Ninety-five percent of the approximately 1,000 Southeast Community College students surveyed last year indicated that they would recommend the College to a friend or family member.

SCC recently administered the Community College Survey of Student Engagement. When evaluating their entire educational experience at SCC, 88 percent of students surveyed rated their experience as good or excellent.

Dr. Jack Huck, SCC president, said the survey assists the college in promoting improvements in student learning and persistence.

“These are great outcomes,” Huck said. “We will analyze the data and determine how we can improve the student experience.”

When asked, “How supportive friends and family are” of attending SCC, 78 percent of the student surveyed said their friends were “quite a bit” or “extremely” supportive, and 88 percent said their family was “quite a bit” or “extremely” supportive of their attending SCC.

Rod Rhodes, director of instructional effectiveness and research at SCC, said 1,018 respondents submitted usable surveys.

“The data in CCSSE will be extremely valuable to the College in a variety of areas, including both the instructional division and student services,” Rhodes said. “The survey results provide information on student engagement, which is a key indicator of learning. Research shows that the more actively engaged students are, with college faculty and staff, with other students, and with the subject matter, the more likely they are to learn and to achieve their academic goals.”

Rhodes provided the following profile data:

• 78 percent of the student respondents reported attending college full-time;
•  68 percent of the student respondents were between the ages of 18 and 24;
•  53 percent of the student respondents were male;
•  82 percent of the student respondents identified themselves as white/non-Hispanic;
•  23 percent of the student respondents were first-generation, meaning neither parent has earned a degree higher than a high school diploma, nor has college experience;
•   46 percent of student respondents work 21 or more hours per week

To assist colleges in their efforts to reach for excellence, CCSSE reports national benchmarks of effective educational practice in community colleges. Benchmarks are used to compare each institution’s performance to that of similar institutions and with the CCSSE Cohort.

Benchmarks are Active and Collaborative Learning, Student Effort, Academic Challenge, Student-Faculty Interaction, and Support for Learners. A number of questions are asked on the survey as they relate to each benchmark.

This was the second time SCC administered the CCSSE.

Rhodes said SCC’s next steps will include comparing the 2013 results with those from 2011.

“Questions we need to ask include, ‘are there trends in the data that fit with SCC’s strengths’ and ‘are there trends in the data that amplify areas where SCC needs improvement’ ”

View the survey for more detailed information.