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The Client

Career Networks Institute offers fully accredited Associates Degree and Diploma programs from six to twelve months of study. Graduates are employed by top medical facilities such as the West Anaheim Medical Center, Western Medical Center, Anaheim General Hospital, Chapman Medical Center, Anaheim Memorial, Hoag Hospital, UCI Medical Center, St. Joseph Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente.

Class schedules are offered year-round, morning, afternoon, and evening. Career Networks’ goal for students is graduation and employment in the career for which they have been trained. The school is based in Costa Mesa, California.

The Solution

Wonderlic Opinion Survey (WOS):The WOS is an interactive system that helps schools gather student attitudes and information on issues that impact the entire business and educational process.

This customizable opinion survey delivers valuable information on student concerns providing direction for organizational improvement. Surveys can be used to improve marketing programs by identifying how a student heard about the school and helping schools identify and advertise the strengths that students value the most.

Survey topics include the following:

1. Enrollment Process
2. Curriculum
3. Technology
4. Instructors
5. Interpersonal Climate
6. Career Placement Services
7. Learning Environment
8. Overall Satisfaction.

Results can be sorted by organizational variables such as program of study and demographic values like gender, race, age, years of education, etc.Students can participate in the survey using the Internet, touch-tone telephone or Fax-Back form.

CNI Isn’t Afraid To Ask Tough Questions

Most schools aren’t willing to ask students tough questions on surveys. If they bother to survey at all, they often stick to safe topics, asking questions that they know will receive positive responses or that are too generic to deliver significant data. That's not the case at Career Networks Institute (CNI). The accredited allied health careers college based in Costa Mesa, California, uses a customized Wonderlic Opinion Survey to dig deep into students’ opinions of the school, its faculty, and its services. “You have to be courageous to use the Wonderlic survey,” says Jim Buffington, president of CNI. “It asks all the questions that need to be asked of students.”

Originally, CNI used a various mixture of student surveys that they cobbled together from survey samples found at workshops and other academic resources. “It had a lot of general questions,” admits Buffington, “and the scoring data was not digested in a meaningful way.”

Buffington saw the Wonderlic survey at a convention and immediately made the transition. “It was kind of scary because the questions are direct, but our students are customers and we think it’s important to know how they feel.”

The customized Wonderlic questionnaire asks students about their satisfaction with everything from financial aid, school administration and educational resources to the faculty and placement services. It also asks whether students are happy with the school overall and whether they'd recommend it to friends. “The data we collect from the survey has given us a better view of the outcomes of the whole institution,” he says.

Buffington also appreciates the scoring system and the way Wonderlic can break down the data to focus on different areas of the school. The scoring allows students to rate a question on a one to five scale, giving them the opportunity to give high, low, or neutral answers. When the surveys are tallied, neutral scores get neither a positive nor a negative rating. Once the questionnaires are completed, they are sent directly to Wonderlic where the data is organized according to category, student population, and individual teachers. The resulting report is returned to Buffington with overall scores and individual results for each area. “The report shows us where we are outstanding and where we fall short.”

The first report showed that 87 percent of students were satisfied with the overall CNI experience and that 82 percent would recommend it to friends. “To me that’s a big indicator that we are going in the right direction,” he says. The school was so happy about the results of the survey, they were shared at department meetings and specific teachers received praise and awards for their top ratings. “The Wonderlic survey gives our team an opportunity to see the positive response to their hard work.”

However the data also pointed out three or four areas that were in need of improvement, such as the way information about placement programs and students services is delivered.“You have to identify the problems before you can solve them,” Buffington says. Once the school was made aware of its shortcomings through the survey data, it immediately implemented strategies to improve them. Now placement personnel speak to students in the classrooms, ensuring that everyone is made aware of the services available, he says. “The Wonderlic survey showed us what needed to be fixed. It’s helping us adapt our services to the needs of students.”

The school is so happy with the Wonderlic survey process, Buffington expects to offer the survey two to four times a year. And because the school reacted so promptly to problem areas, he expects satisfaction ratings to be even higher the next time around.