The Relationship between Access and Success

The buzz around community colleges as of late is the shift from an access mission to a completion mission. A number of books and articles have put forth the thesis that accessing college without completing college may well leave the student and society (e.g. taxpayers) worse off than if the student never attended college in the first place. Common arguments in support of this completion over access thesis include the abysmal completion rates of students enrolled in remedial coursework and the ethical challenges of allowing students to access Federal Student Aid (including loans) when we know that their statistical likelihood of completion is extremely low.

I extend my kudos to any critical thinker that makes a legitimate and honest effort to challenge the long-standing conventions and norms of any institution. Whether the completion over access thesis is right or wrong, it certainly problematizes the status quo in community colleges. For that reason, I am all ears.

My primary concern with the completion over access thesis is that it expediently papers over the many socio-economic structures that deter the academic preparation of our most vulnerable student populations (low-income, first-generation, minority, immigrants, et cetera). It places the onus of success or failure squarely on the shoulders of the particular student in a particular place at a particular time as he or she prepares to enter college. But what have we as a community and society done to support the academic preparation of this student in the previous 18+ years? Probably not enough.

My institution seeks the tenuous balance that supports both access and success. We have placed certain restrictions on access to remedial coursework and student loans while attempting to strengthen pre-collegiate partnerships and summer bridge experiences. We have moved forward on using learning analytics to prioritize resources toward students in the "murky middle" that stand to benefit most from the additional support. We have worked diligently to provide the best possible institutional environment for the students that come to our doors while accepting that many student barriers are beyond our control. All in all, it is a game of priorities and compromises. 

At the end of the day, we all must answer the normative question for ourselves: what is gained and what is lost when completion outweighs access? What is student success?

Your Data Experience: Empowering or Paralyzing?

I see data as being used in three primary ways: to account, to inform, and to no end.

I manage a program that is funded by a Federal grant that is part of a division that is part of an institution that is part of a system that is part of the State. Lest we forget, there is also the accrediting body and the U.S. Department of Education. All of these different parties want to see data to account for the success of my program. Are you doing what you say you are doing? Are you following our rules?

I am a self-proclaimed data wonk. I am seduced by the romantic charm of using data to make smart and efficient decisions based on predictive, formative and summative assessment. I am much more comfortable with crisp and clean judgment as opposed to amorphous and transient feeling. To evaluate is divine! I use data in many ways to inform how we do things in my program...and the results are significant.

I believe in the merits of using data to account and to inform. Yet, the view from the trenches often sees data usage masquerading as one of these purposes when in reality its usage is to no end. I will admit that I am often the one beating the drum: data, data, we need more data! But a sea of data can just as well drown as transport. The usage of data can just as well paralyze an organization as it can empower an organization.

How can we best approach the use of data?

One strategy is data prioritization. Those in higher education are familiar with academic prioritization: a systematic review and – hopefully – dialogue focused on aligning programs with the mission and vision of the institution. We need to be doing something similar with our data regimes in higher education. What are the key uses of data according to our mission and vision? What are the most potent and focused data indicators to achieve these purposes? What data usage must we elevate and what can we let go?

A second strategy is to prioritize people. “Results are an effect; people are the cause,” write Vannoy and Ross.* The people of the institution are on the front lines day in and day out, using data to account, to inform, and to no end. How do our data usage strategies meld with their workflow? How clear and straightforward are our data  usage strategies? Do people see our data usage strategies as helpful or hindering? And – we need to be honest – how much of our data usage is to no end?

“Culture eats strategy for lunch,” the authors continue.

As noted, I love data. Yet, in my everyday work with my program and students, my data usage wavers somewhere in the middle ground between empowering and paralyzing. I can only imagine the experience of folks who do not love data. There is a way forward, and it is worth pursuing, but we have work to do.

*Vannoy, S., & Ross, C. (2008). Stomp the Elephant in the Office. Lakewood: Wisters & Willows, Publishers Inc.