Hollister
– Gavilan College ranks above average in student success among
similar community colleges, according to a report released this
week by the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community
Colleges.
Hollister – Gavilan College ranks above average in student success among similar community colleges, according to a report released this week by the Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges.
The “Accountability Reporting for the Community Colleges” was performed by an independent panel of college researchers. The study, released Thursday, compiled data on various indicators and compared the colleges with a group of identified “peer institutions.” The peer groups were decided based on a variety of environmental predictors, such as per capita income in the district and average math SAT scores.
The report compared all community colleges in California using six factors that were identified as indicators of student success rates. The indicators were student progress and achievement, the percent of students who completed at least 30 units, the “persistence rate” for students, the percent of course completion for vocational courses, the percent of course completion for basic skill courses and the improvement rate for basic skills classes.
The report also analyzed each school’s individual improvement.
In each indicator, Gavilan College outperformed its peer group average. The study also showed consistent internal improvement at Gavilan in all areas.
“We’re delighted to see that we’re outperforming our peer groups,” said Steven Kinsella, Gavilan’s college president. “This will allow us to have a benchmark to monitor continued improvement.”
Jamie Ashford, 19, is a student at Gavilan College. He has been there for four semesters, and plans to transfer to a four-year institution after the spring. He said he thinks Gavilan has prepared him and his classmates for their futures – whatever they may be.
“I think that the atmosphere at Gavilan, in removing the pressure from the need to go to a four-year institution, lends itself a lot more to actually get yourself to someplace you’ll be successful, and someplace you actually want to be,” Ashford said.
The report coincided with the release of another independent survey on the state of community colleges in California. This study, reported by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at California State University, Sacramento, found that only one-quarter of students at community colleges succeed in transferring to a four-year college or obtaining a two-year degree within six years.
Kinsella said the study on the state of community colleges makes a few good points, but misses the mission of community college.
“This perception that we have to send them all the way through the program to get an associate degree or transfer and get a bachelor’s degree is not necessarily what’s right for everyone,” Kinsella said.
He explained that many of the students at Gavilan are working adults who are taking classes in order to improve their workforce ability, and not necessarily pursuing a four-year degree.
Jan Bernstein Chargin, the director of public information at Gavilan, said the problem is that the study on community college success is looked at through the lens of a university.
Bernstein Chargin said many of the students who officially do not complete community college are still seen as successes at Gavilan College. She gives the example of a business owner who takes a class on management and uses it at his business, but does not re-enroll in the college.
“I’m not sure that the report takes those non-traditional needs into account,” she said.
Gavilan College represented the highest ranking score of its peer groups in completion rates for credit vocational courses. Kinsella said this is one of the areas the other study disregards, something he thinks ignores a primary purpose of community colleges. In completion of vocational courses, Gavilan averaged 85.6 percent, exceeding the peer group average of 73.8 percent.
Despite this small success, Gavilan College is still working on improving its scores in all areas. Kinsella said he hopes to continue to focus on early awareness of Gavilan college, to make sure students are aware of the option of community college at the high school level.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. You can reach her at 637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
