Institutional Research, Effectiveness, Planning and Grant Development

Accreditation is an important distinction of education quality in the realm of colleges and universities. According to the US Department of Education, the purpose of accreditation is to certify that the education given by institutions meet national standards of quality. Fundamentally, accreditation ensures that students are obtaining a quality education – and for future employers and graduate programs to recognize education at a specific standard. While accreditation is an essential component of institutional success and
sustainability, it has been considered an administrative procedure that focuses on compliance and not for institutional effectiveness. Therefore, recent participation in accreditation shows to be somewhat limited in warranting participation from faculty,
primarily at the two-year college level. The following study sought to define gaps within accreditation participation and identify solutions to support inclusiveness and contribution of faculty to the accreditation process.

The focus of the study was to determine if a difference existed with student academic level placement when utilizing traditional placement exams versus using high school performance metric multiple measure placement. Additionally, the study explored academic performance outcomes between similar populations that utilized the different placement instruments. The findings of the study showed that multiple measures assessments placed the majority of students higher in comparison with the traditional placement exams. Student academic history in the courses that students were placed into shows no difference in course success between students using multiple measures assessments and traditional placement exams.

A challenge faced by educational leaders is defining factors attributed to student attrition from application to college and enrollment in courses. The following study sought to identify reasons that influenced student decision not to enroll in a two-year public college. The findings from the study aligned with previous literature regarding barriers to enrollment in higher education institutions.