What Constitutes Success in Postsecondary Education?

• In Event: 54.054 - Transition Factors Bridging Secondary and Postsecondary Career and Technical Education

Abstract

Current measures of outcomes are not always well aligned with the current felt needs of either students or society, and particularly for students in career and technical education. Customarily, colleges measure success in terms of the academic credentials their graduates receive within a given timeframe, such as earning certificates or degrees or, for two-year colleges, transfers to four-year institutions. Even employment-based outcome measures may be defined in terms of academic credentials (e.g., employment outcomes among those earning academic credentials, while ignoring other student). Using data from an evaluation of a consortium of 21 community colleges providing instruction in advanced manufacturing, we find multiple positive outcomes that are ignored by traditional measures.

Authors

• Bradford W. Chaney, Westat

• Rebecca Lake, William Rainey Harper College

• Meaghan Mingo, Westat