Student Achievement at Wytheville Community College – 2017-2018

Wytheville Community College (WCC) evaluates success with respect to student achievement consistent with its mission of “providing access to lifelong learning within an environment of academic excellence.”

The College evaluates student achievement by means of external and internal reviews for each program area. The evaluation criteria support the College mission and include enrollment, retention, graduation, transfer, and employment data as well as national and state certification and licensing examination results.

As one of 23 colleges within the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), WCC receives benchmark data from the VCCS annually for each of the criteria used for evaluating student achievement. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) also publishes data via the SCHEV website that is specific to WCC and other Virginia educational institutions. WCC expects to exceed a threshold of achievement that is greater than national or state averages that are consistent with current trends in education.

Enrollment

WCC monitors enrollment daily for at least three weeks at the beginning of each semester and identifies students who drop their enrollment in an effort to address any issues that may prevent them from achieving their educational goals at WCC. For the 2017-18 academic year WCC enrolled 3,483 students. Of those students 1,909 were degree-seeking students enrolled as follows:

WCC uses the SCHEV and VCCS program viability standards for enrollment data and graduation rates as benchmarks for program performance with regard to enrollment and graduates. Every degree, diploma, and certificate program is evaluated based on meeting established benchmarks for a three-year average of FTE (full-time equivalent) student enrollment and three-year average number of graduates.

The three-year average of student enrollment and number of graduates in WCC programs are as follows:

Retention

WCC maintains data related to the percentage of students retained from fall to fall, and fall to spring annually. The results are bench-marked against the overall VCCS average as follows:

Fall to Fall Retention of All Students

Fall to Spring Retention of All Students

Graduates

WCC maintains data related to the percentage of all attending students who graduate. The results are bench-marked against the overall VCCS average as follows:

Transfer

Associate of Arts and Sciences, Associate of Science, and the General Education Certificate degrees are designed for students who plan to transfer to a four-year college or university to complete a baccalaureate degree program. Overall, WCC's transfer rate (transferred with 16 or more credits) is consistently higher than the VCCS average:

Annually, WCC administers a survey to graduates. In Spring 2018, 76.3% of graduates indicated that they plan to continue their education at a four-year college or university.

Employment, Licensure, and Certification

Associate of Applied Science, Diploma, Certificate, and Career Studies Certificate programs are designed for students to prepare students to enter workforce upon completion. WCC graduates in some programs take national or state certification or licensure exams. Three year pass rates are documented as follows: 

The Spring 2018 WCC Graduate Survey included the following questions regarding graduate employment following graduation:

Expected levels of success are documented, and improvements are made if the expected results are not achieved. These reviews provide the means to ensure that programs adequately prepare students to pass licensing examinations and enter the workforce.