As soon as they walk through the door, new community college students should see an advisor who will help chart the path students need to follow to achieve their educational goals, but that’s only happening for half of the students, say researchers from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, which is releasing a new report today that provides a blueprint for community college student success.=
The new report from CCSSE, based at the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin, highlights key finding from five years of research on the educational experiences of community college students. The report, “Committing to Student Engagement,” offers strategies that work in college efforts to improve student learning and retention.
Community colleges must act intentionally to better retain students and increase the likelihood that they will succeed, by promoting a culture of high expectations and instituting policies that encourage, if not require, faculty-student interaction and student engagement. “Engagement doesn’t happen by accident; it happens by design,” says Dr. Kay McClenney, CCSSE director.
Researchers, who conducted last spring a survey of 310,000 students from more than 520 institutions, say success requires a well-researched approach.
Among their recommendations: community colleges captivate students at the “front door,” during the first four weeks of a student’s academic career. The survey shows that fewer than half of students met with an adviser to discuss education goals in the first four weeks of college, and more than a third of students did not complete an assessment test for course placement by the end of their first four weeks of college.
Nearly one-third of entering students did not attend an orientation course. Among students who attended an orientation course, slightly more than one-third say they were very satisfied with their experience. Some 89 percent of the respondents said that academic advising and planning were somewhat or very important. The report concludes that successfully completing the first semester of college improves students’ chances of attaining further milestones.
Community colleges should also provide resources for part-time students, whose issues typically go unaddressed. Attending college part-time puts students at greater risk of not attaining their educational goals. Only 15 percent of part-time students complete a degree or certificate six years after enrolling compared with 64 percent of full time students who earned a degree or certificate within six years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
