INTRODUCTION

Institutional effectiveness is addressed at Gulf Coast Community College in a process that involves planning, evaluation, and assessment. Coordination of institutional effectiveness processes is a function of the Institutional Advancement Office with major responsibilities shared by the coordinator of institutional effectiveness and the coordinator of institutional research and reports, a position now organizationally assigned to Student Development. Institutional Effectiveness at Gulf Coast Community College

A formal institutional planning and evaluation process has been in place at the college since the late 1970s, and an annual institutional plan (operational) has been published since 1980. Although various methods have been used in the development of the annual plans, all have consistently provided goals, objectives, and strategies designed to strengthen the college’s ability to fulfill its mission.

Formalized accountability efforts—a fundamental assessment element—began in the early 1990s in response to legislative mandate and evolution of performance-based funding in Florida. The college’s initial accountability plan analyzed the relationship between the plan and the state’s community college mission and master plan priorities. In addition, the plan identified strategies for achieving goals related to state-adopted student outcome measures, and it identified ongoing, institution-specific accountability indicators. Accountability progress is assessed each year when the state’s Division of Community Colleges publishes the Accountability Report.

PLANNING AND EVALUATION

Institutional planning and evaluation processes include both strategic and operational activities. Strategic planning is the process through which Gulf Coast Community College confronts its most significant, global decisions, those with the potential for major impact on the college. Strategic planning has an external focus, deals with the question of what to do, spans internal organizational boundaries, and involves a continual scanning process as a means of detecting changes in the external environment that will likely have implications for the college. Conversely, operational planning has an internal focus, deals with how to do what strategic planning has determined needs to be done, is tied to organizational units, is a regular process dictated by organizational cycles, and is linked to the annual budget process.

Strategic Planning

The Assessment and Strategic Planning Council (ASPC), which is chaired by the college president, leads the strategic planning process. ASPC’s 17 members include a cross-section of college employees (i.e., faculty, instructional and administrative leaders, professional support, and career service) and students, selected by various functional, employee, and student councils to serve staggered three-year terms. In addition to the president and the chief administrative and instructional officers, other permanent members include the coordinator of institutional effectiveness, who serves as vice chair of ASPC, and the coordinator of institutional research and reports, who provides research skills and data as well as other technical support.

Strategic planning involves ongoing environmental scanning for external trends. It also includes a variety of internal and external assessment activities, such as annual review of institutional vision and mission statements, review of the implementation report on the prior year’s Operational Plan and of other internal effectiveness indicators, and assessment of progress in addressing recommendations resulting from strategic planning activities during previous years.

The product of the strategic planning process is the Strategic Plan, which is presented to the Executive Council and the District Board of Trustees. Components of the Strategic Plan are the institution’s Vision and Mission statements, the Strategic Goals, and the Strategic Imperatives, which are associated specifically with each of the goals. Read the GCCC Strategic Plan, 2005-2010.
 

Operational Planning

The operational planning process integrates short-term instructional and administrative objectives with annual budgeting in a context that is structured around the Strategic Plan. Annually, instructional units develop objectives that are consistent with the Strategic Plan. Administrative units develop objectives that support instructional priorities. Each annual operational objective refers to the corresponding Strategic Goal and Imperative and specifies implementation methods, estimated costs, and measurement indicators.

Departmental objectives are reviewed by either the Instructional Affairs Council or the Administrative Services Council, where decisions are made about which objectives will be part of the institution’s Operational Plan. After a draft plan is developed and shared for feedback, the plan is finalized and presented to Executive Council and the District Board of Trustees. Each year, funding priorities are determined by the college president and senior administrators, and resource allocations are a part of the budget proposal the president submits to the District Board of Trustees for approval.
 

Evaluation

Evaluation occurs as instructional and administrative leaders report in writing on progress by their respective units in achieving the objectives they submitted as part of the Operational Plan. Objectives that have not been achieved and that are considered to have relevance for the immediate future are resubmitted through the Instructional Affairs Council or the Administrative Services Council during the subsequent operational planning cycle. The implementation report is published and distributed to the governing board and is accessible online to college employees. In addition, ASPC reviews the implementation report for continuing strategic issues and integrates those into strategic planning activities.

ASSESSMENT

A major element of Gulf Coast Community College’s institutional effectiveness effort is assessment, which utilizes state-level and institution-specific data. The state’s annual accountability and articulation reports are significant assessment tools as are numerous other internal sources of information. Accountability, which is a reflection of student and employee performance and satisfaction as well as administrative/fiscal health, is addressed in several ways.
Student performance outcomes are the primary focus of the state’s accountability program. State-adopted accountability measures exist for five major areas: (1) enrollment of recent high school graduates; (2) A.A. degree university transfer performance; (3) state licensure pass and placement rates of A.S. degree program completers; (4) enrollment, retention, and success of college preparatory students; and (5) performance on CLAST (College Level Academic Skills Test).

In addition to the student outcome measures provided by the state accountability program, quantitative and qualitative measures are obtained through surveys, focus groups, interviews and other structured formats to assess effectiveness of educational programs, employee performance, and administrative processes.

Effectiveness of educational programs is evaluated by a variety of techniques including using standardized tests and comprehensive examinations; assessment of the performance of graduates in advanced programs; placement and follow-up employment data for technical and occupational program completers; opinions of targeted student populations; analysis of pass rates in specific courses; analysis of academic performance of matriculating students; reports from accrediting agencies; environmental scanning factors; analysis of program effectiveness audits by departmental/program advisory committees; monitoring of programs by external funding sources; enrollment reports; and analysis of programs from student/employee/other stakeholder committees targeting retention, placement, and other significant issues.

Measures of employee performance include faculty and instructional delivery evaluation by students, employee performance evaluation by supervisors, and corresponding supervisor performance evaluation by employees. A variety of measures related to human resources are compiled in the institution’s annual response to requirements of the Educational Equity Act. Many of the educational program effectiveness survey tools include assessment of satisfaction with instructional, support, and administrative staff and services. Ultimate quantitative measures of employee performance are reflected in assessment of student outcomes and program effectiveness.

Measures related to administrative effectiveness include historical and current financial records and reporting; independent audits of those records and processes; physical plant surveys; performance appraisals of supervisors; satisfaction measures on student/community surveys; accreditation reports; annual cost analysis reports; success in acquiring grants; and foundation growth, fund-raising success, and increased student and institutional support.
 

SUMMARY