Report: “Engagement Rising: A Decade of CCSSE Data Shows Improvements Across the Board”
Organization:
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Report: “Engagement Rising: A Decade of CCSSE Data Shows Improvements Across the Board”
Organization: Center for Community College Student Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin
Summary: Today’s community college-students are more likely to come to class prepared, participate in class presentations, and discuss career plans with their instructors and advisers, according to a report that compares the engagement levels of nearly two million students at 853 colleges in 2004 and 2014.
The report measures student engagement by looking at several broad categories: active and collaborative learning, student effort, academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, and support for students. It breaks down responses among full-time and part-time students, and developmental (those needing at least one remedial class) and college-level students.
Comparing responses from 2004 and 2014, the researchers found that:
The center’s director, Evelyn N. Waiwaiole, says colleges are benefiting from an outpouring of support and data from groups dedicated to improving success rates at community colleges.
“Student demographics have remained relatively stable during this time period, so the rise in engagement is not likely the result of who is attending college,” the report says, “but instead the result of intentional change in policy and practice at colleges across the country.”
Bottom Line: At a time when community colleges are facing heightened expectations and intense scrutiny over their completion rates, improvements in student engagement would be expected to lead to higher completion rates.
It’s not clear that’s happening, but researchers hope the data provided by the student-engagement center and other national groups will help colleges create environments where more students can succeed.
