 Background Information Details for the 2006 Administration now available (Adobe PDF) This year, 2006, marks the eighth year of the AACC-ACT Faces of the Future Survey. More than 300,000 students taking credit and noncredit classes have participated in the first five rounds of the survey. A comparison of the data across the seven years indicates the instrument is quite stable across all of the administrations. The initial concept for developing a survey directed specifically at community college students evolved out of conversations at the Fall 1997 AACC Commission on Research meeting. While not a formal recommendation, AACC staff thought this was a project of sufficient interest and chose to pursue the possibilities of this endeavor. In early 1998, AACC presented ACT a proposal to partner with AACC and develop this survey instrument. The concept was relatively simple. ACT, with their experience in developing, administering, and analyzing survey instruments, would partner with AACC to develop an annual survey to assess the current state of the "community college population". In the initial proposal, the following areas were identified: - Access and purpose (Questions here would include, but would not be limited to, those dealing with the reasons students have for deciding to attend a community college class, the factors that make it difficult for them to attend and continue their studies, and the ways colleges address those barriers.)
- Learning and satisfaction (Questions here would include, but would not be limited to, those dealing with student expectations for service from the college and perceptions of whether those expectations have been met.)
- Expected outcome and intent (Questions here would include, but would not be limited to, those dealings with educational goals, plans to earn a credential, and the personal benefits enjoyed by students beyond those captured by the traditional measures of degree attainment and advancement through the educational pipeline.)
- Transitions (Questions here would include, but would not be limited to, perceptions of the way study at the community college facilitates life transitions, such as movement into employment, career changes, advancement to university work, etc.)
By the summer of 1998, ACT had agreed to participate in the project, and provide complete funding of the first year of the project. An advisory panel was formed to help develop the questionnaire. The advisory panel met in October 1998, and developed a laundry list of items to be included on the survey. Over the next three months, ACT and AACC further refined the items to develop a survey instrument of more manageable length. In January and February, a group of ten colleges were selected to participate in a pilot test of the survey. The colleges were selected based on a variety of factors, intended to roughly represent the diversity of community colleges, and the potential difficulties different types of colleges might present. Research findings from the first survey and an analysis of the reasons students use community colleges are available as a research brief on the web. More reports should be available in the near future. Last edited: 06/30/06 2:01 pm
Related Files
2006 sign up (Adobe PDF File)
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