Does evaluation make a difference? The effect of evaluation on remedial education in Florida's community colleges

Throughout the nation, many community college students arrive at the doors of public higher education without college-level skills. As the need for remediation over the years has grown, the controversy over who should be responsible for it---and whether it should be provided at all---has also grown. In Florida, more than 60 percent of all incoming college students must enroll in one or more remediation courses in the areas of reading, writing, or mathematics. Florida law requires students to take non-credit "College-Preparatory" classes if they score below mandated cut-off scores on state-approved placement tests. The central theory of this study is that ongoing, comprehensive and systematic evaluation that is effectively communicated and utilized in Florida's colleges can make a significant contribution to the College Preparatory program. While this study examines budgetary factors and student achievement rates, it focuses particularly on evaluation, the extent to which evaluation is being performed in the College Preparatory program, and how that evaluation throughout the state has changed over a five-year period. The study identifies four general areas of evaluation: (1) student-level evaluation, (2) program-level evaluation, (3) evaluation via communication in the organization and (4) utilization of evaluation in the organization. It analyzes the relationship between each area and the perceptions that faculty, administrators and staff have of remedial program success, and it distinguishes among faculty, administrator and staff perceptions of evaluation and preparatory program success. In the end, it is the synthesis of the four general areas of evaluation, along with input from its various stakeholders, which result in effects on remedial education.