"Twenty years ago, a volume of New Directions for Community Colleges explored issues related to student tracking. A number of articles in that issue examined how student tracking could be used to identify and communicate with prospective students, students in academic difficulty, and students making their way." "Now, student tracking is of even greater interest. However, the focus has shifted away from an examination of prospective students and students in academic difficulty, and toward an understanding of student progress through and beyond a single college or university. This new emphasis results from a variety of pressures: state and public calls for accountability, accreditation criteria that place greater attention on learning outcomes, recognition that enrollment does not ensure success, and an understanding that many students swirl through multiple institutions." "This volume provides an updated examination of student tracking systems. It illustrates how policymakers, administrators, and institutional researchers are using data to follow student paths through postsecondary education and to measure student success."--BOOK JACKET.

TRUDY H. BERS is executive director of research, curriculum, and planning at Oakton Community College.