Value Added: Measuring The Community College’s Effectiveness

Abstract

This study proposes and applies a method of using the “value added” concept to assess community college effectiveness, especially on nontraditional programs and students. It reports findings of a case study where community college students began their collegiate careers with high-school rankings and standardized test scores substantially lower than those of first-year students at a highly selective university. However, upon transfer to that university, the community college students performed comparably with native university students.