Ready, Set, Go! Institutional Excellence through Ongoing Program Assessment

Convocation ActivitiesCentral Virginia Community CollegeAugust 16, 2012 Deborah Driscoll, Ph.D.Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Planning, Lynchburg College

Intro

• Issues in Higher Education • Big Ideas in program assessment

• Clarify the purpose• Measure what matters• Use the results

• Your program

Role of Higher Education

• Educated Citizenry• Economic Competitiveness• Workforce Development • Research and Innovation• Individual Promise of Self-sufficiency • Public Good

Chief Academic Officers at Public 2 year institutions:

Top 5 challenges / issues

• 94% Improving retention and degree completions• 89% Maintaining the quality of academic programs• 89% Improving academic performance of

underprepared students• 76% Addressing budget shortfalls that affect

academic programs and services• 58% Supporting / nurturing junior faculty

Issues AffordabilityAccess

AccountabilityTechnology

CostsDemographics Globalization

IssuesAffordability

Access

AccountabilityTechnology

CostsDemographicsGlobalization

Undergraduate Student Aid by Source and Type (in Billions), 2010-11

SOURCE: The College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2011, Figure 2A.Trends in Student Aid 2011, College Board http://trends.collegeboard.org/student_aid/

Cost Shifting American Institutes for Research- Delta

Cost Project

Consumer Information

• College Navigator http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator

• VCCS webpage – Fall CVCC enrollment 2011• 5461 headcount, 2763 FTE • 73% of students are part time • 40% in transfer programs, 23% in technical

programs; 37% in unclassified

How are we meeting the call for accountability?• External reporting – IPEDS and SCHEV• 4 year institutions – Rankings • FORBES Best Colleges: Methodology claim as

built around what matters most to students:• Quality of teaching• Career prospects• Completion rates• Manageable debt

• http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/

Teaching Learning

• Spellings Commission (2006)• Reauthorization - Higher Education

Opportunity Act • All six regional accreditation bodies-

SACSCOC

• American Association of Community Colleges• Specialized accreditation

Aspen Institute College Excellence Program

• Completion Outcomes• Labor Market Outcomes• • Learning Outcomes: Institutional practices and

policies that result in strong and improving levels of student learning in courses, within programs, and college-wide level.

• Equitable Outcomes

CHEA Awards -- Effective Practice: Student Learning Outcomes

• 2012 Rio Salado College (AZ)• 2011 Miami Dade College (FL) • 2009 Delaware Technical & Community College,(DE) • 2007 Mesa Community College, (AZ) • 2006 The Community College of Baltimore County, (MD)

• Articulating expected outcomes for an institution, program or major. • Providing evidence of success with regard to outcomes.

• Informing the public (constituents external to an institution) about expectations and success with regard to outcomes.

• Using outcomes for institutional improvement: evidence that outcomes have benefited the institution, program or major. http://www.chea.org/chea%20award/CHEA_Awards_All.html

American Association of Community CollegesVoluntary Framework of Accountability• “Lack of commonly accepted performance

measures has often led to misperceptions and frequently an underestimation of community college effectiveness and contributions. It has also limited the ability of the institutions to identify problems and to set goals for improvement of outcomes.”

• Student Learning Outcomes included as a demonstration of quality

Excellence• Quality Faculty and Staff• Student learning and accomplishments• Effective Programs and Services• Completions• Graduation Rates• Cost-efficient delivery of services• Mission accomplishment

Central Virginia Community College is an accessible, comprehensive, public, two-year, higher education institution that is dedicated to:

• Providing open, flexible, affordable, quality learning opportunities for personal growth and the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for productive and meaningful life,

• Providing general education, transfer, applied science, certificate, and diploma programs,

• Determining and addressing the training needs of business, industry, and government to benefit the service area,

• Supporting workforce and economic development through participation in regional organizations and training for new and/or expanding businesses.

• Providing support services for education, training, technology infrastructure, and workforce development.

Accreditation

• Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges

• Organization of peers• Mission …quality assurance• Reaffirmation every ten years• “Principles of Accreditation: Foundation

for Quality Enhancement”

Designing Courses for Significant Learning

Retrieved on 3-24-2011 from http://www.designlearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Self-Directed-Guide..2.pdf

Your Program

1. 3 Big Ideas2. Situational factors – students

Institutional Effectiveness Educational programs (3.3.1.1)The institution identifies…

• expected outcomes, to include student learning outcomes

• assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and

• provides evidence of improvement based on analysis of the results

Vocabulary

Purpose & Goals

Learning Outcomes

Objectives

Accounting Operations, College Credit Certificate • Manage business information using

spreadsheet software. • Prepare basic financial statements. • Demonstrate effective business

communication skills. • Analyze business and financial information

for internal decision making.

http://valenciacollege.edu/instassess/loa/documents/accountingtechnology.pdf

Your Program

1. 3 Big Ideas2. Situational factors – students3. End of program: 3 ‘things’ students

should know or be able to do4. What student work will you examine to

know how well students have reached the learning outcomes?

Plan

Do

Check

Act

Test or Survey All Public Bacc.

Community College

Private Bacc.

For-Profit

National Survey of Student Engagement or Community College Survey of Student Engagement

59.1% 64.4% 44.8% 67.7% 19.4%

ETS Major Field Tests 23.9% 35.6% 4.0% 41.3% 3.2%

Collegiate Learning Assessment 19.2% 28.9% 2.7% 24.4% 0.0%

Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency 15.8% 17.8% 18.9% 12.1% 3.2%

ETS Proficiency Profile for General Education 8.9% 17.8% 3.5% 13.0% 12.9%

College Senior Survey (UCLA) 6.8% 0.0% 0.3% 13.5% 0.0%

Source: Source: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/mixed-grades-survey-provosts

2011 Survey of Academic VPs

Plan Mission & Goals

Adjust Outcomes, Objectives , and Measures

Do Implement activities Collect data for Measures

Check Analyze results Note improvements and challenges

Act Decide actions

Complete reportImplement actions

Learning Outcomes Assessment • Focus on the purpose• Create a meaningful process• Assess to learn• Keep it simple• Emphasize analysis and use of results above all else• Acknowledge that assessment is messy, imperfect,

and always incomplete• Celebrate good work

Nunley, C., Bers, T, Manning, T. (July 2011). Learning Outcomes Assessment in Community Colleges. Occasional Paper #10, National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment

Ready • Clarify purpose • Determine Outcomes

• Design data collection• Collect data• Analyze results

• Make plans for improvement• Implement action

Go

Set

Plan

Do

Check

Act

READY

SET

GO!

Aspen Prize - 2013 Finalists Community College Excellence

• Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD • Miami Dade College, Miami, • Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Perkinston, MS • Mott Community College, Flint, MI • Northeast Iowa Community College-Calmar, Calmar, IA • Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA • Southwest Texas Junior College, Uvalde, TX • Valencia College, Orlando, FL • Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla, WA • West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah, KY

Examples of Program Learning Outcomes

• http://valenciacollege.edu/instassess/loa/outcomes_AS.cfm

• Valencia College – community college in Florida, 2011 winner of the Aspen Prize