Data Use in the Community College E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: J-B IR Single Issue Institutional Research
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 200

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

American community colleges represent a true success story. Withtheir multiple missions, they have provided access and opportunityto millions of students. But community colleges are heldaccountable for their services and must be able to show that theyare indeed serving their variety of students appropriately. This volume speaks of the multiplicity of data required to tellthe community college story. The authors explore and detail howvarious sources--workforce data, market data, state-leveldata, federal data, and, of course, institutional data such astranscript files--all have something to say about the life ofa community college. Much like an orchestral score, where thedifferent parts played by individual instruments become music underthe hands of a conductor, these data can be coordinated andassembled into a message that answers questions of student successand institutional effectiveness. This is the 153rd volume of this Jossey-Bassquarterly report series. Always timely and comprehensive, NewDirections for Institutional Research provides planners andadministrators in all types of academic institutions withguidelines in such areas as resource coordination, informationanalysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

About AIR

EDITORS’ NOTES

Chapter 1: Using Labor Market Information in Program Development and Evaluation

Uses of Data

Sources of Data

Challenges of Labor Market Data for the Institutional Researcher

Conclusion

Chapter 2: Data Drives Success: Defining a Metric for Developmental Studies

Developmental Education in Context

A Metric for Developmental Studies

Conclusion

Chapter 3: GED and Other Noncredit Courses: The Other Side of the Community College

Noncredit Programs: A Path Ahead for Students Left Behind

A Brief History and Background of the GED

Data Issues for GED and Other Noncredit Programs

Noncredit to Credit: GED to Community College Data in Iowa

Implications for Policy and Research

Chapter 4: Surveys and Benchmarks

What Makes Community Colleges Different?

Surveys

Benchmarks

Benefits and Costs of Surveys and Benchmarks

Uses of Data

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Using Data to Optimize Community College Marketing

Marketing from an Enrollment Management Perspective

Data Efficacy in Marketing Decisions

Data Sources

Data Application to Marketing Decisions: Examples

Measuring Success: Marketing Metrics for the Community College

Chapter 6: Improving Consumer Information for Higher Education Planning

Identifying the Need for Better Information

The Virginia Education Wizard

Discussion

Epilogue

Chapter 7: Understanding the Workforce Outcomes of Education

Data Availability

Linkages

Metrics

Challenges

Analytical Assumptions and Realities

Conclusion

Chapter 8: Final Words

The Accountability Movement

Understaffed Institutional Research Offices

Reporting Versus Research

Fugitive Literature

Professional Development

Commonalities with Institutional Research in Four-Year Colleges and Universities

Final Observation

Index

OTHER TITLES AVAILABLE IN THE NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH SERIES

DATA USE IN THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Christopher M. Mullin, Trudy Bers, and Linda Serra Hagedorn (eds.)

New Directions for Institutional Research, no. 153

Paul D. Umbach, Editor-in-Chief

Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company

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NEW DIRECTIONS FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH (ISSN 0271-0579, electronic ISSN 1536-075X) is part of The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series and is published quarterly by Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company, at Jossey-Bass, One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, California 94104-4594 (publication number USPS 098-830). Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, California, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Directions for Institutional Research, Jossey-Bass, One Montgomery Street, Suite 1200, San Francisco, California 94104-4594.

SUBSCRIPTIONS cost $109 for individuals and $297 for institutions, agen- cies, and libraries in the United States. See order form at end of book.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE should be sent to Paul D. Umbach, Leadership, Policy and Adult and Higher Education, North Carolina State University, Poe 300, Box 7801, Raleigh, NC 27695-7801.

New Directions for Institutional Research is indexed in Academic Search (EBSCO), Academic Search Elite (EBSCO), Academic Search Premier (EBSCO), CIJE: Current Index to Journals in Education (ERIC), Contents Pages in Education (T&F), EBSCO Professional Development Collection (EBSCO), Educational Research Abstracts Online (T&F), ERIC Database (Education Resources Information Center), Higher Education Abstracts (Claremont Graduate University), Multicultural Education Abstracts (T&F), Sociology of Education Abstracts (T&F).

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ISBN: 9781118388075

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ISBN: 9781118438367 (mobi)

THE ASSOCIATION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH was created in 1966 to benefit, assist, and advance research leading to improved understanding, planning, and operation of institutions of higher education. Publication policy is set by its Publications Committee.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Gary R. Pike (Chair)

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis

Gloria Crisp

University of Texas at San Antonio

Paul Duby

Northern Michigan University

James Hearn

University of Georgia

Terry T. Ishitani

University of Memphis

Jan W. Lyddon

San Jacinto Community College

John R. Ryan

The Ohio State University

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

John Muffo (Editor, Assessment in the Disciplines), Ohio Board of Regents

John C. Smart (Editor, Research in Higher Education), University of Memphis

Richard D. Howard (Editor, Resources in Institutional Research), University of Minnesota

Paul D. Umbach (Editor, New Directions for Institutional Research), North Carolina State University

Marne K. Einarson (Editor, AIR Electronic Newsletter), Cornell University

Gerald W. McLaughlin (Editor, AIR Professional File/IR Applications), DePaul University

Richard J. Kroc II (Chair, Forum Publications Committee), University of Arizona

Sharron L. Ronco (Chair, Best Visual Presentation Committee), Florida Atlantic University

Randy Swing (Staff Liaison)

For information about the Association for Institutional Research, write to the following address:

AIR Executive Office

1435 E. Piedmont Drive

Suite 211

Tallahassee, FL 32308-7955

[phone]

[email protected]

http://airweb.org

EDITORS’ NOTES

Community colleges have multiple missions. Perhaps the most well known of these missions are the transfer and career and technical education (CTE) functions. This may be due to the history of community colleges, which were originally known as either “junior colleges,” providing the first two years of a liberal arts postsecondary education, or technical education institutions, focused on preparing students for the workforce. However, the understanding of community colleges is often blurred by the fact that data collection and reporting for community colleges is embedded in broader efforts that encompass all sectors of higher education, including research universities and liberal arts colleges. Common measures that receive significant visibility, such as graduation rates, may be less salient for community colleges, while other measures particularly important for community colleges, such as preparation for the workplace, have received less attention. As the chapters in this issue make clear, this is changing.

Even as national initiatives are beginning to make the story of community colleges more visible, some of the richest insights into community colleges come from data that institutions collect and use internally. The visibility and importance of institutional research in the community college has grown in the past few years due to accountability pressures and national initiatives placing the spotlight on student success. This volume of New Directions for Institutional Research provides an enhanced perspective of programs the community colleges offer, with a focus on how institutions are accessing, collecting, and using data to improve student success specifically and institutional effectiveness more generally.

The first three chapters of this issue focus on collecting and using data to inform institutional decisions that affect program development and effectiveness. Chapter One, “Using Labor Market Information in Program Development and Evaluation,” by Anna M. Lebesch, examines the data available to inform institutional decision making with respect to program offerings, especially in career and technical education. It closes with a discussion of the challenges associated with making the data useful and recommendations to overcome them. In Chapter Two, Anita Polk-Conley and John Squires examine student success for developmental studies students in “Data Drives Success: Defining a Metric for Developmental Studies.” Building upon the work of other scholars, they propose a metric to determine success in developmental studies. In Chapter Three, Andrew J. Ryder and Linda Serra Hagedorn examine noncredit offerings through the lens of the General Equivalency Diploma program. The chapter, “GED and Other Noncredit Courses: The Other Side of the Community College,” highlights the magnitude of noncredit offerings by community colleges and the need for more robust data to understand this population of students independently and in concert with credit-based data. In Chapter Four, “Surveys and Benchmarks,” Trudy Bers discusses the use of surveys and benchmarking on community college campuses to identify areas for improvement and monitor effectiveness.

The next three chapters examine how colleges can collect data and use data to inform them about the services they provide and to inform external audiences of the outcomes and opportunities provided by the colleges. Craig A. Clagett identifies how colleges can use data to optimize a college marketing campaign in Chapter Five, “Using Data to Optimize Community College Marketing.” In Chapter Six, “Improving Consumer Information for Higher Education Planning,” M. Craig Herndon describes how the Virginia Community College System foundation developed an online, interactive tool to provide consumer information to potential students and to assist students in making decisions that will lead to better outcomes. In Chapter Seven, “Understanding the Workforce Outcomes of Education,” Christopher M. Mullin provides an overview of the workforce data available to measure the labor market outcomes of education.

The issue closes with a chapter by Trudy Bers “Final Words,” that offers observations about institutional research in community colleges raised by previous chapters and the experiences of the issue editors.

Christopher M. MullinTrudy BersLinda Serra HagedornEditors

CHRISTOPHER M. MULLIN serves as program director for policy analysis of the American Association of Community Colleges.

TRUDY BERS is executive director of research, curriculum, and planning at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois.

LINDA SERRA HAGEDORN is the associate dean of the College of Human Sciences and professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University.

1

Using Labor Market Information in Program Development and Evaluation

Anna M. Lebesch

In addition to describing various sources of labor market data, this chapter examines how community college administrators and faculty use labor market information in the development and evaluation of career and technical education (CTE) degrees and certificate programs.