Indicators and Measures of Successful Community Colleges. A Report to the 59th Annual CACC Convention, November 1988.

A study was conducted by the California Association of Community Colleges (CACC) to determine the perceptions of several constituency groups concerning the relative success of California's community colleges. The study sought to identify indicators of institutional success and appropriate measures for each indicator. Surveys conducted at the 1987 CACC Convention and the April 1988 CACC Research Conference solicited information from a total of 34 students, 95 trustees, 179 faculty members, 163 college administrators, and 91 district administrators. Study findings included the following: (1) faculty effectiveness, positive faculty/student relationships, and student satisfaction with the quality of instruction were considered the most important indicators of quality; (2) process measures were considered more important than outcomes measures; (3) all groups rated faculty effectiveness as the most important indicator in both surveys, except the 1988 student respondents who rated student satisfaction with services as most important; and (4) measures for faculty effectiveness were identified as course retention rates, student achievement of stated course objectives, and student perceptions of faculty effectiveness. The survey instruments are included. (AJL)