One of Montgomery College’s goals and objectives is to increase enrollment of new working adult credit learners to a target goal of an additional 3500 new students (college-wide) by fall 2012. A study was conducted on Adult Student Needs at Montgomery College during fall 2008 by Enas Elhanafi, Recruitment and College Access Coordinator at Montgomery College, as one of the assessment tools of the Adult Needs Study. The adult learners’ needs and the role of community colleges in meeting their needs are the focus of this evaluation study. The study examined the role that Montgomery College plays to meet the needs of its adult learners and evaluated that role for its effectiveness.
The purpose of this specific evaluation was to evaluate how the college’s efforts meet the needs of the Adult students and how the college is addressing and meeting this segment’s needs, especially with the college’s goal and efforts to increase adult enrollment and evaluate the functions of serving nontraditional/Adult students at this Community College. This mixed methods study based its evaluation on utilizing the national benchmarking framework identified by the Council of Adult Experiential Learning, CAEL model of principles of effectiveness, as a guidance tool to measure the success of the College’s efforts in meeting and serving the needs the adult learners.
The evaluation study revealed that the Montgomery College utilizes many of efforts and resources to serve adult students. It also informs us that there is room for improvement to better serve this segment needs. Research indicates that the greater the fit between expectations and reality, the greater the likelihood for persistence, student success, and stability. It is imperative for the college’s decision makers to consider the evaluation findings (strengths and challenges) to reflect that in its strategic planning to reduce and minimize any barriers and provide its adult learners (potential or current students) with the services they need to fulfill their needs and to help them to succeed.
The college can incorporate the findings and the recommended changes into their marketing activities, recruiting materials, and internal and external public relations opportunities; and can used to provide positive feedback to the faculty, staff, administration, and students on campus. These are areas that campus needs to address to improve retention at the institution. There are items where adult learners expect, but currently, the college is partially meeting their expectations or not meeting their level of expectations (Elhanafi, 2009). For more information, contact Enas Elhanafi at 240-567-1759 or enas.elhanafi@montgomerycollege.edu.
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