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Benchmarks
Beginning with these 2003 survey results — CCSSE’s
first national administration — CCSSE is reporting survey
results in terms of five national benchmarks
of effective educational practice. The introduction of these benchmarks
creates unprecedented opportunities for community colleges —
and for their students, their communities, and policymakers, all
of whom have a stake in quality higher education. For the first
time, community colleges have the ability to examine their performance
in areas critical to the quality of teaching and learning —
and to compare their performance to similar institutions as well
as to community colleges nationally.
The benchmarks are tools that community colleges can use to:
- convert data into useful information;
- compare their performance to that of similar institutions,
to the aspirations of their own faculty and staff, and to the
full CCSSE population of community colleges;
- compare their own performance across benchmarks;
- identify areas in need of improvement and monitor the effects
of improvement initiatives; and
- track their progress toward identified institutional goals.
Because the results are public, benchmarks also can stimulate
conversation — within colleges and among policymakers —
about effective educational practice.
The five benchmarks of effective educational practice are active
and collaborative learning, student
effort, academic challenge,
student-faculty interaction, and support
for learners. Learn more about benchmarks.
Click on each benchmark for key findings. To see means and frequencies
for survey items associated with each benchmark (or for any particular
survey item), or if you would like to create your own customized
data search, go to "Search the Data."
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