Four New Surveys Show Community College Student Success a Work in Progress - February 2, 2012

Four new, related Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) surveys offer a detailed view of what community colleges are doing to better understand how they can promote student success and how to bring those effective practices to scale. The CCCSE has released a report titled “A Matter of Degrees: Promising Practices for Community College Student Success,” which brings together survey responses from entering students, experienced students, faculty and institutions.

Results from the surveys reveal that, although much progress has been made, community colleges still face significant challenges, and a number of incongruities exist in the implementation of some of the most beneficial policies and procedures. For example, the Center’s new report raises questions such as the following:

How can colleges close the gap between student aspirations and results?

Survey data show that 79 percent of entering students aim to complete an associate degree; yet fewer than half (45 percent) of entering students who intend to earn an associate degree or certificate meet their goal within six years.

Can more students test out of developmental education?

74 percent of students report that they were required to take an academic placement test, but only 28 percent say they used materials or resources provided by the college to prepare for those tests. While 44 percent of participating colleges report offering some sort of test preparation, only 13 percent make test preparation mandatory.

Are students getting the academic support they need?

72 percent of students who took a placement test report that they needed developmental education, but 82 percent of students say they never participated in supplemental instruction and 76% say they never participated in tutoring. At the same time, 87 percent of participating colleges report that they offer supplemental instruction, but only 14 percent make it mandatory for developmental education students.

Does academic planning set students up for success?

42 percent of part-time students and 19 percent of full-time students work more than 30 hours per week. More than half care for dependents. But only 26 percent of entering students say a college staff member talked with them about their commitments outside of class to help them figure out how many courses to take.

According to Dr. Kay McClenney, CCCSE director, the report provides significant direction for community colleges. “These colleges have to do better? and they clearly can,” she says. “To make needed progress, colleges must focus their efforts on those educational practices that produce the greatest positive impact for largest possible numbers of students.”

Data sources for the report include results from the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE), the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (CCFSSE), plus preliminary findings from the newly-launched Community College Institutional Survey (CCIS).

The report is based on responses to the core student surveys from approximately 75,000 entering students (SENSE) and over 440,000 experienced students (CCSSE) in multi-year cohorts. The promising practices items, administered only in 2011, produced responses from about 35,000 entering students and from 130,000 to 230,000 experienced students, depending on item sets administered at each college. About 35,000 respondents are included in faculty survey results. The pilot administration of the institutional survey produced responses from 228 colleges.

The report is the first in a series exploring 13 promising practices for strengthening community college student engagement and success: assessment and placement, orientation, academic goal setting and planning, timely registration, accelerated or fast-track developmental education, first-year experience or seminar, student success course, learning community, class attendance, early academic alert and intervention, experiential learning beyond the classroom, tutoring, and supplemental instruction.

As part of the early stages of a multi-year Center initiative—Identifying and Promoting High- Impact Educational Practices in Community Colleges—the report also offers guidance to college administrators, faculty, and staff willing to take the next steps.

The report may be downloaded free of charge at www.cccse.org. The Center is a research and service initiative of the Community College Leadership Program in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin.

— Dr. Kay McClenney, Director of the CCCSE, 512-471-5228, kmmclenney@cccse.org
or Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-363-6520