Summary of Technical Education Follow-up Survey
(May 1998 -August 1999 Graduates/Certificate Completers)
Summary of Technical Education Follow-up Survey
(May 1998 -August 1999 Graduates/Certificate Completers)
Primary educational goal
Students were asked about their primary education goal while attending
a DCCCD college. The following is a breakdown of 509 responses:
| Earn a two year degree | 47.7% |
| Improve skills in current job and/or get better job | 16.3% |
| Prepare for transfer to four year college | 15.3% |
| Achieve skills needed to seek employment | 11.2% |
| Earn a certificate from a technical program | 9.4% |
Interestingly enough, most students enrolled in a technical education program were not working towards certification, but were working towards an associate degree. Approximately ¼ of technical education students sought to improve or acquire job skills.
Satisfaction:
Graduates appeared to be overwhelmingly satisfied with their goal progress,
technical training, skills acquired for citizenship and critical thinking
skills, as well as their overall education. In all categories, more graduates
were satisfied than not. The following charts illustrate the percentages
of responses:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Note that the figures in the bar charts indicate percentages of the total sample (n=510 before excluding non-respondents). For instance, the "Overall" chart illustrates that 43.4% of graduates were "very satisfied" with their overall education at DCCCD. The highest satisfaction ratings were given for "progress toward goal", indicating a high degree of perceived program effectiveness (with respect to helping students achieve their ultimate goals).
Employment Status:
Technical education graduates did not have trouble securing a job. Approximately
90% of the students are employed. A list of employer names provided by
respondents is given in Appendix A. The following is a breakdown of employment
status:
| Employed full-time (35+ hours per week) |
79.9%
|
| Employed part-time |
10.8%
|
| Unemployed/seeking employment |
4.1%
|
| Not employed/not seeking employment |
5.1%
|
Relevance of Technical Training to Job
Most graduates found jobs relevant to their field of study (69.8%).
Of those who’s jobs are not relevant, we find that many retained the job
they had while attending school, or simply have not been able to locate
a relevant job. The following summarizes the data:
| Job Related to Training | 69.8% | ||
| Job Not Related to Training | 30.2% ---------- |
Maintained old job |
40.7%
16.7% 13.9% 22.2% 18.5% 8.3% |
Future Studies at DCCCD
Graduates were asked about their likelihood of returning to a DCCCD college for future studies. Specifically, graduates were asked about their likelihood of returning to a DCCCD college for three purposes: 1) to keep up to date in their field, 2) to study topics of personal interest, and 3) to pursue an additional certificate or degree. A breakdown of the results is as follows:
This chart indicates that graduates are most likely to return to study topics of personal interest and less likely to return to pursue an additional degree. The magnitude of response indicates that they are likely to return for additional education. 56.8% are highly likely or somewhat likely to return to keep up-to-date in their field, while 63.6% are highly likely or somewhat likely to return to study topics of personal interest. Alternatively, 49.0% are highly likely or somewhat likely to return to pursue an additional certificate or degree.
Comments
An analysis of respondent comments provides further insight into graduates’ satisfaction with Technical Education Program at DCCCD. 118 graduates included written comments with their surveys. Most comments reflect positively upon the program, its outcomes, and most individual aspects.
General comments are relatively broad, global comments about
DCCCD and its schools. Most general comments were generally positive (e.g.,
"I enjoyed my studies …"), with fewer negative (e.g., "… I would not recommend
…"). A notably lower number of comments were mixed (e.g., "I enjoyed the
atmosphere, but did not like the facilities…") or neutral (e.g., I am still
a DCCCD student…"). From 118 responses, we have the following:
| Positive general comments |
51.3%
|
| Negative general comments |
30.7%
|
| Neutral/irrelevant comments |
8.6%
|
| Mixed comments |
9.4%
|
Education outcome comments reflect graduates’ feelings about
the final outcome of their educational experience. Did the student complete
their goals? Did they develop the skills that they sought? Most comments
regarding educational outcomes were generally positive (e.g., "I earned
a two year associate degree … and went on and earned a B.S."), while few
were negative (e.g., "I was cheated because I was told I would receive
COOP experience … and it was denied me."). From 17 comments about educational
outcome, we have:
| Positive educational outcome |
88.2%
|
| Negative educational outcome |
5.9%
|
Occupational outcome comments reflect graduates’ feelings about
their education as it relates to the job world. Did their training result
in workplace opportunities (job openings, promotions), or did the education
experience leave them lacking in the workplace? Most comments regarding
occupational outcomes were very positive (e.g., "I increased my salary
by 2!"), while relatively few were negative (e.g., "I did not get enough
of the Networking Program to be a successful Network Administrator…").
From 15 comments about occupational outcome, we have:
| Positive occupational outcome |
40.0%
|
| Negative occupational outcome |
60.0%
|
Education experience comments focus on the graduates’ perceptions
of the education process. Specifically, their remarks reflect opinions
about the learning environment, the physical facilities, various administrative
issues (transfers, registration, etc.), student support services, program
issues (such as course offerings within a particular program of study),
and teacher issues. Responses were generally positive, except for facilities
(which students perceived as limited or outdated), administrative issues
(which students perceived as restrictive and burdonsome), and student support
issues (often reflecting a lack of interpersonal skills of support staff).
Given 92 comments about education experience, we were able to classify
142 unique remarks about different aspects of the education experience.
| Positive education experience | 56.9% |
Positive environment |
4.2%
1.4% 0.7% 6.3% 8.5% 24.6% 14.8% |
| Negative education experience | 43.1% |
Negative environment |
4.2%
3.5% 7.0% 3.5% 11.3% 9.9% 0.7% |
Appendix A
Companies Employing Graduates
The following is a list of companies provided by respondents. Out of 509 respondents, 250 provided the name of their employer. From this, we have 194 unique employers:
"Q" The Sports Club
3M Corporation
A.D. Smith
AAFES
Abbe Hills Animal Hospital
Accountemps
Adecco Technical Services
Adolphus Hotel
Albertsons
Alcatel USA
Allied Vista Inc.
Alman Electric
American Flood Research Inc.
American Growth Finance
Animal Hospital of Garland
ANS
Argus Connection, Inc.
Arlington ISD
Army & Air Force Exchange Service
AT&T
AT&T Broadband
ATMEL Corp.
Austin Commercial, Inc.
AVW Audio Visial
Bank of America
Baylor Health Care System
Baylor Institute for Rehab
Baylor Medical Center Garland
Baylor of Irving
Baylor University Medical Ctr. - Dallas
Baylor-Garland Hopital
Belo Interactive
Big K-mart
Box & Associates
Buchanan Visual Communications
Buell Door Co.
Builder
Caldwell Zoo, Tyler TX
Camargo Copeland Architects
Carrollton - Farmers Branch ISD
Centex Rooney Construction Co.
Charles M. Sauter, DDS, PC
Charlton Methodist Hospital
Chase Bank
Chichakli, Hickman-Riggs CPAS
Children's Medical Center - Dallas
City of Arlington - Water Dept.
City of Carrollton
City of Dallas
City of Farmers Branch
City of Mesquite
Colesce International
Comp USA
Compucom Systems, Inc.
Computer Science Corp.
CPI Communications
Crescent Real Estate Equities, Inc.
CSX Lines
Dale W. Caffey Consulting Engineers
Dallas Arboretum
Dallas Co. Sheriff Dept.
Dallas County
Dallas County Clerk
Dallas County Community Supervision
Dallas County Health & Human Serv.
Dallas County Juvenile Dept.
Dallas County Sheriff's Dept.
Dallas County Tax Office
Dallas Public Schools
Dallas Southwest Medical Center
DART
DCCCD
Delta Airlines
Denny's
Design Time
DeSoto Animal Hospital
DISD
Diverse Resources, Inc.
Doctor's Hospital
DPCU
Earthlink
East Lake Veterinary Hospital
Eastfield College
ECC
EDS
El Centro College
Ericsson Inc.
Express One International
Ferris ISD
First United Methodist Church
Fossil
Freeman Auto Group
Fujitsu
Goldsmith's Inc.
GTE
Herman Miller for Health Care
Honda Suzuki North
Hot Topic
Hotel Inter-Continental
Howell's Aircraft Services
Hunt Petroleum Corp.
Inwood Medical Clinic
IRS
Irving ISD
J.C. Penney
Joffre's Caterers
Jones, Day, Reamis & Pogue
JWCCE
Lalupointe Medical Center
Law Ofc of Domingo Garcia, P.C.
Law Ofc of Rhonda Hunter
Lee Jarmon Ford
Legal Directories
Link Networks
Lucent Technologies
M.J. Management, Co.
Malone Mortgage Company
Manhattan Construction
MC of Plano
Med Care Now
Medical Assistants
Medical Center of Arlington
Medical Center of Lewisville
Medical Center of Mesquite
Medical City Dallas Hospital
Medical Office Services
Mesquite ISD
Methodist Medical Center
Mission Foods
Mobil Oil Corp.
Moritz Cadillac/Oldsmobile
New England Transcription
Nortel Networks
NTSG
Oak Cliff Car Care
OCI Manufacturing
Omniflight Helicopters, Inc.
Onramp Access, Inc.
Orlando Fl, Hospital
Outreach Health Services
Parkland Hospital
Pemier Aviation Inc.
Plano ISD
Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas
Presbyterian Village North
Quality Colors Collision Pro Shop
Quality High Tech Services
Regal Research
Regional Pain Care
Republic Underwriters Insurance Co.
Rhema Medical
Richardson School District
Richland College
Ri-Tar Enterprises, Inc.
Robinson Nugent
Rock - Tenn
Safelite
Sanden International USA, Inc.
SBC Communications
SBC Telecom
Sears - Asset Protection
September Services
Sherman Hospital
Sherman Hospital, Elgin, Illinois
Silver Leaves Nursing Center
South Aero
Southwest Airlines
Southwestern Bell
Spyglass Company
St. Paul Medical Center
Star Medical Health Staffing
Stream
Tarrant County College
TCC
Tek Systems
Texas Instruments
Texas MPP
Texas Woman's University
Texland Printing
Texoma Heart Group
The Hispanic Yellow Pages
Today's Kids Learning Center
Town Square Rental
Trinity Industries
TXU
U.S. Gov, Defense Contract Mgt
U.T. Pan American
United Parcel Service
UTD
Vartec Telecom
Verizon
WHISD
Yadi's Metal Mfg., Inc.
Zale Lipshy University Hosp.
Appendix B
Response Profile by College
While no demographic data was collected on the sample, respondents were
given the opportunity to specify the DCCCD college where they received
their technical education. Most attended only one college; however, fifteen
specified a second campus, and one specified a third. The breakdown is
as follows:
|
|
|
| Brookhaven |
|
| Cedar Valley |
|
| Eastfield |
|
| El Centro |
|
| Mountain View |
|
| North Lake |
|
| Richland |
|
Prepared by District Office of Research, November 2000