How should colleges determine whether students are placed into developmental or college-level courses? Each year, colleges place millions of students into developmental math and English courses upon enrollment. To do so, colleges most often use a high-stakes placement test, which numerous research studies have shown to be highly inaccurate in…

This chapter discusses the importance and common challenges of evaluating community college student success efforts; it includes a broad-based framework for carrying out effective evaluations.

The program review process described in this report was developed at Anchorage Community College (ACC) after 3 years of experimentation and adjustment. Following a brief overview of the factors that instigated the effort, the report sets forth the assumptions and definitions underpinning the review process. Next, a series of suggestions are…

This study proposed to identify and report current programs of student follow-up at 16 Illinois and 24 non-Illinois public junior colleges. Plans and recommendations are given for improving follow-up programs in Illinois. The author concluded that (1) the purpose of follow-up is to evaluate and improve the institution's performance; (2)…

Background/Context: Although the importance of facilitating transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions is almost universally accepted, there is little consensus on how to measure transfer success or evaluate policies aimed at assisting students in making this educational transition. Despite the increasing attention on transfer in…

The portfolio approach to evaluation can be a useful method of screening and comparing educational programs in terms of their productivity and potential. In the field of investments, portfolio analysis consists of identifying the relative strengths of assets in terms of the dimensions of return and potential for growth. College programs can be…

Various aspects of the goals and processes of the evaluation of remedial programs are discussed in this paper. The first section discussses assumptions related to remedial program evaluation in California's community colleges and highlights two perspectives, based on whether the remedial programs satisfy internal and/or external criteria. Next, a…

This document applies Dr. Mehar Aurora's method for conducting cost benefit studies to the Food Manufacturing Technology-Dairy and the Food Manufacturing Technology-Canning and Freezing programs offered by the Moraine Park Technical Institute. Costs to individual students enrolled in the programs include tuition, fees, housing, travel, books,…

Describes a program that will help college students by directing them towards meaningful, clearly understandable, short range goals, and by helping them gain control over important aspects of their spelling problems. (CRH)

The report describes the Instructional Program Review Process at Austin Community College (Texas). The report includes program review process timeline and schedule. The Instructional Program Review Process focuses on issues of need, cost, and effectiveness of instructional programs. It provides for identification of improvements, includes…

A description is provided of Tennessee's Volunteer State Community College's (VSCC's) approach to defining the goals, expected outcomes, and assessment procedures of individual courses, utilizing teacher-developed course instruction manuals and standardized course syllabi. Introductory material explains why and how the approach was developed,…

Presents ERIC abstracts in the areas of alternative methods for defining institutional mission and goals, and techniques for measuring educational outcomes. (MB)

Describes the process used to evaluate the writing across the curriculum (WAC) program in the Minnesota Community College System, focusing on evaluation components (i.e., workshop surveys, faculty and student surveys, faculty interviews, student compositions, and subject experiments). Considers programmatic and evaluation coordination. Reviews…

The Research, Planning and Development Office of Milwaukee Area Technical College has developed a program evaluation procedure that quantitatively assesses 13 variables considered to be important indicators of program viability. These variables are used in three separate stages of the program evaluation: program monitoring, in-depth program…

After noting the lack of attention paid to the evaluation of staff development programs in practice and in the literature, this monograph presents a conceptual framework for planning program evaluations. The monograph first discusses the purposes of staff development evaluation and then considers three prerequisites for the development of an…