A MEASUREMENT OF STUDENT SATISFACTION LEVELSAS A MEANS OF PROGRAM EVALUATION: AN EXAMINATION OF BAKERUNIVERSITY’S EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP DOCTORAL PROGRAM

Abstract

Considering the social, professional and academic issues currently challenging thefield of education, not to mention an aging workforce in the area of schoolleadership/administration, many graduate level school leadership programs are takingsteps to redesign the theoretical context and traditional delivery systems that have longbeen a trademark of these programs. As the need for qualified, capable school leaderscontinues to grow, student attrition rates in doctoral programs in education remain high.A primary reason for this increasing gap between supply and demand is a failure by manyinstitutions to properly consider and assess student satisfaction within their programs.The Mission of Baker University’s Ed. D. in Educational Leadership program isto develop leaders who have a strong knowledge base and a sense of beliefs and valuessupported by educational research and best practices; and who have the passion,commitment, and skills to transfer knowledge, beliefs, and values into policy andpractice. The two fold purpose of this study was to determine the level of overallsatisfaction by students participating in the first two cohorts in Baker University’sDoctorate of Education in Educational Leadership program, and the influence of variousdemographic factors on program satisfaction.A convenience sample of two cohorts of students (n=46) enrolled in Baker Ed. D.program (from 2005 and 2006), who agreed to participate in the study, were administereda questionnaire aimed at assessing their satisfaction in the areas of Collegiality, ProgramSchedule, Curriculum Content, Advising and Instruction. The findings of the studyshowed that participants in the study expressed general satisfaction across all of thedesign components of the Baker Ed. D. program and also identified some areas that may require further examination/consideration. The researcher recommended that thesefindings may be used to guide the university’s efforts in continuous programimprovement. The results of this study may also serve as an initial indication of programquality.