Who wants to know? Boards, legislators, taxpayers, students, and local college groups want to know what we do because resources are scarce, there are competing priorities, and there is nationwide concern that the educational system as we know it is “at risk.”

The theme of this issue is Demonstrating Success. Perhaps this is a euphemism for being accountable, productive, and serving students well. Student Services professionals know intuitively that our programs and services are instrumental in helping students succeed. They make a difference in the lives of students. But, how do we prove it?

Over the years we have engaged in management by objectives, participated in TQM, and developed action plans. We have even written manuals for evaluating and describing our programs and services; They said It Couldn’t Be Done, 1986, and This One’s For You, 1989. We have explored assessment instruments, examined indicators of success, discussed qualitative and quantitative measures and reviewed all sort of other barometers of productively. What is next?

Currently, there is a flurry of activity going on around the state with attendance at workshops on assessment reaching saturation points. In the past, participants at this type of workshop tended to be from the RP Group. Now colleges are sending teams of people with a special emphasis on faculty participation. The focus of these workshops goes beyond general institutional effectiveness by looking at the specific learning outcomes expected of students. Two of the questions being asked are What do we want students to learn? and Are students learning what we want them to learn?

This phenomenon reflects a national initiative to transform colleges into Learning Communities. Over the past decade, institutions on an increasing basis have endorsed this initiative. More recently, it has been endorsed by ACCJC, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. In fact, beginning with the fall of 2004, colleges scheduled for accreditation in California will be using new standards that are dramatically different than those of the past. These new standards specifically require a focus on SLO’s – Student Learning Outcomes.

So, back to the issue of showing what we do in Student Services – we need to be able to demonstrate what we do in new terms. In areas such as orientation, counseling, and career planning, identifying what students are expected to learn may be relatively easy. However, what about the areas of Financial Aid, Admissions & Records, and Student Activities? The challenge becomes even more difficult as we address how we will be able to confirm all of this - how we measure learning.

There are several articles in this issue that look at ways to Demonstrate Success including Program Review, research efforts, the student testimonial, and highlighting best practices. Gavilan College is proposing a model that identifies learning outcomes throughout the services. We need to look at all of these as we discuss how to measure success. But, inevitably, as we evaluate our programs and look at the data in new ways, Student Services, like other entities within the college community, will change. What we did in the past will not necessarily sustain us in the future. We will be adapting, re-creating, and transforming for improved student success. And this is good. But be prepared. Business will not be as usual.

Editor, iJournal

Interim Vice President of Student Services,
Saddleback College