The Harold Lounge

Back in 2006 or so, I distinctly remember a presentation that Keenan did to the Chairs about the percentage of HW and CCC students who “achieved a positive outcome.” Students were asked more specific questions than PeopleSoft does about their intent, and then they were tracked for six years, I think. I remember being astonished by the research and amazed that it wasn’t being hyped–in my fuzzy memory, I thought the report  close to 80% of the students who came in, left with a positive outcome (and I thought I remembered categories like completion, transfer, retention/still going, and those who “got what they came for” if they came for personal interest. I also thought there was a category for those who left or stopped out, but were in good academic standing at the time, after completing a successful semester (the idea being that their personal circumstances posed some kind of obstacle to their continuing), and a category for those who left after an unsuccessful semester (which would have been the ones who did not achieve a positive outcome).

I’ve been combing my files on and off, in 8 minute bursts here and there, looking for the handout that Keenan gave us, but to no avail. I haven’t been up to ask Keenan for it, because, well, I don’t want to put her in a bind and my description would be so vague that it probably wouldn’t be helpful. And then somebody struck gold.

A friend of mine was poking around the Intranet and ended up in corners that I have not yet visited (please note: that link will only work while you are on campus, connected to the network). She wandered into this and this, and then she sent them to me.

They have some great stuff in there. For example:

Community college student outcomes should not be reported in a fragmented manner. Due to the multiple educational and career goals of these students, the use of multiple and comprehensive measures is essential to document the achievement of these goals.

And then there’s this:

Total Positive               DA               HW             KK                MX               OH           TR             WR                CCC
Outcomes                      65.0%         71.3%         54.9%        55.0%         61.7%     71.1%       73.8%            66.7%
(Unduplicated)*

And there’s more, too. And, please note, this is all available (and more!) on the CCC Intranet. Their own research and data shows that the reinvention numbers are but one look at how successful we are at serving students. It is undeniably true, as I’ve said before, that they can and should be improved, but they clearly do not tell the whole story.

So, take a look at this stuff and then tell me: What do you think? What do you know? What can you prove?