How Effective Are We?

  
   

We know we’re good, but how good?Institutional Effectiveness Measures, adopted by the College in 2001, provide an excellent benchmark for measuring Cuesta’s progress. The majority of the measures mirror the Partnership for Excellence goals. 

Here are some of the major findings:

  • Although the California Community College system has increased significantly in enrollment since 1995-1996, the total number of transfers to the UC and CSU has remained relatively constant.  During 2002-2003, Cuesta’s number of transfers to CSU dropped and the UC transfers increased.  The number of students transferring to private colleges is unknown; however, a substantial number of students have enrolled in University Partner programs.
  • The number of Cuesta’s transfer prepared students increased slightly and it is likely that the college will meet the transfer prepared goal in 2005-2006.  The college’s trend line mirrors that of the System.
  • Cuesta College awarded more Associate degrees last year than the previous year and the System did also; however, there was little change in the number of certificates granted at Cuesta and in the System.
  • The number of students declaring transfer as their initial goal has increased slightly however, it is still significantly less than it was in the mid-1990’s. The number of students declaring degree attainment as their goal has continued to steadily decrease since 1999-2000.
  • Successful course completion in transferable courses has increased steadily since 2000-2001, whereas successful course completion has decreased slightly in both basic skills and vocational courses.
  • Student course success continues to vary by ethnicity with African American students having a statistically significant lower rate of success than all other groups of students.
  • Cuesta students complete advanced and clearly vocational/occupational courses at a significantly better rate than the System.  Cuesta has currently exceeded the College target for 2005-2006 in both of these categories. 
  • Cuesta College students successfully complete basic skills English and Math classes and go on to successfully complete higher level classes at a rate higher than the System’s. 
  • Student retention in basic skills, vocational, and transfer courses remains stable and high (84.6%).  Retention by ethnicity ranged between 81.5% and 87.9%.
  • Students who finish one semester and enroll the next semester (the persistence rate) continues to drop.
  • The WSCH/FTEF (efficiency) ratio has declined as the College has offered more classes at North and South County sites and as more classes with limited class sizes have been scheduled.
  • The full to part-time faculty ratio has declined since 1999-2000.
  • Total income from grants was $632,826 in 2003-2004.  The Foundation’s Endowment Fund and Income has increased from the previous year.
  • Relatively good progress was made on most of the 2003-2004 District goals with the exception of developing a plan for the use of the 75 acres.
Follow-up research needs to be conducted to try to find the causal factors related to some of these key trends.  District resources will be directed this year to try to better understand the reasons why some of the College’s students are less successful than others. For more information about Institutional Effectiveness Measures, contact the office of Susan Dressler, Vice President of Instructional Services, at ext 3122.