Annual Report 1997-1999

CENTRALIA COLLEGE

ANNUAL INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT REPORT

1997-98

Executive Summary

Sponsored Strategies Planning Activities including : Climate survey and analysis, Accreditation handbooks, Annual Report, Action Plans, and Summer planning meeting.

Extended the Five Learning Themes media material Centralia College East. A framed poster is displayed in the lobby area of the facility, others are placed in classrooms and the student lounge area.

Assessment funded publication of Byways, an anthology of 35 student accomplishments (attached 1998 edition).

Committee members published Assessment articles in all issues of Teaching and Learning at Centralia College (attached). Assumed the funding of the TLC newsletter.

Sponsored two faculty development workshops, one with Bruce Busby from Defiance College on "How do We Learn From Our Students?" The other workshop was on" Skills Standards" with John Versluis an internationally known educator in the field from Australia. (flyers attached)

Other faculty development took place and was funded by Assessment. Faculty attended the National Business Education Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas A Campus Team attended "Deepening Learning Communities" (Oct. 9. 1997) at Pack Forest, Eatonville WA.

A Learning Resource Center staff member attended the Developmental Education Outcomes Retreat: The state developmental outcomes committee met to begin the process of developing criteria that can be used to evaluate the quality of student work in determining college readiness.(Oct. 30-31,1997) (conference reports attached).

Continued the Centralia College course outline revision process incorporating the Five Learning Themes. Almost all course outlines are updated.

Revised mini grant guideline and forms (attached).

Funded Mini Grant Projects (attached).

Upgraded computer software systems to handle more intensive "number crunching" expected next year by Assessment staff.

Developed written procedures for the various steps and benchmarks for payment involved in the publication of Byways. (attached)

Continued the annual funding of the Innovation Abstracts (NISOD membership) to provide copies for all faculty and administrators.

ANNUAL OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT REPORT - 1997-98

1. DESCRIPTION:

The college's Assessment program became increasingly involved with Strategic Planning activities at the college by sponsoring many activities that will assist with the Accreditation process, but more importantly will become part of our renewal/improvement processes on an institutionalized basis. We also sponsored several renewal/ skill building activities including staff development activities on campus and those offered by professional organizations. Byways, an anthology and center piece for student Assessment participation grew from 106 to 128 pages. All college units were involved in Assessment activities in some form or another either through individual projects (mini- grants) and staff development activities or larger projects such as Accreditation/Strategic planning process. Leadership from the Dr. Marge Skold, the college's Dean of Instruction has been critical in this process.

2. EXAMPLES OF IMPACT:

The impact of the college's Assessment program is growing in a number of ways, some of them are:

Institution-wide

increased staff participation, through Accreditation and Strategic Planning activities.

sponsored an internal climate survey in which results are being used to improve numerous aspects of the college.

increased awareness of the 5 Learning Themes.

training in "How to complete an Action Plan Form".

Program/Department

Student Services staff formed a task force and examined ways to implement the Washington State Guidelines for Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance K-14 adopted by OSPI in 1997.

Development Education staff were trained in processes that could be used in developing criteria for determining college readiness.

Library staff reviewed ways to assist students with the "reasoning" aspect of the 5 learning Themes in activities that take place in/outside of the classroom.

a Business Education faculty member was trained in the new trends/techniques in the field.

faculty received information regarding "State Skill Standards Requirements" in a campus workshop setting.

the college's Scholarship Committee developed and printed engaging posters to be placed in local schools, on campus and other sites in the community encouraging students to complete application forms and resulted in at least 29 scholarship applications.

increase participation of departments in submission of student work for Byways.

Classroom/Course

almost all course outlines were revised to reflect the 5 Learning Themes.

a faculty member received additional training in Learning Communities.

3. ANALYSIS/ JUDGMENT:

The influence of the college's Assessment program is a growing one. Increased involvement in Accreditation/Strategic Planning has been a major accomplishment for the Assessment Program. Dr. Marge Skold has considerable background in Accreditation/Strategic Planning processes and has moved our college ahead in this area. Her encouragement and support for Assessment activities at various level has been an asset to us. As a result the Assessment initiative on the Centralia College campus has increasingly become recognized as an important aspect of the college's day -to- day operation.

While we had an overall net gain participation in Assessment activities, numbers of students involved in Byways and faculty/staff in Accreditation/Strategic Planning are examples, some events were less well attended. Numbers of faculty participating in on-campus staff development opportunities are not increasing. While it is unknown why the numbers are not growing in this activities, it could be that faculty are simply stretched pretty far in other activities including course update/revision, Accreditation/Strategic Planning, and on- going faculty responsibilities. We may want to examine ways we inform faculty about faculty development opportunities.

4. LINKAGES:

New or strengthened linkages were forged across campus with several areas and are connected to the ongoing planning process at our college. Linkages include the Scholarship Committee, Accrediting/Strategic Planning activities and supporting activities to implement the Washington State Guidelines for Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance K-14, adopted by OSPI. Deepened connections were also made with faculty/student involvement in the publication of Byways, which contained students work reflecting the 5 Themes. Attractive 5 Themes posters were framed and hung in Centralia College East, our new extension center at Morton. An Assessment representative serves on the Instructional Council.

5. PRIORITIES:

The priorities for the Assessment program for the 1998-99 year will include increasing participation in sponsored activities. We will examine committee membership in light of the college's reorganization of the division/department structure and identify new members to be added to the committee. Increased involvement with the colleges Accreditation/Strategic Planning process will be a priority also. Some specific projects we will undertake this year include: examining ways to increase the awareness of the colleges 5 Themes among students and staff. We plan to examine the effectiveness of the colleges' placement testing .. are the cut off scores for various classes appropriate? We are also interested in sponsoring projects that identify reasons why the college is experiencing a drop in enrollments by thirty-five year old students. Another major issue for us to examine is determining why enrollments in our academic programs is decreasing. We will continue several activities central to Assessment, including the publication of Byways, offer staff development opportunities to faculty and examine new ways to assist the college with ongoing planning processes. Due to a number of retirements, the college has hired a number of new faculty who will be informed about Assessment activities and encouraged to participate. We are not short of issues to identify and study!