Community Colleges Raise the Bar for Performance Standards
Colleges still great for North Carolina businesses
RALEIGH - Perfect.
That’s the score North Carolina’s community colleges earned from business in the 2008 Critical Success Factors report, as all 58 community colleges met or exceeded stringent requirements for client satisfaction with customized training.
Exceptional.
That’s the designation earned by seven North Carolina community colleges who met the challenge of new, improved, and much tougher Performance Measures in the annual reporting process required by the General Assembly. Those colleges are: Bladen (Dublin), Coastal Carolina (Jacksonville), Sandhills (Pinehurst), Southwestern (Sylva), Wayne (Goldsboro), Western Piedmont (Morganton), and Wilkes (Wilkesboro). Their reward for reaching this level is to split all college budget funds that are returned to the System Office after all the bills are paid.
The full report, the 2008 Critical Success Factors, is a compilation of assessments of the 58 comprehensive community colleges on indicators of service provided during the 2006-07 academic year. This reporting is part of the strict accountability requirements of the General Assembly. They are valid indicators that enable the General Assembly to assess how well the NCCCS is doing its job. Five areas are covered: Student Success, Workforce Development, Diverse Populations Learning Needs, Resources, and Technology.
Performance Measures assessing core indicators of student success make up the largest part of the Critical Success Factors. This year, indicators show that the customized training provided to students by every one of the 58 colleges met or exceeded the expectations of the businesses that employ those trained. Also, the students at 56 colleges were more than satisfied with the academic programs offered there.
This is the eighth year that the Critical Success Factors Report has included designation of top-performing institutions. From 2001 through 2007, colleges had the opportunity to earn “superior rankings” and, in some years, financial benefits. The first year, only five ranked as “superior,” but performance improved steadily, with 38 earning the title in 2007.
Recognizing the need to “raise the bar” to spur continued improvement, the State Board of Community Colleges received from the General Assembly permission to modify the requirements. Previously, colleges had to meet six core indicators of the 12 performance standards to be deemed “superior.” Working with representatives from the colleges, the State Board changed the designation to “exceptional institutional performance,” refined the standards to reduce the number to eight, established the requirement that colleges meet or exceed all eight and imposed two additional criteria for “exceptional” status -- 87 percent of their students who transferred to University of North Carolina institutions had to perform as well as “native” UNC sophomores and juniors within a designated time and, for each licensure or certification exam for which the college had the responsibility for verifying a student as being prepared for the exam, 70 percent or more of their students who took licensure or certification exams had to pass the first time they took them.
Other areas measured include the progress of Basic Skills students, the passing rates of students taking developmental courses, the success rates of developmental students taking college level courses, and the retention, graduation and transfer rates of curriculum students.
Fifteen colleges met or exceeded all eight performance standards this year, even with the changes. Four of those colleges are missing data in two areas, but they were not penalized because the problem was at the System Office, not the college.
A complete chart with outcomes is attached.
The complete 2008 Critical Success Factors Report is available on the NC Community College System Web page at: http://www.nccommunitycolleges.edu/Publications/docs/Publications/csf2008.pdf. The report is filled with comprehensive information about the Community College System in several areas including workforce development statistics, diverse population learning needs, technology, and System resources.
The NC Community College System enrolls more than 800,000 students in 58 comprehensive community colleges. Internationally recognized for the scope and quality of its programs, the system is North Carolina's primary provider of workforce preparation and adult education.
Last modified:
Thursday, June 26, 2008 02:50:34 PM
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