The Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) is the principal institutional accountability and improvement framework for community colleges with measures defined to encompass the full breadth of the community college mission and the diversity of students’ goals and educational experiences. The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) operates a web-based portal for community colleges to submit, analyze, and display their VFA data. In 2018, more than 200 colleges participated in the VFA. This document is intended to provide a sample of results from the 2018 collection cycle.
Download the report [PDF].
Key results from this report include:
- The median student completion/persistence rate for the VFA participating colleges was 52.7%. In other words, half of the colleges had 52.7% or more of their students who started in the fall of 2011 earn a credential by 2017, transfer to another institution by fall of 2017, or be still enrolled in their sixth academic year.
- Student outcomes and leading indicators of student outcomes varied by race and ethnicity. For most outcomes, White students had higher median rates than did Hispanic or African American students. Median success rates for African American students tended to be lower than White or Hispanic students with the exception of transfer rates, where African American students had the highest median transfer rate relative to White or Hispanic students.
- Data suggest a relationship between the leading indicators collected in the VFA and 6-year outcomes collected in the VFA. Colleges with higher rates on the leading indicators tended to have higher rates on 6-year outcomes.