RRCC Affirmation Signature Page

1. How does your organization demonstrate that it meets each of the Higher Learning Commission’s five Criteria for Accreditation?

Criterion One: Mission and Integrity. The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff and students.

Annually more than 14,000 students look to Red Rocks Community College (College) to advance their educational goals. The demographics of the students served by the College have continued to increase in diversity. The average age of our student population has dropped from 35 to 29 with the majority attending class during the day. This shift from the older employed adult to more traditional students attending to gain transfer credits for university degrees requires vigilance in ensuring our academic programs are of sufficient rigor. Equally critical to our mission is demonstrating to our employer stakeholders that our technical programs continue to keep pace with the constantly evolving modern workplace. The College has expanded the delivery of our educational programs to fully embrace the learning anywhere anytime demands of the 21st century student. Students enjoy distance education options, courses offered at two campus locations, as well as just in time customized training offered in the workplace.

The vision of Red Rocks Community College is to be a leader in learning and a valued partner in transforming lives. The mission of the College is to develop and support lifelong learners so that they may live fuller lives and add value to the communities in which they live and work. Students come to the College with a range of educational goals. High school graduates earn transferable academic credits prior to enrolling in four year degree programs. Technical workers look to the College to maintain currency in the latest technological applications. Displaced workers enroll to re-tool their job skills to meet the continually changing demands of the modern workplace.

The strategic objectives of the College must ensure the capacity of our programs to meet the diverse needs of our students. Click here to view a summary document of the current mission, vision and strategic goals of the College. The goals are listed with a summary of activities related to each goal:

Goal I: Student Success—All College employees contribute to student success by continually evaluating the teaching and learning environment to ensure that it promotes student outcomes of academic excellence and modern workplace competencies.

Assessment of Student Learning

Assessment of student learning is an iterative process, with the resulting data being used in a continual improvement process impacting teaching and learning. The ABC’s of Assessment is a current initiative supporting faculty in developing course assessment strategies with the goal of producing systemic data that can be used to measure established teaching and learning goals. The faculty members at Red Rocks Community College come to the institution with a wide range of expertise on student assessment. The current professional development opportunities address these variances and allow teachers to advance according to their needs.

All faculty members are being asked to identify measurable learning objectives for their courses and align those objectives with teaching and learning activities and corresponding assessment strategies. Each instructor then creates a matrix to document this process for each course. The success of this project is dependent on the support by the administration at Red Rocks Community College. Academic deans and the vice president of instruction worked in partnership with faculty to develop a consistent process that is being implemented across all instructional divisions.

Each full time faculty member has made course assessment part of their performance evaluation. Efforts to include part time instructors in developing course assessment plans have included assessment workshops that are offered during the evenings and weekends. Full time faculty have teamed with part time instructors from their areas to develop consistent course assessment plans. Part time instructors may receive a professional development stipend to attend the professional development workshops. Further detail of the strategies employed specific to the assessment of student learning can be found under Criterion 3.

LARC

The Learning and Resource Center (LARC) is located at both the Lakewood and Arvada campuses. The LARC is staffed six days each week including evenings with subject specific tutors. The LARC is located adjacent to the library and includes 30 computer work station, individual study rooms and rooms suitable for group tutoring and or projects. The writing and math centers are staffed during operating hours by tutors available to help students on a walk in basis. Students may also take advantage of scheduled group tutoring sessions. Students that are recommended by faculty have the opportunity to apply their knowledge by working as peer tutors. Students gain a great deal of satisfaction in helping other students while developing transferable skills.

A broad selection of software and other multimedia programs in the writing and math centers are available for students electing to work independently. The Online Writing Center is available to all students across all disciplines. Students may submit writing samples via the web and receive specific feedback designed to improve the student’s writing skills. The LARC offers GED preparation courses in English and Spanish, developmental education, and one-to-one tutoring for students with additional learning needs.

During the last school year the LARC recorded 5,380 student visits, logging 26,037 hours in the use of tutoring and other educational support services. The Office of Special Services, located in the LARC, registered 269 students as eligible for educational accommodations due to learning and/or physical disabilities during the 2003-2004 school year. Outcome data from the LARC and Office of Special Services indicated on average that 70 percent of the students were successful in passing the course(s) for which they were receiving support services. To learn more about the LARC click here.

Goal II: Strategic Growth— Resource allocation decisions maximize the use of the learning environment by effectively using a variety of educational delivery formats.

Distance Education

The College is part of the Colorado Community College’s Online Consortium (CCC Online), a platform offering online two year degrees. The College was recently awarded accreditation from HLC to offer an Associate of Applied Science in Fire Science Management. Enrollment in online course offerings has continued to increase with the majority of online enrollment occurring among students that are also taking traditional classroom courses on campus. In addition to the enrollment of Red Rocks students in the CCC Online courses, the enrollment in the online courses offered by the College has grown at an average annual rate of 62 percent since the College began online delivery in 2000. In the fall of 2004, 1,049 enrollments were processed for online courses with 61 students enrolled in the new online Fire Science Management program. To date, 30 new students have registered for spring 2005 in the online Fire Science Management program.

Alternative Scheduling

Staggered start dates, block classes, Weekend College, self-paced and hybrid learning (a mix of online delivery and classroom based instruction) are all evidence of the options that exist for Red Rocks students. The spring 2005 schedule notes thirty nine disciplines offering weekend college options. A review of the enrollment patterns indicate 37 percent of the spring 2005 students attend classes during non traditional hours of evenings and weekends.

Non Credit programs

The Rocky Mountain Education Center (RMEC) of the College offers continuing education that caters to the training needs of employers. The RMEC has been designated by the Department of Labor as the OSHA Region VIII training center. The RMEC also provides worksite employee support and educational resources in the Corporate Training Centers. Staff of the RMEC are housed at the employer’s location. Employees may enroll in classes, prepare for advancement or improve their computer skills, writing, reading or even ESL skills all at their workplace. The RMEC has the ability to package curriculum to meet specific requirements of employers to meet short and long term workforce training needs. Of the 4,565 students enrolled in the courses offered by the RMEC in 2004, 2,190 or 48 percent completed courses on the College campus, while 52 percent or 2,375 completed training programs offsite as part of customized offerings provided by the RMEC through employer contracts.

Goal III: Integrated Technology— The learning environment promotes the innovative use of technology to ensure student proficiency in the technical skills required by employers as part of the workforce training services of the College.

Technology in the Classroom

Recognizing that one of every two jobs in the U.S. is information technology (IT) related or enabled, the College has committed to the integration of technology throughout the institution. Technology in the classroom promotes the application of new knowledge using modern instrumentation that mirrors the workplace. The technology vision of the College challenges our faculty and IT staff to apply technology to new problems, develop technology for new opportunities, provide technology to new populations, and sustain current technology for ongoing operations. Responding to continually evolving learning needs of the high tech worker requires flexibility in both the time and place in which teaching and learning occur. The use of distance education via web based courses, computer labs, mobile lap top carts, wireless connectivity across campus, and the initial deployment of Tablet PCs to 35 faculty have advanced our mobile technology objectives to offer anytime anywhere learning resources to our students and staff.

Responding to the rapidly changing needs of the IT workforce in Colorado has created opportunities to develop innovative partnerships allowing the College to leverage our resources more effectively. The College has been lauded as a model by Microsoft in our recent launch of the Microsoft Academy.

The College has become one of only 10 Advantage Colleges across the nation that has partnered with industry to acquire the 3-D Holographic Projection System.  The College will be part of the national development team producing educational applications for the System.  The College’s Speech Pathology program is pursuing the development of virtual lab experiences which will give students “hands on” experiences with the workings of the throat and inner ear.  The Physician Assistant Program has adapted MRI data of brain tumors for use on the 3-D System. Many of the introductory lab requirements of the health programs can be replicated virtually using programming that integrates MRI images with CAT SCANS resulting in a 3-D model of the human anatomy that can be manipulated electronically.

Goal IV: Community Involvement— Employers and community members actively participate in the development and evaluation of the Colleges’ programs and services in response to community needs.

Elementary Education Statewide Articulation Agreement

Red Rocks Community College has partnered with the K-12 school districts across the metro Denver area in response to the need to recruit and retain highly qualified classroom teachers. The role of community colleges in preparing classroom teachers is continuing to be defined across the country. Red Rocks Community College, through a grant from the National Science Foundation has had the opportunity to play a lead role in developing the statewide Teacher Education articulation agreement between Colorado’s universities and the Colorado Community College System. The Teacher Education program of the College has created a seamless articulation for students beginning as Teacher Cadets in the high school honors program now offered in eight school districts across the state. A unique 3+1 agreement with Regis University allows students to transfer up to 90 credits from Red Rocks to Regis’ Teacher Education baccalaureate program.

In response to the No Child Left Behind legislation an AAS degree and certificate for Paraeducators (teacher aides) has created a career ladder encouraging paraeducators to pursue a baccalaureate and teacher certification. As of the spring of 2005, sixty paraeducators are enrolled in the Teacher Education Program. The recruitment of paraeducators as teacher education majors has resulted nationally in increased diversity among classroom teachers and improved retention; paraeducators are more likely to still be working as classroom teachers five years after graduation compared to traditionally prepared classroom teachers.

Fire Science Management Degree Program

The recent addition of the Fire Science Management Degree to the online degree offerings of the College was a direct result of industry approaching the College and requesting a specific program to address a workforce need. Fire fighters must have a baccalaureate degree to advance to an officer level. The Fire Science Technology Programs of the College are some of the most comprehensive in the Rocky Mountain Region. Leaders from the fire fighting industry from across the state asked the College to develop a customized program that would be affordable while recognizing the sporadic working shifts of the typical fire fighter. The College partnered with Regis University to develop a public administration degree specific to the supervision and job requirements of emergency personnel. Students now have the option to complete all general education requirements and the fire science courses in an accelerated online format and then continue seamlessly to finish their degree by completing 36 credits in the public administration program at Regis University. The online Fire Science Management Degree began in the fall of 2004 and already has 60 students enrolled. The College is working with Law Enforcement personnel to create a similar program for police officers.

Goal V: Resource Development—The College pursues partnerships to expand learning opportunities throughout the community to increase access to higher education.

Post Secondary Options for High School Students

Colorado policy makers have become increasingly concerned with the data ranking Colorado near the bottom of high school graduates going on to college with less than 30 percent of our graduates ever going on to college. Additionally, of those graduates who do go on to college more than 25 percent are requiring remediation in math, English, and or reading which cost the state in excess $20 million dollars last year. Seeing an opportunity to effect change, the College has teamed with teachers and administrators from the Jefferson County School District; the district is located in the service area of the College and is the largest district in the state. In the fall of 2004, the Middle College @ Red Rocks Community College became a reality after months of planning. In the first pilot year, juniors and seniors at the Warren Technical High School were invited to apply to the Middle College. Typically the students at the Technical High School do not see themselves as continuing on to college immediately after high school.

Of the twenty applicants, fourteen were accepted. The application process required a teacher recommendation and an interview by a selection team composed of high school and college instructors and administrators. The selected students took the college placement test to determine their English and math competencies and to help place them in the most appropriate general education courses at the College. Faculty teams of high school and college instructors completed crosswalks of course competencies that were used to determine the college level general education courses that would meet BOTH the high school graduation requirements and transfer into four year degrees. A copy of the DRAFT course planning guide for Middle College students can be reviewed by clicking here.

The students will re-take the college placement test at the end of the spring term to measure their academic growth. The most important accomplishment is that these students have completed a minimum of three credits of college level math and English prior to high school graduation. These students and their parents are pleased by the “jump start” to college success that the Middle College offers.

The students are integrated on the college campus. In fact, when following up with faculty to check on the progress of the students, most of the faculty were surprised to learn that they had a high school student enrolled in their course! While the College has supported dual enrollment for several years, which traditionally has been allowing high schools students to take advancement placement courses in their high schools for college credit, the Middle College allows high school students to make the early connection with college life. Because of the demand from other schools wanting to participate and students wanting to apply, the program is targeted to expand to all 16 high schools in the Jefferson County School District next year.

Red Rocks Community College Foundation

Efforts to increase access to higher education must address the number one barrier—the cost of higher education. The College is an open door institution; however, as restrictions increase and the funds continue to dwindle for federal and state aid, the College has recognized our responsibility to help students make college a reality. The Red Rocks Community College Foundation was established by Red Rocks Community College in 1993 with the vision of removing the financial barriers to obtaining a college degree. Now over 10 years later, hundreds of supporters have raised over $4.5 million dollars, awarded more than $900,000 in scholarships and over $500,000 for other College programs, and assisted over 1200 students meet their educational and life goals. In the last academic year, $234,000 was awarded in scholarships to 175 students.

Goal VI: Continuous Improvement—The College routinely evaluates programs, processes and systems to streamline institution-wide effectiveness in meeting the needs of students, transfer institutions and employers.

Institutional Effectiveness

This goal has been the most challenging. The College has lacked a systemic approach in evaluating institutional effectiveness. Individual programs have excelled in developing active advisory councils comprised of industry and community members. These advisory councils are part of a continuous improvement cycle providing input concerning the skills required of program graduates, while also helping the programs remain current with industry and workforce trends. Each year more than 900 graduates are contacted to evaluate the effectiveness of the College in meeting their educational goals. The survey also tracks the number of graduates employed in jobs related to their training. Results of the survey can be reviewed by clicking here. A copy of the survey tool is also available for review.

Program Reviews

Individual programs use the graduate survey data as part of their quality improvement cycle in noting the number of their graduates successfully continuing into employment and or continued education. In the last year, the graduate data as well as dwindling enrollment and other factors prompted the convening of task forces comprised of faculty from a range of disciplines and staff to conduct a thorough analysis of two programs. The task forces were asked to make recommendations to the administration of the College as a result of their analysis concerning the continuation of the Engineering Graphics Program and the Technical Theater Program. The Engineering Graphics Task Force completed their analysis in September 2004. As a result of the effort, the program has been revamped and has already demonstrated a 10 percent increase in enrollment. A copy of the Engineering Graphics Task Force Report is available for review by clicking here. The Theater Task Force is expected to conclude their findings in the next month.

Colorado has become a national vanguard with the passage of recent legislation that has created a student voucher program for higher education. The Colorado Opportunity Fund will redirect state funding previously given to the colleges through a formula to student stipends. As part of the voucher program colleges will enter into performance contracts with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. Ensuring currency and demonstrating student competencies in individual programs will no longer be sufficient. The College, as part of the Colorado Community College System must demonstrate institutional-wide improvement in student retention and student graduation. The year long self assessment culminating with the Vital Focus in October of 2004 has launched a “culture of involvement” in the revitalization of the institutional planning and evaluation processes of the College. A detailed accounting of these efforts follows in the description of the patterns of evidence specific to Criterion Two.

Criterion Two: Preparing for the Future. The organization’s allocation of resources for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

Red Rocks Community College has been undergoing a review of the institutional planning processes currently in place. The College re-organized our strategic planning by forming a committee in January of 2004. The committee was chaired by the vice president of instruction with the director of research and a mathematics faculty member serving as co-chairs. The committee was comprised of four representatives from the classified, faculty and exempt (professional technical) staff. The committee conducted environmental scanning processes between February and August of 2004. The scanning processes included the dissemination of surveys to students and community members. Focus groups were held comprised of both internal and external stakeholders of the College. The external groups included employers, and members of the program advisory councils of the College. The surveys and focus groups gathered input from more than 200 students and 300 internal and external stakeholders specific to the following questions:

1. What does excellence in higher education mean to you?

2. What do our students need to be successful?

3. What should our graduates be prepared to do?

4. What do you think RRCC does well?

5. What do you think RRCC needs to work on?

The resulting data from the surveys and focus groups was collected and sorted by stakeholder type and according to the questions asked and posted to the College’s website to allow the entire College community to review the information. For the past two years, as a member institution of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, (CCSSE), the College has used the CCSSE survey tool to examine student services and instructional practices that have been associated nationally with student retention and success. By comparing the data over the past two years (click here to view the comparison data), the College has begun the process of identifying areas that consistently rated below average by the more than 800 students who have completed the survey each year. The analyses of CCSSE data coupled with the environmental scanning information has helped the College leadership verify the needs of the stakeholder groups. Emerging trends specific to the services of the College have provided indicators that are being used to inform the planning processes of the College.

In October of 2004, the College participated in the Vital Focus. The web based Constellation Survey, completed by 235 of the 260 full time employees of the College, and the Conversation Day attended by 240 of the 260 full time employees, reaffirmed the priorities and further defined the action plans of the College. The College’s decision to apply to become an AQIP institution is as a direct outcome of the recognition achieved through the self assessment of the importance of breaking down the disparate processes that all too frequently can inadvertently become barriers to quality teaching and learning. Processes must be reviewed continuously in an institutional-wide context.

Examples of disparate processes were uncovered as part of the data analysis conducted during the self assessment. Consistently the data pointed to the need to better align the student support services with the needs of the students. As an example over 80 percent of the students participating in the self assessment reported that academic advising is very important, yet more than 60 percent of those responding students have rarely or never used academic advising. Of those students that have used advising only 20 percent reported satisfaction with the advising services. The Constellation Survey from Vital Focus indicated the lack of a consistent effort to identify student needs when developing and implementing learning support services. The Survey also noted the lack of specific goals in the delivery of student support services and the need to improve the collection and use of data in decision making processes.

The analysis of the data of stakeholder input and the survey results lead to the determination of Student Success as the primary focus upon which the planning structure for quality improvement will be designed. Improving student retention and student graduation rates will be the outcomes used to measure planning and implementation effectiveness.

Student success has been divided into four committees each chaired by a faculty member with an administrator liaison reporting to the president’s leadership team (Collaborative Council). The Student Success Steering Committee, comprised of the vice president of Student Services, the vice president of Instruction and three faculty members, will assist the working committees in developing integrated implementation strategies and guide the evaluation of each team in impacting the outcomes of improved student retention and student graduation rates. The four working committees are, 1) Advising, 2) Enrollment Management, 3) Assessment of Student Learning, and 4) Learning Support.

Additional teams have been assigned with the responsibility to maximize infrastructure resources through improvements in operations, internal and external communication with stakeholders, and the development of new programs in pursuit of alternative revenue streams. The additional work groups each have a key role in ensuring the sustainability of the planned program improvements. An organizational chart of the planning process is available for review by clicking here.

The working committees were intentionally created to examine “cross cutting themes” that exist in the processes involved in the areas initially identified as most relevant to student success. The working committees have begun to identify the process themes that will guide the development and prioritization of the committees’ objectives. The objectives will define the quality improvement initiatives of the committees. The committees are identifying their measurement benchmarks as part of their planning to track the progress toward the primary goals of improved student retention and student graduation. A model graphically depicting the shared responsibility of the working committees is available for review by clicking here.

Evidence of the synergy created by the planning organizational structure is noted in the committees’ unified identification of a shared priority—that of an academic alert or early warning system. The Early Warning System will require a re organization of the processes involved in each of the areas under review by the committees. An Early Warning team is presently being formed and will consist of representatives from each committee.

Allocation of Resources

The College’s financial resources have been stable with an annual budget averaging $20 million for the past three years even though the Colorado Community College System has seen a dramatic cut of 35 percent in state support since 2001, and an 18 percent increase in enrollment. The fact that the College has avoided the dramatic layoffs and program closures experienced by some of the other Colorado colleges is a testament to the forward planning of our chief financial officer and the business services staff. The College has been very successful in pursuing alternative revenue streams through grants and employer contracts for new programs and ongoing operation costs.

Major awards from the National Science Foundation has made the College a leader in the state with the introduction of Teacher Education in the community colleges and has allowed the Construction Technology Program to continue to be the premier program recognized by industries across the Rocky Mountain Region. The Technical Education Pathways Project has created the 2+2 high school Construction Technology Academy. The Academy offered in 5 area high schools with high drop out rates has introduced construction principles into mathematics courses for juniors and seniors. High school juniors and seniors are re-engaged in academic instruction as they prepare for successful careers while improving their mathematic competencies. These students complete the Academy prepared to enter college level mathematics courses without the need for remediation.

Criterion Three: Student Learning and Effective Teaching. The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling its educational mission.

The findings of the last HLC comprehensive visit in 1998 included a notation that the College has an “underdeveloped academic assessment plan.” A January 2004 Focused Visit in response to an Institutional Change request to add an online degree program in Fire Science again noted the “lack of a fully developed and integrated assessment plan.” The apparent lack of progress is related to the challenge of developing a comprehensive assessment plan that is consistently implemented and documented across all disciplines. In response to the January 2004 Focused Visit, the College leadership charged the instructional deans in partnership with faculty to develop a systematic assessment of student learning that would transcend all instructional divisions of the College.

The College was part of the statewide Common Course Numbering System Project which defined the learning competencies for each community college course. Beginning with this extensive database, a comprehensive assessment initiative has resulted that will measure and document student outcomes at the course and program levels. At the course level, the assessment initiative will measure the progress of the students in acquiring the identified competencies by evaluating the teaching strategies employed in the classrooms. These data of student performance then are used to impact quality improvements at the program level that include curricula adaptations, determining appropriate professional development strategies supporting faculty in effecting the identified adaptations, and allocating instructional resources necessary to complete the modifications. Program level assessment will continue to develop as students’ progress is followed through sequential courses up through graduation to ensure course outcomes are adequately preparing students for continued learning success. The branding of the assessment initiative as the ABC’s of Assessment was purposeful to create a common definition and implementation practice while also building an institutional recognition easily understood by both internal and external stakeholders.

Common Course Numbering System and Guarantee Course Transfer

Red Rocks Community College is part of the Colorado Community College System. The System has initiated Common Course Numbering (CCNS). As a result of the CCNS students may transfer seamlessly between community colleges without loss of credits. The courses listed in the CCNS are part of the transfer courses that make up the statewide articulation agreements in place between Colorado’s community colleges and universities. The CCNS website lists the learning objectives of each community college course. These learning objectives form the basis for the course and program assessments conducted by the faculty of the College. The goals for the 2005-2006 academic year described below provide evidence of the College’s commitment to ensure the preparation of all faculty in fully comprehending and implementing the complete data cycle in analyzing student performance and continually improving the instructional process. Using the ABC’s of Assessment faculty develop formative strategies that answer the following questions:

A- Align teaching strategies with learning competencies – What are the essential skills and knowledge I am trying to teach?

B- Bridge teaching strategies – How can I find out if students are learning the essential skills and knowledge before it’s too late?

C- Collect the data – What are the data telling me as a teacher about how my students learn? How can I help my students learn better?

ABC’s of Assessment: Goals for 2005-2006 Academic Year

D- Data storage and retrieval – Assessment techniques and the resulting data are available electronically for continual review in defining trends and as a repository of strategies that can be modified and adapted for use across disciplines.

E- Evaluating teaching strategies – Based on their assessment findings, faculty are supported in developing short and long range pedagogical goals with corresponding benchmarks

Faculty develop assessment goals each semester as part of their performance review. Faculty meet with their department dean semi-annually. The deans team with the faculty from their areas using a rubric that defines the components of a comprehensive quality improvement cycle. Professional development opportunities are created based on the expressed needs of faculty in support of the consistent implementation of the assessment of student learning. The schedule of faculty workshops for spring 2005 can be viewed by clicking here.

An example of how the assessment data of student learning has directly impacted institutional decisions is evidenced by the College’s continued endorsement and willingness to fund the increased costs associated with supporting Learning Communities. The increased costs are due to the extended planning time required by the faculty teams and the additional costs associated with the teamed instruction. Learning Communities, the clustering of two to three courses around a theme, has demonstrated improved learning outcomes for students and increased the retention rates of the enrolled students.

Student Opinion of Instruction

Every course including those taught online is evaluated by students. The Student Opinion of Instruction, a 17 question instrument that includes two open ended comment questions, provides important feedback that is used systematically as part of the continuous quality improvement of instruction. The data is prepared for analysis with copies disseminated to the instructor, department chair and the area dean. The results for each course are ranked against the average for the section. Faculty work as a team with their dean to note trends in the data and develop strategies to address areas identified as opportunity for improvement. In the case of part time instructors, department chairs work with the instructors to further enhance their teaching skills through mentoring, classroom visits, and support in selecting professional development from the opportunities offered on campus.

Mandatory Placement

With the advent of placement exams required for first year degree seeking college students lacking ACT or SAT scores sufficient to enter college level math or English, faculty have become increasingly concerned that the placement tests are not adequate predicators of students’ readiness for college level rigor. The formative course assessment data has provided the evidence being used by faculty to develop additional strategies to ensure students are placed in appropriate level courses. The mathematics department has developed an entrance test for students placing in College Algebra. The exam helps students identify their strengths and areas in need of improvement. As a result of the exam and corresponding advising, students have the option of enrolling in a lower level math course, or seeking additional help specific to their needs from the Learning Resource Center BEFORE becoming frustrated in a course for which they are not adequately prepared. The chemistry department has adapted the strategies used by the math department and has also implemented an entrance test for CHE 111. Data analyzed by the chemistry faculty found a high correlation between students scoring above 80 percent on the entrance test and successful completion of CHE 111. This data is used to help students scoring below 80 percent appreciate the challenge of remaining in the course versus taking a semester to improve their knowledge by enrolling in CHE 101 prior to CHE 111.

Learning Resources

In addition to the Learning and Resource Center referenced earlier, the Marvin Buckels Library staffed by 3.25 FTE including evenings and weekends, offers resources equally accessible to traditional and online students. The 12,000 square foot space houses more than 44,000 volumes as well as computer workstations to access the multiple databases and online resources available for student use. The College’s investment of more than $100,000 annually to ensure the currency of the learning references demonstrates the commitment to ensuring a vital resource for students and the community served by the College. Increased online resources allows students, faculty and staff the opportunity to research journals, texts and other library services without physically coming into the library. By clicking here, a detailed document that includes an inventory summary and a more detailed description of the services can be viewed.

Endowed Teaching Chairs

Student success is directly influenced by faculty excellence.   Red Rocks Community College strives to deliver an exceptional educational experience to all students by recruiting, recognizing, and rewarding exceptional faculty.   The Red Rocks Community College Foundation Teaching Chair Program, the only multi-year faculty award in the Colorado Community College System, is a meaningful way of recognizing and awarding outstanding faculty.   The Mike Leprino Family and Coors Brewing Company endowed the first two chairs in 2001.  

Recipients of a Teaching Chair Award are selected from full-time faculty following a portfolio review and initial screening by a panel of faculty representatives.   The panel then forwards a list of finalists to the Foundation Board of Directors for final selection.   Each recipient is awarded a three-year salary enhancement of $5,000 per year in addition to $2,500 per year for professional development.

Criterion Four: Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge. The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.

Life of Learning

The College community endeavors to create a culture that embodies a passion for learning among faculty, staff and students. The College has adopted the brand, “Where Learning Is for Life” as a hallmark of the excellence we pursue in all we do. The July 2004 revision to the Faculty Handbook completed by a cross discipline team defined faculty excellence as the core of a learning culture. In summary, excellent faculty create a dynamic learning environment that responds to the diverse needs of students. This learning environment challenges and empowers students to make informed decisions, to reach their highest potential, and to contribute to the communities in which they live and work.

The primary responsibility of all Red Rocks Community College faculty, both teaching and general, is education. Whether a faculty member is explaining a concept in a classroom, advising and counseling students, or providing library resources to students, faculty encourage students to achieve success. Excellent faculty understand the philosophy and the mission of the community college. They adapt their teaching and work to the needs of diverse students without compromising the high standards necessary to maintain the integrity of their discipline or work area. As life-long learners, excellent faculty demonstrate the love of learning. They are both mentors and models to their students and to colleagues in collaborative efforts, in the application of what they know to specific problems and issues, and in the critical thinking skills. Red Rocks Community College faculty possess the knowledge base, the personal qualities and skills, and the mastery of the teaching/learning process that exemplify faculty excellence. The full text of the Statement of Faculty Excellence can be viewed by clicking here.

Recognition of Excellence

Each spring the College holds Convocation in celebration of the dedication and achievements of faculty, students and staff. Through a combination of peer and student nominations a faculty member and a part time instructor are named faculty and instructor of the year and recognized at Convocation. Technical professional employees and classified staff each nominate one of their peers as well.

Columbine High School is in the service area of the College. In memory of the 12 students killed on that horrific day in April of 1999, the College gives full scholarships to two outstanding high school students recognized for their dedication to their own learning and their community as part of the Convocation.

The Alpha Kappa Sigma (AKS) chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society for two year colleges recognizes their members for exceptional accomplishments as part of Convocation. Those members receiving full university scholarships and those members exemplifying excellence through community service and involvement are acknowledged. In 2004, AKS was recognized for being named the top chapter in the state of Colorado. Red Rocks’ chapter President was named Outstanding Chapter President and the Red Rocks’ chapter vice-president became regional vice-president for 2004-2005. The chapter also placed first in service and second in fellowship, leadership and scholarship on hallmark essays in 2004.

Effective Preparation for Continued Learning

Today’s student is mobile. Students are more likely to complete their higher education in two or more institutions. Ensuring a smooth transition between institutions is the primary objective behind Colorado’s Guaranteed Transfer Program for General Education. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the 11 member panel appointed by the governor of Colorado as the governing board for Colorado colleges and universities, has worked with educators and industry leaders from across the state to develop core learning competencies in mathematics, reading, critical thinking, written communication, and technology.These competencies are defined as the foundational learning objectives in which today’s student must be proficient for successful continued learning in college as well as the modern workplace. The Common Course Numbering System documents these learning competencies in the course content guides for community college courses found in the CCNS database.

In Colorado, the annual 2 + 2 Conference of community college faculty and the 2 + 4 Conference of community college and university faculty review learning competencies, transfer agreements and course content guides to determine the continued relevance of the curriculum in meeting the educational outcomes of two and four year degree programs.

Demonstrating the Currency and Usefulness of Curricula

Red Rocks Community College has taken leadership among the state community colleges in developing a Service Learning Program. Students can earn transcripted credit by completing service learning projects. The Service Learning advisory board comprised of industry, community members and faculty has developed an extensive resource for students. The Service Learning Program is staffed by the Student Employment Office of the College. The Service Learning advisory board receives input from the instructional programs of the College in designing community service projects, job shadowing, internships, and other community outreach activities that help students gain real world experiences. Employers and community members have a single point of entry through the Student Employment Office to alert the Service Learning advisory board of potential opportunities. Examples of Service Learning projects completed in the last year in which students received transcripted credit include:

• ENG 131 – Students conducted research on advising and communication issues at the College providing data that was used as part of the strategic planning environmental scanning.

• ENG 131 – Students wrote user manuals and created websites for use of the Bedford Researcher textbook, CD, and online components.

• ACC Multiple – Accounting students provide free tax preparation to low income community residents through the VITA Program in Colorado. The College is an official VITA site.

• CIS 289 – Web development for community agencies culminated in an industry showcase in which students’ clients were invited to the College to share in a review of the completed projects.

• ECO 101 – Students prepared a presentation to encourage volunteerism specific to environmental organizations on behalf of the Sierra Club as a product of their research into the economics of social issues.

• MAR 216 – US Navy Recruiting Project. Class planned and hosted recruiting event.

Engaging students in the community offers experiences that develop the knowledge gained in the classroom into practical skills. The Health Careers programs of the College have extensive clinical rotations and internship requirements of the medical assistants, nursing assistant and physician assistant students. The shortage of health care practitioners particularly in underserved communities challenges the faculty in ensuring the student rotations and internships are sufficiently diverse. The mission of the health career programs is to prepare students for employment in medically underserved communities.

The College has pursued a unique partnership with a rural medically underserved community. Clear Creek County, a rural mountainous county in the service area of the College, recently lost the only medical clinic offering health care to low income residents. The County has offered fully furnished clinic space free of charge to the College. The College is proposing to staff the clinic with instructors and faculty that are licensed health care professionals who will serve as clinical preceptors for the students. The clinic will be open 15 hours a week during evenings and weekends. Not only will the health career students complete their rotations and internships in a rural clinic, but the students will be engaged in working with County residents and policy makers in documenting the health care issues to help the County pursue funding for a long term solution to their health care crisis.

Applying Knowledge Responsibly

The Honors Program fosters and nurtures a diverse community of learners consisting of highly motivated, creative and innovative students. Students accepted into the Honors Program enroll in advanced core courses and participate as a cohort of learners with the Honors faculty in a wide range of experiential activities. The annual Honor’s Colloquium challenges the students to apply their learning through interdisciplinary research of current topics. Students engage community members and organizations in developing theories for new approaches to issues facing modern society. The Colloquium allows the students to present their findings and engage in a dialogue with members from the community. High school seniors and juniors are invited to attend the Colloquium as evidence of the challenging learning environment that awaits them at the Community College. Each year, the College gives 2 scholarships to each of the 16 high schools in our service area to applicants that meet the entrance requirements of the Honors Program.

Creating student leadership opportunities on a commuter campus can be challenging and certainly requires creativity. Our diverse student body includes high school transfer students as well as older adults with a range of work and life experiences. The office of Student Life capitalizes on the interests of our students and encourages rich peer interactions by supporting more than twenty student organized and faculty sponsored clubs and organizations. Each club must draft a constitution, elect officers and be approved by the student government, The Student Voice. Many of the clubs offer events open to the public and participate in community service projects. A recent press release describes the upcoming Suicide Prevention week being hosted by the Psychology Club.

An example of a club promoting socially responsible leadership opportunities for students is the Real Issues and Social Knowledge (RISK) Club. The RISK club is co sponsored by faculty from the Economics and Political Science departments. Students who attend RISK club meetings are engaged in applying knowledge gained in social science classes to the real world. The RISK club provides a forum that encourages students to become engaged in the community. RISK sponsors community oriented events and activities that explore prevailing views on current issues. As the organizers of these events, students gain leadership skills, the ability to network with professionals affiliated with the organizations invited to participate, and opportunities to exchange ideas with diverse members of the community. A listing of the RISK club activities and sponsored events for the last school year can be viewed by clicking here.

Criterion Five: Engagement and Service. As called for by its mission, the organization identifies its constituencies and serves them in ways both value.

Analyzing the Capacity to Serve Constituent Needs

The mission documents of the College state:

The purpose of Red Rocks Community College is to give students opportunities for lifelong learning as a foundation for full participation in the global community. To do this, we provide

§ The first two years of baccalaureate education for transfer to four-year colleges and universities.

§ Occupational and business education designed to meet individual, local and regional employer needs.

§ Customized training and consulting for the public and private sector.

§ Basic skills education to give under-prepared students access to post-secondary education, entry-level employment, or job upgrades.

§ Student support services ranging from financial aid to child care that assist students with diverse backgrounds, needs and educational objectives.

§ Community services including cultural programs, non-credit offerings, and forums designed to encourage diversity of thought about public issues.

Documentation of the College’s involvement in each of these areas has been referenced throughout this document. More than 300 industry and community representatives have volunteered their time on program and College advisory councils, the Foundation Board and as student advisors and mentors. These external stakeholders provide a vital resource as they review curriculum for currency, conduct and host student internships and hire graduates.

Also referenced earlier was the follow up that is conducted with program graduates. These data resulting from the information sharing are critical in informing the decision processes concerning resource allocation. Investments in programs are made based on indicated needs. External stakeholders help the programs prioritize where resources are needed in the classroom and in support of professional development for faculty to ensure that the programs are keeping pace with changing workforce demands. External stakeholders are essential in evaluating the continuation of programs. As an example, low graduation rates and dwindling employment opportunities were data items driving the decision to create program task forces comprised of staff and community members to analyze the Technical Theater program and the Engineering Graphics Program referenced in Criterion 1.

Pass rates on certification exams is another data element that is used summatively in conjunction with the formative course and program assessments of student learning as part the overall program evaluations. Certification exam pass rates are used in the health career programs, computer information, and construction technology areas. Programs with exam pass rates below 90 percent will trigger a larger investigation. If specific test results are not available to College personnel, graduates are asked to provide information concerning the exams specific to areas in which they did not perform as well as expected.

The environmental scanning completed during the self assessment in the last school year, invited the stakeholders of the College to provide input through focus groups, advisory council meetings and surveys. As referenced under Criterion Two, the environmental scanning was used in an informational feedback loop. Using web enabled communication and ensuring follow up through subsequent meetings, stakeholders reviewed summaries of their input and participated in developing the focus areas that are currently driving the institutional planning process impacting student success.

Several divisions of the College are hosting a “We’re Listening” week for students March 14-18, 2005. The week will feature a variety of activities including, focus groups, surveys and “student on the street” interviews to gather input from students. The divisions hosting the Listening week include e-Learning, Marketing and Community Relations, the student and staff Diversity Council and the office of Institutional Research. Students from randomly selected classes will complete the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, computer workstations will be available in the hallways for students to view online course content and provide comment. The Marketing division will gather student’s reaction to the interactive College catalog now on CD-Rom. The Diversity Council will use focus groups and short opinion surveys to gather input concerning how the College culture values differences and fosters inclusion.

Responsiveness to Constituents

In addition to the Middle College and the post secondary options available to high school students referenced under Criterion 1, the College has joined with our K-12 partners to develop Academies which create seamless 11-14 grade degree programs. The CISCO, Engineering Graphics and soon to be added Multi Media Academies team College and high school faculty in the joint development of curricula and teaching strategies. Annually these academy teams participate in professional development to ensure the consistency of the content being taught. Students enter the academies as juniors in high school knowing that they will have the knowledge base to matriculate effortlessly into the college level courses required for their chosen degree pathway.

College Services Valued by Constituencies

Industry partners from Coors Brewing Company, PepsiCo, Suncor Energy Inc., Metro Wastewater Reclamation and Lakewood Brick and Tile met recently with the leadership of the College to invite the College to be the lead educational partner in developing a regional response to the workforce shortage looming for manufacturing industries employing process technicians. BP America awarded a Leadership grant to the College to jump start the curriculum development and equipment acquisition for the new Process Technician Program.

The College will be the first in the state of Colorado to offer a degree in Process Technology. The College has teamed with community colleges in New Mexico and Wyoming to develop a consistent core curriculum. The College will work initially with three high schools in our service area to create a pipeline of students recruited as juniors into the program. The process technology curriculum is rich in chemistry, physics and math. The curriculum provides vital hands on experiences reinforcing science and math principles. High schools with high populations of at risk students are excited about the potential of this curriculum due to the strong industry interest and the potential of starting wages for students with AAS degrees from between $17 and $25 per hour.

Today the hallways of the College are filled with representatives of more than 50 non profit organizations to recruit volunteers from students, staff and community members. This is the third annual Volunteer Fair hosted by the College. Events such as these are a monthly occurrence as community organizations look to the College as a community hub. The West Metro Fire District has asked the College to host the annual Family Fire Muster this summer. The Muster is the premiere safety event in our community. This free event features many diverse hands-on life activities. Families have the opportunity to meet and talk with the fire fighters, paramedics, police officers and other rescue professionals who work in their neighborhoods.  The Family Fire Muster is expected to attract more than 5,000 participants to the Red Rocks Lakewood campus.

The College will also host our community’s Relay for Life on behalf of the American Cancer Society. The College athletic field will be the site for teams of walkers from across the community, and a team of faculty and staff from the College, raising funds from pledges as part of this overnight event—because Cancer never sleeps!

2a. Through what specific actions has your organization demonstrated its responsiveness to the Commission in addressing specific accreditation concerns or challenges identified by the Commission’s last comprehensive evaluation?

The last comprehensive visit for Red Rocks Community College occurred during the 1997-1998 school year. The visit resulted in re-accreditation with no monitoring or progress report requirements. The next comprehensive visit is scheduled for the 2007-2008 school year. While noting dynamic leadership, a qualified faculty, dedication to student learning, and fine facilities, the team also noted concerns with the inadequacy of the institutional planning process, student advising, the underdeveloped academic assessment plan, and the lack of diversity in faculty and staff.

As part of the self assessment that occurred in the last year culminating in the Vital Focus in October of 2004, efforts to address these issues continue to be a priority. As confirmed by Dr. Teresa Hunt, the lead facilitator of the Vital Focus, the faculty, staff and administrators had a “remarkably high degree of consensus on what matters most.” The narrative describing the re-engineering of the institutional planning process appearing under Criterion 2 of this document is a testament of the College’s renewed commitment to involve the entire College community in a systemic review and development of comprehensive quality improvement initiatives.

As a summary of the detail included under Criterion 2, the initiatives identified under the umbrella of Student Success are Advising, Learning Services, Assessment of Student Learning and Enrollment Management. The initiatives’ impact will be measured systemically in terms of improved graduation rates and increased student retention. Each initiative has been charged to develop implementation plans with corresponding benchmarks to formatively track their progress. Should our application to AQIP be successful, these quality improvement initiatives are expected to form the basis of our Strategy for Action.

The self assessment has included a review of our mission documents. As part of that review a draft diversity statement has been developed for consideration to be included as part of our revised mission documents.

Diversity denotes the range of differences that exist in all of us. Diversity encompasses the differences that may exist from the various cultures and ethnicities represented among the students and staff of our campuses.  Diversity also recognizes the variety that exists in our ideas, viewpoints, perspectives, values, religious beliefs, and backgrounds.  Valuing these differences by creating an inclusive environment that provides opportunities to exchange ideas in the pursuit of educational excellence strengthens our institution and ensures our students are prepared to live and work in a global society.

While efforts have been made to recruit ethnically diverse students and faculty, the College’s service area lacks the ethnic diversity by which the last comprehensive visiting team chose to evaluate our diversity efforts. The College’s service area is 92 percent white. The tables found on the institutional research website of the College detail the ethnic and gender makeup of our faculty and staff. Our staff are composed of 16 percent minority members and our students’ minority ethnicity is at 18 percent. These percentages do outpace the minority population of our service area and do indicate our continuing efforts to improve our diversity in terms of the ethnic makeup of the College community.

2b. What specific actions or activities are you planning to take in order to address any accreditation concerns or challenges from the Commission’s last comprehensive evaluation that are still active issues?

The College submitted an institutional change request to add an online fire science management degree in 2003. The subsequent focused visit report recommended the approval of the degree with the stipulation that a progress report be filed in January of 2005 addressing the concerns of the focused visit team. Those concerns included advising, tutoring, and services to challenged students enrolled in online courses. The College created a new full time e-learning coordinator position in June of 2004. As a result of the allocation of resources to a dedicated position with the responsibilities to ensure that student support services are transparent to online learners, the progress report was accepted by HLC as sufficient evidence that the concerns of the focused team visitors have been addressed.

While the services have been made more accessible to online learners, the College is continuing to investigate additional resources developed for online learning environments. Under investigation is the Smart Thinking tutoring program for math, writing and the sciences, and a software-based advising system that allows students to track their course goals based on their degree pathway online. One of the challenges that remain is ensuring live help desk support 24-7. The College is currently negotiating with the community college system to leverage coverage supported by several institutions, thus we all benefit from offering 24-7 support to our students.

3. Why does your institution wish to participate in AQIP? What benefits do you hope to gain as a consequence of participating?

The College has consistently struggled to sustain systematized planning and evaluation of effectiveness critical to sustaining continuous quality improvement. Initiatives are developed with good intentions but seem to lose momentum before real data can be collected and analyzed. We are in a reactive mode with producing and analyzing data. We respond to external mandates from state, and federal entities for information, however; we fail to make use of the data in any meaningful way for our own planning and improvement efforts. AQIP has resonated with our College community as the continual motivator we need to ensure planning and improvement efforts remain top priority as mission critical!

We have excelled in program pockets across our campuses in developing innovative strategies to cope with dwindling resources and increased demands for service. We have not been effective in collecting and documenting evidence of the effectiveness of these efforts, nor have we been strategic in thinking how these worthwhile efforts could be adapted and broadly disseminated to other areas of the institution. Our creative lights remain hidden!

4. Since broad understanding of, support for, and commitment to a continuous improvement approach and AQIP are essential for their success, what is the current level and extent of these elements in your organization? What is the evidence that key groups in your organization (e.g., Board, CEO, senior leaders, faculty, and staff) understand the nature of continuous improvement efforts and the demands of AQIP?

Since June of 2004, the College has been under the leadership of Cliff Richardson, former chief financial officer of the College for the past 12 years. Cliff has been named the interim chief administrative officer when our president left to pursue other opportunities. Given the challenges of diminishing state support and increasing enrollments, having a business officer at the helm has been timely in ensuring our institution remains financially strong. Because Cliff has been in the leadership of the College for twelve years he understands the operations of the College and was quick to act. Upon becoming the interim administrative officer, Cliff created several task forces made up of staff, faculty and community members to evaluate programs and services he knew were struggling in terms of effective service delivery with cost over runs. The creation of the task forces, which has been further detailed as evidence of continuous quality improvement under Criterion 1, sent a clear message to the College community that the new leadership was prepared to work in partnership in making decisions impacting the core mission of the College.

Cliff’s leadership has energized the College community. He had been in his new role not quite a week in June of 2004 when he traveled to Chicago with a delegation of staff and faculty to attend the Vital Focus Design Training. Over the next three months the College was busily engaged in preparing for Conversation Day. College wide meetings were held to educate faculty and staff on the importance of thinking of our processes as part of a coordinated system instead of a collection of activities performed in different departments.

A presentation titled “Charting the Future of Red Rocks Community College” was prepared by the team returning from the Vital Focus Design training to help faculty and staff understand how important each of us are in furthering the efforts to improve student outcomes. Participation in the Constellation Survey by 90 percent of the faculty and staff was unprecedented given that the response rate to the Climate Survey has never topped 64 percent. The high response rate sent a message of the College-wide commitment to being involved in changing how we do business by integrating continuous quality improvement in our daily affairs instead of waiting for the clicking of the ten year HLC re-accreditation clock.

5. What are your plans for integrating participation in AQIP into your organization’s current agenda? Are there major events on the horizon (e.g., a change in leadership, a major contract negotiation, budget cuts), and how are you planning to address them or integrate them into your quality efforts?

The Colorado Community College System (CCCS) Board named a new chief operating officer, or president in October of 2004. Dr. Nancy McCallin was the former budget director in the Governor’s Office before being named the new CCCS president. Dr. McCallin has a very different set of skills than has been typical in the past for the leadership of the Community College System. Dr. McCallin has demonstrated her commitment to the 117,000 students enrolled in the 13 Colorado Community Colleges. Dr. McCallin has already acted upon major reforms designed to improve efficiencies and return dwindling state resources to the classroom. She has reduced the state office administrative costs by 30 percent. She is overseeing the migration of the CCCS computer system managing the student information, human resource and financial information to SCT Banner. Human resources and the financial information are on target for being online by fall of 2005. The student information system will begin processing student enrollments in August of 2005 with the expectation of being fully online by January of 2006. Dr. McCallin and the CCCS board have made the decision that all distance education offered by the community colleges will be standardized to one platform. This centralization of distance education is expected to reduce the cost redundancies incurred by each college in maintaining their own systems.

Dr. McCallin has lead the negotiation with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education in finalizing the Performance Contract referred to earlier under Criterion 1. Dr. McCallin has focused the outcome reporting to the Commission from standard process objectives of merely counting heads to outcome objectives that will be much more meaningful in keeping Colorado residents and policy makers informed of the value of community colleges in preparing workers and developing transfer students who are successful in the pursuit of university degrees. This paradigm shift at the governance level sets the stage for Colorado’s community colleges to re-think what quality means in measuring success. The leadership of Red Rocks Community College is using this shift to further engage faculty and staff in re-engineering our operations. As described in more detail under Criterion 2, the College has committed to a “culture of involvement” in developing planning structures focused in outcome measurements of improvement in student retention and graduation rates.

Currently four Colorado community colleges are operating with interim chief administrative officers. Dr. McCallin has notified these colleges that neither she nor the board have any immediate plans to pursue presidential searches. She has informed the interim officers that they are to “act as though permanent” in making decisions for their schools. Our interim chief administrative officer, Cliff Richardson, has led the College community in making a shared decision to apply to AQIP. Fridays after Conversation Day became “Focus Fridays”. Conversation Days were held with students and part time instructors. Two college wide meetings were held to systematically review the Vital Focus data, and stakeholder input to build consensus regarding our next steps and evaluating AQIP as the vehicle to help us achieve our improvement goals. Cliff’s commitment to the students of the College and his belief in the faculty and evidenced through his tangible efforts to improve communication and decision making has translated to a new energy rooted in excellence. A team of faculty and staff was formed to revisit the mission and vision of the College to set the stage for our new way of doing business. The team published their draft vision and mission and has met with the College Advisory Board whose members have been instrumental in helping us identify “What Matters Most” in our quest to improve student outcomes.

The DRAFT statements follow:

Vision: To be the college of first choice.

Mission: To create a passion for learning through our dedication to students, our commitment to excellence, and our own love of learning.

Our next steps are to define what these statements mean to us by adding our values and defining these statements through objectives that will outline our strategies for action. The quality journey facilitated by AQIP will give the College the motivation we need to sustain our passion for teaching and learning excellence as we embark on evaluating our processes, analyzing our results and setting new targets for improvement.

6. How are you planning to organize your quality effort? Explain which current or new structures (committees, systems, etc.) you will use to organize and run your improvement efforts? What organizational systems, structures, and other resources (e.g., a quality council, quality “champions,” task forces, training programs, etc.) currently exist or are planned that will sustain your continuous improvement efforts?

A review of the re-organization of the institutional planning process as a result of the College’s self assessment is detailed under Criterion 2 in this document. The committees have each identified their actionable items: (A review of the institutional planning committee structure referenced earlier is available by clicking here.)

Advising

§ Identify the student populations served by the College. How do their needs differ? How are they the same?

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