In this brief, Kaylan Baxter talks about the potentially transformative role of two connected units less commonly associated with racial justice: institutional research (IR) and institutional effectiveness (IE). Institutional research (IR) consists of a wide-ranging set of tasks conducted in support of the decision-making processes of various…

Surveys and benchmarks continue to grow in importance for community colleges in response to several factors. One is the press for accountability, that is, for colleges to report the outcomes of their programs and services to demonstrate their quality and prudent use of resources, primarily to external constituents and governing boards at the state…

The increasing demand of constituents to conduct analyses in order to help inform the decision-making process has led to the need for Institutional Research (IR) guidelines for community college educators. One method of maintaining the quality of research conducted by IR staff is to include professional development about ethics. This article…

Among the diverse and varied missions of community colleges is the provision of instruction for students who have either been underserved by their previous educational institutions or not had the opportunity to complete high school. Included under this umbrella are low-performing high school students, individuals with low basic skills, and those…

In 2004, West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) in Paducah, Kentucky committed to participating in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) for a period of three consecutive years. The decision to participate in CCSSE was made at the administrative level to provide benchmarking data for the institution's upcoming…

Faced with growing pressure to demonstrate student success and achieve financial stability, community colleges have increasingly turned to enrollment management. Using Bronx Community College as an example, this chapter examines the role institutional research can play in the enrollment management process.

This chapter examines lessons learned by states that are using student unit record (SUR) data to improve outcomes for community college students and recommends steps states can take to strengthen their use of SUR databases to benefit students and communities. (Contains 1 exhibit.)

Research that has traditionally supported program accreditation has tended to be primarily descriptive in nature, focusing on outcomes such as the satisfaction of graduates and passing rates on licensure exams. The study reported here illustrates how research employing multivariate methodologies can go beyond such descriptive reporting to address…