain in the Achieving the Dream
network throughout the grant cycle should it be awarded a PRESS for
Completion grant.
4. Proposal narrative (PDF)
5. Budget Sheet (Excel Doc- Appendix B)
6. Additional partnership letters if applicable (PDF)
Walmart PRESS for Completion
Request for Proposals
Page 17
March 2012