ERIC Number: ED238481
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983
Pages: 10
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
A Status Report on the Comprehensive Educational Reform of Miami-Dade Community College.
McCabe, Robert H.
Between 1978 and 1983, Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) undertook a comprehensive reform of its educational program in order to permit the continuation of the open door, while strengthening expectations and increasing the educational achievement of its graduates. Elements of the reform included the reinstatement of a placement testing program; the establishment of Standards of Academic Progress to monitor student performance and control credit load; and the implementation of student information systems to provide individualized feedback on mid-term academic performance and progress toward meeting graduation requirements. One measure of the effects of these reforms is graduate achievement on the College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST), which since fall 1982 has been a condition for proceeding to the junior year in Florida's state universities. Results of the 1983 CLAST administration show that MDCC graduates had a mean score in computation higher than that of 25 of the other 27 community colleges and 6 of 9 universities, despite the fact that 50% of the entering MDCC students were found to be deficient in mathematics. Another measure of the impact of the educational reforms is graduation and re-enrollment rates, which experienced a sharp decline immediately after the reforms were implemented, but have since fully recovered. A final impact measure is the virtually unanimous response of faculty, staff, and students in favor of more rigorous standards. (LAL)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Academic Persistence, Academic Standards, Achievement Rating, Achievement Tests, Black Students, College Graduates, Community Colleges, Comparative Analysis, Educational Change, Graduation, Hispanic Americans, State Norms, Two Year College Students, Two Year Colleges
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Community
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Miami-Dade Community Coll., FL.
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: College Level Academic Skills Test
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A