Assessment in the Registrar’s Office:

A Necessary State of Mind

AACRAOAnnual MeetingOrlando, Florida

March 26, 20088:30-9:45 AM

Crystal Ballroom J2

Session ID = 470

Outline

What is assessment?Gathering information

ToolsThe 5-year Reality Check

Making decisionsEnhancing the assessment and planning cycle

What is assessment all about?

Good perspective from the Georgia Tech Office of Assessment:

In essence, the Georgia Tech Office of Assessment exists to help decision-makers make more informed decisions. Through assessment, we facilitate Georgia Tech's ability to evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the Institute's initiatives so that decisions truly enable the best opportunities for our students.

Source: http://www.assessment.gatech.edu/

What am I making decisions about?

Registrar’s office role in student learning outcomesRegistrar’s Office

ServicesHow and how wellWhen Where

ResourcesTechnologyStaffingBudget

Assessment Tool Tips

Arapahoe Community College

Are the questions phrased to give you good information? For instance, if you receive a negative response, what will it help you know and do? Is it cost-effective and providing useful information for improvement versus simply a perfunctory exercise? Can any tools be combined across departments and reduce duplication? How and when will data be collected, interpreted, and utilized by whom and for what end?Who is collecting the assessments? Is there anonymity? Is assessment handled through a neutral party? Create tools that will lead to program, departmental, and institutional improvement. Use multiple measures.

http://www.arapahoe.edu/aboutacc/assessment/institutasses.html

Tools/Multiple Measures

SurveysInterviewsBenchmarking Internal AuditOther

Focus groupsAssociate DeansAdvisory boardGeorgia Tech Academic Advising Network (GTAAN)

External reviews/ConsultantsAACRAO ConsultingOffice of OrganizationalDevelopmentOffice of Human Resources

Use different means to gather information

and set baseline data.

Surveys – Good News & Bad News

Good news – lots of help and examples for just about any kind of survey that you want to do

AACRAO session, Designing Effective Questionnaires and SurveysSoftware productsAACRAO consultingAssessment folks and IR folks very good sources of information and in my experience always willing to help

Bad news – students and other clients of the registrar’s office are being surveyed all the time about something

Surveys

Different kinds, different purposes

Customer serviceGraduating studentsWeb siteSpecial survey related to software decisionSee handout for web sites and examples

GA Tech Customer Service Survey

See handout…Survey given for the first time in August 2007, second week of classOffice of Assessment helped design itHired students to give survey to walk-in customersIssues:

Quality of questionsStaff know the survey is going on“Feel good” effect from high ratings

Is it worth doing again?

Surveys: The Georgia Tech Solution

What we are going to do:Comment card on the web site(see handout…)Comprehensive survey every 5 years (5-year reality check)Pop-up questions related to a specific issue

What we are not going to do:Will not do a full-blown customer service survey on the web siteSurvey on the web site about the web site (the one we did was not really useful)

Five-Year Reality Check

Every five years or so a comprehensive set of questions addressing key functions of the office would be very usefulWould put enough time between surveys that we could implement changes and see how they work

Draft Questions for Comprehensive Survey

See handout…Director of assessment to review draft questionsWe will then determine the time & method for deploying the surveySo, who is managing all this?

Focus Groups

ProcessRedesign of our web site

StaffStudentsFaculty

Format

Georgia Tech Office of

Communications and Marketing

does a lot of this.

External Reviews and Consultants

AACRAO consulting projectTechnology

Office of Organizational Development comprehensive review

Overall review of Registrar’s Office

Office of Human Resources analysis of core competencies for managers and staff

What skills are most important?

AACRAO Consulting Project

Focus on use of technologyConsultants visited campus and delivered a report based on interviews with key staffSurvey:

Related to use of technology, funded by the GT Athletic AssociationLooked at similar institutions in terms of sizeIncluded NCAA Division I schoolsResults to be published by AACRAO

AACRAO Survey Questions

Survey questions mainly focused on:

Student Information SystemDegree auditNCAA data and reporting

See handout for more details…

What was the assessment question?

Benchmarking:What does GA Tech have in common, as far as technology applications, with schools of a similar size in Division I?What is our relative position in regard to the cutting-edge use of technology?

How did we use the information?

Reality checkTo assist in the discussion of where we see the greatest need to improve technologyTo prioritize those needs

What major decision was impacted by this review?

Office of Organizational Development

Review of the Registrar’s OfficeProject scope

Collect benchmarking information from other institutions – telephone interviews and web searchesInterview stakeholders on campus –individuals and groupsDevelop and administer online survey instrumentsAnalyze and communicate results

See handout for sample survey questionsSee handout for sample benchmarking questions

What was I trying to find out?

Major areas of discoverythrough surveys and interviews:

Current structure Climate Effectiveness Resources

Making Decisions

Work began in late Spring 2007Final report August 2007Reorganization of the Registrar’s Office implemented in October 2007Outcomes, examples:

Functional areasTechnology area Triage Team conceptJob rotation Internal and external training programs

What was the most

significant change?

Follow-up Projects

After the reorganization, other projects needed to make informed follow-up decisionsGeorgia Tech Consulting Services

Training, short and long termNew leader transitionProcess Improvements

Georgia Tech Office of Human ResourcesCompetency modeling – pilot project for the campus

Training: Assessing the Needs

Who needs training?What kind of training?How will it be delivered?Who will deliver it?How do we keep the content current?What are tools that can be used to facilitate it?

How did we gather this

information?

New Leader Transition

Acceleration: New Leader TransitionAviat

Ann Arbor,MI http://www.aviat.com

Management Team RetreatAssociate Registrar Team RetreatAssistant Registrar Teams Retreat

This is one of the best exercises I

have done in a long time.

New Leader Transition

Specific information gathered on leader’s:Management stylePerformance expectationsDecision making processPersonal styleCommunication preferencesSWOT issues

New Leader Transition

What we were we trying to learn about:

Existing members of the teamNew members of the teamOver-managing or under-managing Working togetherExpectations

What am I going use the information?

Use it to design developmental plans for each of the managers

Associate RegistrarAssistant Registrars

Process Improvement

Banner at age 12 – Assessing where we are with the Student Module

Project includes three phases:(1) documentation of existing processes; (2) expert advice from a SunGard Banner consultant; and(3) redesign and documentation of improved processes based on the consultant’s advice.

Process Improvement

Target specific areas:How do you know where to start?

Degree certificationTransfer credit

New position dedicated to this area

Competency Modeling

Pilot project with the Office of Human ResourcesManagement Team Leadership RetreatLeadership Competency Modeling

Competency Modeling is the output of researching and identifying the characteristics (or competencies) of workers that underlie successful For this initiative, we will be piloting the competency modeling process developed by David Dubois, PhD and William Rothwell, PhD of Strategic Performance Improvement Associates.

http://www.strategicperformers.com/

Competency Modeling

What am I trying to learn/assess from this process?What will I do with the information?Why do I think of this as part of my assessment process?

Defining Leadership Competencies

Effective communicationSubject matter/technical expertiseEffective decision makingEffective in dealing with difficult situationsTeam playerValuing employees and demonstrating itEffective utilization of resourcesAbility to achieve results

How am I going to use the information?

Individually assess our capabilities against each of the selected competenciesCreate a personal development plan and obtain plan approval from supervisorHR will begin working with each member of the team to develop their technical competency modelRepeat the process for the staff

How does this fit into my

assessment process?

You have to have a plan…

Understanding where you are, with a little help from your friends (and enemies)Making informed decisionsSetting an informed course for where you wish to go nextDetermining the effectiveness of your initiatives

Planning & Assessment 2008-2009

See handout…

Wrap-up

Assessment of services, deliverymedia, technology Core competency modeling

Using assessment data to make decisions, set priorities, and determine operational goals

Assessing staff success in reachingperformance goals

Contact Information

Reta PikowskyRegistrarGeorgia Institute ofTechnology225 North AvenueAtlanta, GA 30332-0315

reta.pikowsky@registrar.gatech.edu404-894-4181