Columbia Basin CollegePlenary II: Core Themes, Objectives, and Achievement Indicators

Curt Freed

Melissa McBurney

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Core Theme Development

• CBC uses the Carver Policy Governance model which utilizes an institution’s board to determine the outcomes and results expected of the college (“End States”) and then to monitor the End States of the institution while delegating the “Means” to the president.

• The CBC Board monitors performance on each of the college’s End States through a detailed set of indicators and measures.

• Monitoring Reports on each End State are prepared for the Board at least annually.

• The End States were a perfect fit for our core themes.

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Mission Statement

Our core themes came directly from our mission statement and are also our End States:

CBC exists in an environment of diversity, fairness, equity, and

sustainability to ensure that the people of Benton and Franklin

counties have access to educational programs providing sufficient

knowledge for higher educational achievement, meaningful

employment, basic skills development, cultural enrichment,

physical and emotional well-being.

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Core Themes / End States

Access: CBC exists to provide people of the service district with access to educational programs.

Academic: CBC exists to enable students to complete requirements that would allow them to obtain academic degrees, transfer to upper division colleges and universities, and pursue life-long learning and enrichment.

Workforce Development: CBC exists to enable students to complete requirements that would allow them to earn degrees/certificates to assist them to gain employment and pursue life-long learning opportunities.

Basic Skills: CBC exists to enable students to prepare for success in college-level skills courses.

Cultural Enrichment: CBC will provide the college and the community with diverse and multiculturally rich programs designed to improve our quality of life, life-long learning and enhance educational programs.

Physical and Emotional Well-Being: CBC will contribute to the physical and emotional well-being of its students and the community.

Importance of Core Theme Clarity

• Provides for meaningful assessment

• Supports alignment of core themes and institutional resources

• Allows for continuous improvement

• Assists in focusing resources

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Indicator Selection

• The Nichols Model is used as conceptual framework for developing indicators.

• A set of goals is identified to provide broad coverage for each core theme.

• Indicators are developed to assess performance of each goal.

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Indicator Selection (cont.)

• Indicators for each goal were developed with the following criteria– Reliable quantitative data

– Evaluative rather than descriptive data

– Standard of performance through scale development (i.e., 1 to 5) or gathering baseline information

• Indicators have been revised through an iterative review and improvement process over the past several years

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Nichols Model

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A modified Nichols 5-Column Model is used to assess core theme (End State) performance

Column One: Core Theme (Mission Area)Column Two: Core Theme GoalsColumn Three: IndicatorsColumn Four: ResultsColumn Five: Improvement Actions

Mission Area:      

Goal A: Results:Improvement Actions:

 

Indicator A1    Indicator A2    Indicator A3    

Goal B:    

 

Indicator B1    Indicator B2    Indicator B3    

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Nichols Table Workforce Indicators (1)

Goal C: Students complete workforce programs

Indicators ResultsImprovement Actions

C1: AAS Completions vs other CTCs

Rank 18 of 34Neutral: 1 point

Improve coding process.

C2: Completion rates 3 of 18 programs exceeded 30%Low: 0 points

Revise application process so degrees, certifications are automatically provided.

Goal B: Workforce programs

demonstrate enrollment and

viability

Indicators ResultsImprovement Actions

B1: Program enrollments 87.1% showed growthHigh: 2 points

None

B2: Projected job growth

92% showed 10% or more job growth; 80% Demand or BalancedHigh: 2 points

None

Goal A: CBC workforce students learn and develop program skillsEMT

Indicators Results Improvement ActionsA1: Student perceptions of learning via survey a. Engage in active learningb. Interact with instructorsc. CBC contributions to skillsd. Recommend CBCe. Overall rating of education

2.64 High-moderate2.15 Low2.76 High96.6% High3.18 HighOverall: High (2)

Encourage faculty to increase engagement with students.

A2: Performance on standardized exams and certifications

Dental Hygiene, Rad Tech, Practical Nursing, Nursing, EMT– StrongSurg Tech- WeakOverall: High (2)

Evaluate reasons for low performance on cert. exams, modify instruction or context to improve performance.

Nichols Table Workforce Indicators (2)

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Goal D: Workforce students obtain

jobs, earn a good salary, perform well

Indicators ResultsImprovement

ActionsD1: Employment rates by program

16 of 18 programs exceeded 80% employmentHigh 2 points

None

D2: Employment rates for completers

Rank second in stateHigh: 2 points

None

D3: Employment rates for non –completers

Rank 4th in stateHigh 2 points

None

D4: Median annual pay by program

Exceeds poverty level for 29 of 30 programsExceeds 150% poverty for only 9 of 30 programsNeutral: 1 point

None

D5: Student perceptions of CBC impact on job preparation

4.36 Great extentHigh: 2 points

Conduct student and alum survey in 2010.

D4: Employer satisfaction with CBC graduates

Insufficient data Conduct employer survey in 2010.

• Out of 11 indicators (22 possible points), 18 points received= 81.8% possible

Performance for Workforce End State

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Percentage of Total Possible Points

Perf

orm

ance

Poi

nts

A

B

C

D

F

• The pct of possible points, 81.8%, corresponds to 92 performance points= A• For 2009, 75% of total possible points corresponds to 85 Performance Points= 3.1 (B) Performance overall

2010 Results

2009 Results

Benefits / Implications

• Increased visibility of the mission and the pilot accreditation process

• Work done by Institutional Research is more visible

• Continual refinement of goals, objectives, and acceptable indicators

• Performance on each core theme is evaluated in an objective, quantitative manner

• All assumptions and subjective judgments are clearly identified—the process is transparent

• Performance on each core theme can be compared to that of other core themes

• Improvement actions can be derived from a consideration of areas of poor performance

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