Access Is Equity: A Call for More Accurate Community College Assessment

Autor/inn/en	Hodes, Jacqueline S.; McLaughlin, Jeffrey; Ocean, Mia
Titel	Access Is Equity: A Call for More Accurate Community College Assessment
Quelle	In: About Campus, 24 (2019) 5, S.26-29 (4 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Hodes, Jacqueline S.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1086-4822
DOI	10.1177/1086482220901811
Schlagwörter	Stellungnahme; Community Colleges; Access to Education; Equal Education; College Outcomes Assessment; Accountability; Evaluation Methods + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Community college; Community College; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Verantwortung
Abstract	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. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	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://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01