Policies

Stanly Community College (SCC) is committed to the processes of routine assessment and data-informed decision-making, conducted with the overall goal of continuous improvement.  SCC uses a wide variety of assessment and planning endeavors to achieve its mission and move forward on institutional goals and strategic priorities.  As a guide in determining the future direction of the institution and improving the quality of its educational offerings and support services, the College follows an institutional effectiveness model. This model provides the College with an orderly process for defining and reassessing the College’s Mission Statement and institutional goals, not only at the college-wide level, but at all levels within the organization.

The Institutional Effectiveness Model at SCC is administered by the Institutional Effectiveness Council (IEC) made up of representatives from college administration, faculty, and staff, and encompasses four primary areas that are assessed or re-evaluated on an annual basis:

• Guiding Statements and Strategic Plan
• Learning Evidence Planning and Assessment
• Service Evidence Planning and Assessment
• Departmental Initiative Planning and Assessment

In addition, as a member of the North Carolina Community College System, the institution also participates in state-wide annual Performance Measures Assessment, utilizes this data in the institution’s Strategic Plan, and benchmarks to other successful community colleges in the NC system. 

I.  Institutional Effectiveness Council Membership: 

The  Director - Institutional Effectiveness chairs the IEC that includes personnel who serve in the following College positions:

• College President
• Vice President - Academic Affairs/Chief Academic Officer
• Vice President - Administrative Services/Chief Financial Officer
• Vice President - Student Success
• Chief Technology Officer
• Associate Vice President – School of Advanced Manufacturing, Industry, Technology, and Trades
• Associate Vice President – School of Transfer and Business
• Associate Vice President – School of Health Sciences and Public Services
• Executive Director – Human Resources
• Director – Institutional Effectiveness
• Director – Security
• Dean – Center for Teaching and Learning
• Dean – Students
• Dean – Financial Aid Management
• Executive Director – Marketing and Outreach
• Chair – Faculty Senate
• President – Staff Council
• Chair(s) of Learning Evidence Committee

In the event of a planned absence, IEC members may designate a College employee to attend a meeting in their stead.

II. Guiding Statements and Strategic Plan:

SCC will review its guiding statements – its vision, mission, and values – and Strategic Plan annually. The mission of SCC is a long-range strategy guiding all facets of SCC academic and service operations. Amending the mission should occur only as part of a broad-based assessment of the college. The institution will engage in a full Strategic Planning process as needs warrant, but not less than once every five years.  The College is committed to inviting broad-based, campus-wide feedback throughout the review process. To this end, the format and timeline of the review may change; however, the review will include feedback from the Institutional Effectiveness Council, Faculty Senate, Staff Council, Institutional Core Team, and President’s Executive Leadership Team. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the final review and approval of the guiding statements and Strategic Plan of the College. 

III. Departmental Planning:

1. Learning Evidence Planning and Assessment 

The institution’s faculty members routinely establish expected student learning outcomes, assess the extent to which those outcomes are achieved, and make plans for improvement based on analysis of the assessment results. The faculty set course level student learning outcomes as well as program level outcomes and complete the above referenced cycle for both. 

1. Program- and course-level Assessment Plan and Feedback Reports (APFR) provide a tool for documenting this process.  For program-level student learning outcomes (SLOs), faculty collect data and report findings and plans for improvement on an annual basis.  For course-level SLOs, faculty collect data and report findings on a three-year schedule.  Within any given year, the College assesses SLOs from one third of the courses offered by a program or department.  The program- or department-specific schedule of course SLO assessment is to be constructed so that the SLOs from every course are assessed at least once within a three-year period.
2. The institution has also established a set of core general education outcomes. The SCC Learning Evidence Committee annually assesses the extent to which students achieve these outcomes, and then uses that assessment data for decision making and improvements in not only the provision of general education content but also the reinforcement of that content throughout the student’s educational experience at the institution.
3. Learning Evidence Committee

The Learning Evidence Committee (LEC), a subcommittee of the IEC, manages the mechanics of the faculty-led learning evidence planning and assessment cycle.  The LEC membership includes:

• All academic Deans; Two Deans co-chair the LEC for two years of service, rotating among the Deans who have served at least two years
• Associate Vice President – School of Advanced Manufacturing, Industry,
• Technology, and Trades
• Associate Vice President – School of Business and Transfer
• Associate Vice President – School of Health and Public Services
• Director of Institutional Effectiveness
• Three Faculty Members (one from each school, recommended by Faculty Senate but not required to be actively serving on Faculty Senate)

B. Service Evidence Planning and Assessment

Units of the institution that serve students, SCC employees, or the community, undergo an annual assessment and planning process with the goal of continuously improving the quality of services rendered to those they serve.   The cycle includes the establishment of planned goals, assessment strategies to measure success, and then a reporting of data and planned interventions for continuous improvement.

1. The Service Evidence Forms document this process. Different versions of the Forms capture student learning that occurs in some institutional service areas:
   1. Service Evidence Form A includes a Service Evidence Plan document.
   2. Service Evidence Form B includes a Service Evidence Plan document and a Student Support Learning Outcomes document.
   3. Service Evidence Form C includes a Service Evidence Plan document and a Program Student Learning Outcomes document.
2. Service Evidence Committee

The Service Evidence Committee (SEC), a subcommittee of the IEC, administers the service evidence planning and assessment cycle.  SEC members include key staff administrators responsible for the primary service provision areas of the institution.

• Dean – Students
• Chief Technical Officer
• Director – Career Technologies
• Director – Health and Public Services Workforce Development
• Director – Administrative and Facilities Services
• Director – Auxiliary Services
• Director – Business Office/Controller
• Dean – Center for Teaching and Learning
• Dean – Financial Aid Management
• Dean – Learning Resources & Grant Management
• Executive Director - Marketing & Outreach
• Director – College and Career Readiness
• Director – Counseling and Special Services
• Director – Economic and Workforce Development
• Executive Director – Human Resources
• Director – Institutional Effectiveness
• Director – Security
• Director – Small Business and Entrepreneurial Development
• Executive Director – Marketing and Outreach  

C. Departmental Initiative Planning and Assessment

SCC annually engages in a departmental initiative planning process that aligns the College’s Strategic Plan at the institutional level to individual planning unit objectives and projects for the upcoming year. Area supervisors create departmental initiative plans that link the endeavors of all institutional units to the priorities identified in the Strategic Plan, assist in budget prioritizations, and ultimately ensures that SCC can achieve its mission. Area supervisors create departmental initiative plans for the upcoming academic year in the summer preceding the academic year fall term. The cycle for the previous year closes in June with the supervisor’s submission of a year-end report to the Director of Institutional Effectiveness.

1. The Departmental Initiative Planning Form documents this process.  The Form provides a template complete with fields for unit objective, link to strategic plan, action steps and projected dates, evaluation methods, assessment results, and use of results.
2. The IEC has oversight authority for the departmental initiative planning and assessment process.

D. Academic Program-level Continuous Improvement

In addition to learning evidence processes, academic program administrators incorporate feedback from a variety of stakeholders. 

This feedback may be generated by:

1. Program Advisory Boards
2. Industry Partners
3. The North Carolina Community College System
4. Accrediting Bodies
5. Course Evaluations

Academic program administrators document revisions to academic programs and propose new academic programs on Curriculum Change Forms.  The SCC Faculty Senate, Institutional Core Team, and if needed the SCC Executive Leadership Team, then review and approve proposed changes.

IV. Data Management

The office of Institutional Effectiveness oversees the retrieval and handling of data for official federal and other select external and internal reporting. Data retrieved and compiled by other employees or departments should adhere to the following:

  A. Data Extraction

When retrieving data from Colleague, ZogoTech should be used.

1. If it seems the data cannot be pulled using ZogoTech, submit a data request to Institutional Effectiveness via the helpdesk.
2. Anyone unfamiliar with using ZogoTech should request help from the Director – Institutional Effectiveness by submitting a ticket through the helpdesk.

  B. Data Utilization [External Use of Data]

Employees who extract and compile college-related data should not use such data for any purposes external to the College without first seeking data validation and confirmation of usage from the Director – Institutional Effectiveness.

1. Submit data validation requests and confirmation of usage via the SCC helpdesk.
2. Data validation and confirmation of usage must be sought via the helpdesk for each instance data is used externally, even if it is previously validated data.

Employees and departments already tasked with retrieving, compiling, and submitting official reports to the state or other agencies are exempt from these requirements when compiling data for previously established reports and processes. Any departmental data compiling not part of previously established processes should adhere to the procedures noted above.

Revisions:        02/20/2014 (policy and procedures); 5/7/2018, 01/27/2020 (procedures)

References:    

SACSCOC Core Requirement 7.1, Institutional planning

SACSCOC Standard 7.3, Administrative effectiveness

SACSCOC Core Requirement 8.1, Student achievement

SACSCOC Standard 8.2.a, Student outcomes: educational programs

SACSCOC Standard 8.2.b, Student outcomes: general education

SACSCOC Standard 8.2.c, Student outcomes: academic and student services

1B SBCCC 400.2 College Planning