ERIC Number: EJ1245798
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1086-4822
EISSN: N/A
Access Is Equity: A Call for More Accurate Community College Assessment
Hodes, Jacqueline S.; McLaughlin, Jeffrey; Ocean, Mia
About Campus, v24 n5 p26-29 Nov-Dec 2019
Over the past 10 to 15 years, as the nation has discussed the high cost of a college education and the worth of the college degree and experience, community college has become a first-choice experience for many traditional college-aged students. Assessment and accountability occupy center stage in current discussions of higher education, and holding community colleges accountable is reasonable. What is not reasonable however is to hold community colleges accountable using university-based assessments. When state and federal assessments are developed, community colleges need the voice, perspective, and mission of community colleges to be thoughtfully included. This article contends that when the community college voice is missing from the assessment conversation, both the student and the community college that serves them are marginalized and undervalued. When these inaccurate assessments are linked to budget dollars, this quickly becomes an equity issue. In an effort to understand whether current tools accurately rate the effectiveness of community colleges, the Perceptions of Community College Assessment survey was developed. The survey was sent to community college employees in the United States who had the responsibility for administering or assisting in the administration of state and federal community college assessments. Just under 200 employees completed the survey during the fall of 2017. Overall, results show that the respondents did not have faith in the current assessment measures. Right now, the community college is a catch-all when it comes to serving students, but those assessments serve as a sieve only capturing a fraction of the important work they do in our communities. The authors argue that the current assessment reporting undervalues the clear and significant outcomes of community colleges and call for a change to the tools, the proverbial yardstick for assessing the success of community colleges.
Descriptors: Community Colleges, Access to Education, Equal Education, College Outcomes Assessment, Accountability, Evaluation Methods
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2814
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Two Year Colleges
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A