Roueche Center Forum: Center for Community College Student Engagement Celebrates 20 Years

The Beginning

With generous support from Lumina Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) was developed in 2001 as a tool that community and technical colleges could use to systematically collect important information about their students’ educational experiences.

Linda L. GarcíaDr. John E. Roueche, former Community College Leadership Program director at The University of Texas at Austin and current executive director of the Kansas State University Community College Leadership Program, says, “We were proud of the good work that [the National Survey of Student Engagement] was doing with four-year institutions. Others began to think we needed to do the same for community and technical colleges. What happens in an open door college matters in terms of student success and graduation rates.”

Dr. Kay McClenney, founding CCCSE director; senior consultant to the president & CEO, American Association of Community Colleges; and senior fellow, National Center for Inquiry & Improvement, says, “We sought to promote transparency, accountability, and institutional improvement, and to serve as a spotlight for the field to identify those educational issues that community colleges have to contend with — the ones they already are facing and the ones that are coming to them — so we could illuminate effective educational practices in a way not previously available to the colleges.”

The National Advisory Board (NAB) has been a major contributor to CCCSE’s growth. Since the very beginning, NAB has provided guidance around the issues that community colleges encounter when addressing student success. Dr. Dan Phelan, president of Jackson College and current CCCSE board chair, says, “We come together with a thoughtful purpose and passion. We think about student engagement and helping students be successful. The board is committed to this work.”

Colleges around the country are committed to the work as well. The data collected from CCCSE survey instruments have become something many institutions depend on when creating strategic plans and working on improvement efforts. Dr. Sunita “Sunny” Cooke, MiraCosta College president, explains, “Only by truly listening to students can we really be sure that what we are intending to do and what our students are actually experiencing are aligned.”

The focus group work