ABSTRACT

Assessment, accountability, and transparency represent a greater focus than ever in higher education. Community colleges are not exempt from these requirements, though they are overlooked in the creation of state and national assessment instruments. Therefore, we designed and distributed the Perceptions of Community College Assessment (PCCA) survey, a national mixed methods survey of the perceptions of community college employees (N = 198) who administer or assist in the administration of state and federal community college assessments. Respondents reported low confidence in the accuracy of existing assessment measures used at the state (e.g., performance-based funding measures) and federal (e.g., the College Scorecard) levels. Respondents believed much of the work of community colleges is not captured in existing external assessments which can lead to inaccurate educational data overall. Based on our findings, we recommend that existing federal and state assessment measures be reevaluated, and the classifications of community colleges be expanded to reflect the realities and complexities of modern day community colleges. We further recommend that community college leaders be provided an opportunity to actively assist in the creation of new measures and classifications based on their in the field expertise. Through this research, we seek to educate state and federal decision makers and to provide a tool for community college leaders to advocate for policy and practical changes in the accountability systems used to assess community colleges.

摘要

评估、问责制和透明度在高等教育中比以往任何时候都更加关注。社区学院也不能免除这些要求，尽管它们在创建州和国家评估工具时被忽视了。因此，我们设计并分发了社区大学评估感知 (PCCA) 调查，这是一项针对社区大学员工感知的全国混合方法调查 ( N= 198）谁管理或协助管理州和联邦社区大学评估。受访者表示对州（例如，基于绩效的资助措施）和联邦（例如，大学记分卡）级别使用的现有评估措施的准确性信心不足。受访者认为，社区学院的大部分工作并未包含在现有的外部评估中，这可能导致整体教育数据不准确。根据我们的调查结果，我们建议重新评估现有的联邦和州评估措施，并扩大社区学院的分类以反映现代社区学院的现实和复杂性。我们进一步建议为社区学院领导提供机会，根据他们在该领域的专业知识，积极协助制定新的措施和分类。通过这项研究，我们寻求教育州和联邦决策者，并为社区大学领导者提供一种工具，以倡导在用于评估社区大学的问责制中进行政策和实际变革。