making sense of board goals and assessing college efforts to achieve them … and doing it quickly...
TRANSCRIPT
Making Sense of Board Goals and Assessing College Efforts to Achieve
Them… and doing it quickly before they change!
Brynn Pierce, Institutional [email protected]
Chris Egertson, Research [email protected]
Overview
Understanding Board Direction
Mapping College Efforts to Board Priorities
Creating “Simple” and Concise Reports
Sharing Reports with Board and College
Are the Reports Working?
Next Steps / Lessons Learned
Oldest Oregon community college (est. 1949)
Two campuses
Branch campus – OSU Cascades Campus
Enrollment (2008-09)→ 5,175 FTE - 88% generated by credit students→ 17,487 students - 52% credit students (9,075)
Two-year growth in FTE: 40%
10,000 mi2 district (larger than eight US
states)
Understanding Board Direction
Board Goals defined in early 90’s – externally focused
“Because of COCC, the community will work collaboratively to achieve shared purposes.”
– difficult to connect to College activities
No systematic assessment of goals— No established benchmarks— No method to measure progress/improvement
In 2003 - as part of assessment efforts – IR made first attempt at assessing Board Goals through the development of a first generation Institutional Effectiveness report
Understanding Board Directionthe beginning
2003 to 2006 - 4 years of annual Institutional Effectiveness reports(Board developed Vision Concept Paper during this time to clarify Board Goals)
Institutional Research the driving force behind collecting baseline information – very few were asking for it
The product had to be good, but developing the capacity to generate the data and promoting the availability of the information was primary.
STILL… annual reports were hard to “digest” and analyze
2006-07… still very little evidence of connecting data to planning/decision making/goal setting
Understanding Board Direction
Board’s establishment of 2007-09 Board Priorities lending more insight to established Board Goals
Connie Lee – Board Member, Business Consultant
Assessment of Board goals Development of Board priorities
Mapping College Efforts to Board Priorities
Based on: National Alliance of Community and Technical Colleges
Mission/Vision Statement
Board Goals2007-09 Board Priorities
Data & AnalysisInst. Effectiveness Report
Defines
Determine
Yield
Measures Progress Towards
Achievement
Allows for
Adaption
Redefines
Institutional InitiativesPlanning/Activities
Mapping College Efforts to Board Priorities
Board Priority Example: Access and Success“Continue to strengthen strategic partnerships with K-12”
Fall 2007 revised IE reporting to measure achievement of Board Priorities
Created a MAP connecting data points to new priorities– Historical baseline data– New information– Data points we WISHED we had or hoped to have in the future
March 2008 Board endorsed plan
Creating “Simple” and Concise Reports
Dense annual report became smaller 4-6 page information items provided to Board every other month
Developed reports to include an analysis component and be succinct and easy to read – not an easy task!– Created a draft report based on map – Used basic Excel, Word and Adobe… nothing fancy– Circulated drafts to key personnel (getting input the most difficult
piece)
IR office performed final edits and disseminated to Board
Sharing Reports with Board and College
IE Reports are provided as Information Items on the Board Agenda – they are not presentations but may be pulled out for discussion by a Board member
Reports used occasionally by campus community (grants, press releases, etc) but not to the level we would like them to be used
IE reports are shared online: http://rap.cocc.edu/InstEffect/default.aspx
Are the reports working?… Board Member…
Rolled out at March 2008 Board Meeting…Joyce Garrett, board member and a retired college dean,
noted that the “enormity of this is amazing,” calling it among the best data for a college she has seen.
Usefulness of informationValue to Board decision making
Are the reports working?… President…
DR. JIM MIDDLETONPresident since July 2004
Value to COCC More informed decision making
Next Steps
Prepare for possible changes for 2009-2011
Continue to improve information and analysis
Support the Board in setting targets and using info for planning
Help tighten link between Board priorities, institutional strategic planning, and operational measurement and decision making
Increase awareness/use of information beyond the Board and executive levels
Lessons Learned
We still have ongoing challenges… Fear of results - perfect in the way of the good Resources (time, data sources, etc)
We have experienced great success… Better data Better buy-in for data-based decisions Increased accountability Awareness of how the “pieces” fit together
