Partnership for Excellence: RP Group PFE Evaluation Project

Introduction about the Project and its Three Report Documents

The Partnership for Excellence (PFE) is a mutual commitment by the State of California and the California Community College System to significantly expand the contributions of community colleges to the social and economic success of the state. PFE is structured in phases with substantial financial investment by the State in exchange for a credible commitment from the System to specific student and performance outcomes. Performance outcomes have been defined in the following areas:

  • Increase in student transfers to baccalaureate institutions;
  • Increase in degrees and certificates that are awarded;
  • Improvement in the rate by which courses are successfully completed (earning grades A, B, C or Credit);
  • Improvement in the rate by which courses are successfully completed (earning grades A, B, C or Credit);
  • Improvement in workforce development (measured by increases in vocational course completions, in businesses and employees benefiting from contract education training and individuals receiving fee-based training); and
  • Basic Skills Improvement (measured by increasing the number of basic skills students completing coursework at least one level above their prior basic skills enrollment).
As part of the work being done for PFE under the direction of the Board of Governors (BOG), the Chancellor's Office for California Community Colleges (CO) has prepared a contingency funding mechanism for PFE that was to meet specific criteria established by the BOG during the 2000-01 Academic Year. The BOG charged the Chancellor's Office, which then charged its Research and Planning Unit with the task of evaluating college level performance, i.e., progress toward the goals under the parameters set forth for decision-making purposes related to contingency funding. In an effort to measure progress toward the goals under the condition of "leveling the playing field" as requested through consultation, staff chose to utilize a multiple regression adjustment model.

The CO Director of Research and Planning requested that the RP Group set up five peer review teams (one for each PFE goal area) to assist in reviewing the initial methodology that staff developed to evaluate progress toward the five PFE goals. The work of these teams (whose members are listed in the cover letter) is contained in the Summary document. A separately authored paper on transfer is considered a discussion piece; it also addresses some of the larger concerns outside the scope of the task.

The RP Group supports the Partnership for Excellence effort to improve student success as measured by the goals even as we realize that the goals are limited in scope regarding the full work of the California community colleges. We are also realistic about the political forces at work that do not necessarily find the system’s efforts and its own appraisals of results credible.

The RP Group's Review Panels applaud the attempt to "level the playing field" if individual colleges and their districts are to be considered for evaluation purposes. The peer review panels, in general, feel that the proposed solution would be good if the necessary data and theoretical support were available. However, the panels feel that the needed data and theory for this approach are not now available and will not be available in the short term. Even with the intent to "level the playing field," which we heartily endorse, we do not believe that a sufficiently robust methodology can currently be derived to avoid the serious risks of inappropriate assignment to the top or bottom quartile of ranks. The RP Group strongly encourages the Chancellor's Office to consider other, simpler methods to achieve "leveling the playing field," and further, to emphasize constructive use of the evaluation data for improvement as a primary aim of the process. The RP Group would be pleased to assist the Chancellor's Office further in developing such an alternative approach.

Project Report Documents:
Cover Letter to the Evaluation Project
PFE Project Report
Special Review of the PFE Transfer Model
Related Documents:
PFE Contingent Funding Mechanism