To be eligible for Leader College distinction, colleges must demonstrate commitment to and progress on four principles:
- Committed leadership,
- Use of evidence to improve programs and services,
- Broad engagement, and
- Systemic institutional improvement.
They must also show three years of sustained improvement of student success on at least one of the following measures of performance:
- Completion of certificates or degrees,
- Term-to-term and year-to-year retention,
- Completion of college-level math and English courses,
- Advancement from developmental to credit-bearing courses and/or course completion.
Seven Pennsylvania community colleges have been given the Leader College distinction. Below is information from Achieving the Dream about why each college was selected.