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VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 20

38 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD), COLLEGE OF EDUCATION,

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN + WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K, KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

Measuring Student and Institutional Effectiveness:
A Vocational Education Perspective

In this era of fiscal austerity, the demand for informa-
tion regarding institutional outcomes is increasing.
Measures of institutional effectiveness and quality are
gradually shifting from institutional attributes such as
faculty credentials, enrollment figures, teacher-to-student
ratios, quality of facilities, number of books in the library,
etc., to measures of economic outcomes and individual
“consumer” benefits. The increased vocationalizing of
higher education and the adoption of “marketing”
orientation (coupled with rising costs of education to the
consumer) have contributed to this shift.

A number of technical, vocational, and community
colleges are now assessing institutional outcomes based
on quantifiable attributes, such as the number of students
who find jobs after graduation, the number of students
who find training-related employment, the number of
students off public assistance after graduation, the in-
crease in students’ earning power, and the program
transfer effectiveness. In addition to these quantitative
indicators, other qualitative indicators that are receiving
increased attention are the extent to which students use
their education to improve their quality of life and per-
sonal development after college.

Alberta Vocational College (AVC) Lac La Biche con-
ducts three surveys to measure student and institution
effectiveness: (a) point-of-entry, (b) point-of-leaving, and
(c) follow-up.

Point-of-Entry (POE) Survey

The first study surveys entering students on the
premise that the first step in assessing institutional
outcomes is to examine the mission and mandate of the
college. With this caveat in mind, the point-of-entry
survey assesses whether the college is meeting its mandate
of providing educational opportunities and enhancing
educational access and participation for its target popula-
tion.

A self-completion questionnaire is administered in the
first weck of September. The survey provides a beginning
student database to assess and evaluate a variety of issues
related to the college mission and mandate:

e Demographics: age, sex, marital status, and other
background information;

Employment status prior to coming to AVC;
Sources of information about AVC;

Sources of financial aid;

Program of study;

Residence while attending AVC;

Factors affecting a student's decision to attend AVC
Lac La Biche;

¢ What students like and dislike about the college.

Point-of-Leaving (POL) Survey

While the point-of-entry survey is designed to collect
information on student background, the point-of-leaving
survey is tailored to examine college experience of pro-
spective graduates.

As the name suggests, this survey is carried out
annually two weeks before the end of each full-time
program. The survey is administered in class to all
graduating students by the Department of Planning,
Research, and Development. It examines whether stu-
dents achieved their academic goals at the college, by
soliciting students’ perceptions of their training, employ-
ment prospects, and future educational plans.

Objectives of this survey are:

¢ To provide information about the perceptions and
problems of students before they graduate;

¢ Toassess how well students are prepared to meet
the challenges of the employment marketplace;

* To better understand the type of image the gradu-
ates of AVC take with them to the labour market;

* To obtain a comparative analysis of students’
perception of their training before and after gradua-
tion;

e To understand the perceived job information needs
of students;

¢ Tocollect basic information necessary for future
student follow-up studies;

¢ To gather information on student's perception of
their instructors.

 

 

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)

& Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educational Administration

College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712