Annual Reflection - El Centro College · vision. For benchmarking purposes, ECC is using data from...

ANNUAL REFLECTION

AY 2015-16

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contributors ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1

Student Success Vision ...................................................................................................................................................... 2

Systematic Priorities ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Key Metrics Used in Measuring Progress ................................................................................................................... 5

Leadership & Vision ........................................................................................................................................................... 6

Data & Technology .............................................................................................................................................................. 7

Equity ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Teaching & Learning .......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Engagement & Communication ................................................................................................................................... 12

Strategy & Planning .......................................................................................................................................................... 14

Policies & Practices .......................................................................................................................................................... 16

References ........................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Contact Information ......................................................................................................................................................... 19

Data Elements........... ......................................................................................................................................................... 20

CONTRIBUTORS

Contributors

THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS GREATLY CONTRIBUTED TO OUR ANNUAL ACHIEVING THE DREAM EFFORTS AND THE COMPILING OF THIS REPORT.

Karen Stills-Royster Dean, Student Support Services

Dr. Teresa Isbell Dean, Research & Institutional Effectiveness, Planning, Assessment & Research

Karla Damron Dean, Instructional innovation and Academic Support

Beth Stall Executive Dean, STEM Division

Will Smith Associate Dean, Academic Transfer Division

Monica Stansberry College Career & Continuing Education & Developmental Studies Coordinator

Dr. Greg Morris Vice President of Academic Affairs

THE PURPOSE OF THE ANNUAL REFLECTION All Achieving the Dream institutions are required to submit an annual reflection. The annual reflection is an opportunity to consider our institution’s student success work over the past year and to plan for the coming year. Our College’s reflection also helps inform Achieving the Dream’s work in collecting data, identifying common themes, and building their knowledge of the institutional change process.

Dr. Greg Morris Vice President of Academic Affairs Achieving the Dream Chair June 1, 2016

STUDENT SUCCESS VISION

Student Success Vision

El Centro College’s 2015-16 Annual Reflection comes at the end of a year of meaningful, yet significant organizational changes, a newly aligned strategic vision, and a re-commitment to Achieving the Dream (ATD). With newly developed goals and clearly-defined deliverables, our new ATD efforts are now more congruent with the College’s overall strategy for student success. In accomplishing this, several key milestones were achieved in this critical 2015-16 academic year.

In summer 2015, a cross-disciplined and cross-departmental team of various stakeholders came together to craft the College’s new strategic plan. In August 2015, an equally diverse group of institutional stakeholders formed the Strategic Enrollment Management Committee and birthed a new comprehensive outreach, retention, and student success plan to guide the College.

Under the leadership of the new president, Dr. Jose Adames, external organizational consultants guided a comprehensive organizational review of both academic and student service areas. The resulting recommendations led to a significant, yet responsible, organizational restructuring at all levels of the College.

At the forefront of all strategic discussions was the deliberate goal to re-evaluate the College’s Achieving the Dream (ATD) efforts. In the summer 2015, the ATD leadership structure was realigned and relocated from an isolated division to the Office of Academic Affairs. The core leadership team was expanded to include the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the newly created positions of Dean of Student Support Services, and Dean of Instructional Innovation and Academic Support.

During fall 2015 return week, the entire ATD team, consisting of more than 20 staff, faculty, and administrators, participated in a compression planning activity to design a new path for ATD—a path that was central to the College’s strategic plan. In an effort to promote broad commitment across the College community, President Adames has led the way to ensure that ATD is at the center all faculty and staff events and activities. During fall and spring return weeks, ATD was the central focus of all presentations with small-group work sessions available on each ATD effort.

Moving forward, El Centro College’s major ATD themes of Student Engagement, Pathways, and Process Improvement are closely aligned with the College’s Strategic Initiatives identified in Figure 1.

ECC Strategic Initiatives:

Strategic Initiative 1: Be a leader in innovative and effective college readiness processes which provide students with a guided pathway.

Strategic Initiative 2: Be a leader in personalized guided pathways that employ flexible delivery methods shortening the time to completion.

Strategic Initiative 3: Establish a culture of excellence through personalized guided pathways for employee development.

Strategic Initiative 4: Be a leader in community transformation through innovative partnerships with community, business, and industry.

Strategic Initiative 5: Be an effective institution through continuous assessment of programs, processes, and practices.

Figure 1

SYSTEMATIC CHANGE PRIORITIES

Systematic Change Priorities

El Centro College will achieve its student success vision through three systematic change priorities: Student Engagement, Pathways, and Process Improvement. Tied to each of these change priorities, are several key student success efforts that seek to eliminate barriers to student progress and completion.

ENGAGEMENT Student Engagement is a key component of El Centro College’s ATD Initiative. On average, 76% of all students attend college part-time and maintain part-time or full-time employment. ECC students are unable to invest significant amounts of time in extra-curricular engagements. In the 2014 CCSSE, El Centro students rated Active and Collaborative Learning at 10 points lower than those of top performing schools. Our student engagement efforts will enhance fall-to-fall persistence, success in gateway courses, and specifically target male success.

Expansion of On-Course©: On-Course develops students by helping them to make good choices and take responsibility for their own learning and success. 30 new courses will have embedded On-Course principles with an additional 150 faculty trained in On-Course techniques. Data reveals that On-Course concepts can play a major role in student persistence and, therefore, will be a foundational component of the College’s engagement efforts.

Problem-Based Learning: In 2014, several gateway Biology courses were designed around problem-based learning. In these courses, success rates were 18% higher than those using traditional delivery. In spite of recent improvements in gateway course success (up 3% from FA2014 to FA2015). Anglo students still succeed at higher rates in gateway courses than African American and Hispanic students by nine and twenty percent, respectively. As part of the ATD effort, four (4) gateway disciplines will adopt problem-based learning across the curriculum.

Male Success Initiatives: Less than 4 percent of African American males graduate within 4 years. El Centro College’s male success initiatives seek to improve male credential attainment by 25% to 580 male graduates in 2017-18 (Figure 2). Foundational to our ATD efforts will be the development of male success initiatives that increase likelihood of persistence through engagement.

Figure 2

ECC’S SYSTEMATIC

CHANGE PRIORITIES:

• Student Engagement • Pathways • Process Improvement

SYSTEMATIC CHANGE PRIORITIES

PATHWAYS Unlike technical programs, El Centro’s transfer degrees lack prescribed pathway options. Developmental education options sometimes lack a cohesiveness that leads to student confusion. El Centro’s Pathway Effort will provide guided pathways for transfer students while removing barriers that hinder student success.

Self-directed Pathways: Fall-to-Fall retention among non-degree declared students is 9.6% lower than those with a declared major. A series of self-directed print and web tools will be designed for AA and AS degrees, specifically to increase degree declaration and improve course selection behaviors.

Enhance Summer Bridge: The summer bridge enhancement will focus on college readiness for recent HS graduates and include accelerated boot camps, and contextualized developmental education.

Streamline Developmental Education: Although student success is increasing in development education (53% to 59%, fall 2014 to fall 2015) many students still lack necessary skills to achieve success on state-mandated assessments and fail to gain entry into college-level coursework. The following efforts will reinforce developmental education efforts:

• Expand seamless pathways from adult basic education, developmental education and college-level coursework.

• Re-evaluate existing gateway assessments for closer alignment with course content at various levels of developmental education

• Integrate reading and writing instruction including those support services that promote success.

• Contextualize developmental education with First Year Experience.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT The majority of ECC students lack the know-how and support structures to navigate sometimes complicated and cumbersome processes. This inhibits their likelihood for success. El Centro’s Institutional Process Improvement Efforts will focus on (1) improving enrollment processes to increase college-going rates, (2) strategic course scheduling to reduce time-to-degree and (3) revisiting gateway assessment tools at the developmental education level.

APPEX: A Student Services Self Study

The Student Services and Enrollment Management (SSEM) Division is engaging in a self-evaluation using the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) guidelines. Through APPEX (Advancing Procedure and Protocol Excellence) the SSEM Division will use evaluated evidence to develop, modify and enhance protocols and practices to ultimately provide more effective and efficient programs and services. Office of Student Services will be initiating two efforts with the goal of improving efficiencies.

Strategic Course Scheduling

Academic divisions will work with student services to collectively develop data-informed course scheduling that is driven by historic registration patterns, early registration outcomes, and prescribed degree pathways.

KEY METRICS USED IN MEASURING PROGRESS

Key Metrics Used in Measuring Progress

DATA SOURCES National Student Clearinghouse

Predictive Analytics Reporting Framework

Student Achievement Measure

Voluntary Framework of Accountability

DATA SOURCES OVERVIEW El Centro College is using several data sources to measure our progress on achieving our student success vision. For benchmarking purposes, ECC is using data from the National Student Clearinghouse and the Voluntary Framework of Accountability. Internally, the college utilizes cohort tracking to measure fall-to-fall, fall-to-spring, credential attainment, and overall course completion with a C or better. ECC uses the following demographic variables for data disaggregation: ethnicity/race, gender, full time/part-time, and degree type. Age, first generation, and Pell recipients are also available for disaggregation analyses. The course completion data is also disaggregated by developmental and gateway classes. The two-year cohort tracking for progress from developmental to college readiness is reported via the VFA. The VFA developmental report and the internal student achievement measures report are included as uploads.

Beginning in fall 2016, ECC will have access to CIVITAS for predictive analytics reporting. The CIVITAS platform will provide indicators where interventions can be applied to improve student retention and completion. A sample snapshot is included as an upload.

CHALLENGES The Planning, Research & IE staff still struggle to meet the reporting needs of the college community. The CIVITAS Predictive Analytics will provide end users with data focused on intervention opportunities, but will require training. Student success is integrally linked with the College’s capacity to collect, analyze and synthesize data. In doing so, intervention strategies can be added, expanded or changed according to quantitative measurements. Moving from an anecdotal-based decision-making model to a data-informed model will require alignment of budget priorities to this critical function.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 Performing “deep dives” into the data to evaluate current initiatives will be a primary activity. The results will be used to developing interactive dashboards for college wide use. Tableau is a data tool that the Planning, Research & IE Office has not been able to fully utilize, but will be a priority for dashboard development. The ATD team will solicit budget funding for additional staffing expertise that will focus on data collection and analysis.

LEADERSHIP & VISION

Leadership & Vision

PROGRESS In 2015-16, El Centro College’s ATD efforts were guided through a process of intentionality that aligned with a similar approach used in crafting the College’s new strategic plan. In doing so, the College achieved a more intentional, concise, coherent, and comprehensive approach toward student success. Several key actions drove this change.

First, compression planning was used to develop, create, and align the ATD plan with the College’s Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Strategic Enrollment Plan. Second, the College engaged in a comprehensive reorganizational restructuring that was guided by external consultants. Third, ATD leadership was repositioned to the Office of Academic Affairs to ensure greater campus buy-in, and ATD focus areas were linked directly to strategic goals.

Under the leadership of Dr. Jose Adames, the College committed resources to a new program entitled, Circles of Excellence. This internally-funded grant program provides internal seed money for new initiatives or for scaling existing initiatives that have direct impact on student success. Several of ATD’s efforts including, the Men of Distinction, On Course, and the problem-based learning pilot have been funded through this innovative grant program.

CHALLENGES As with any significant organizational restructuring and leadership change, gaining campus buy-in can be one of the organization’s biggest challenges. The organizational restructuring still has components that need implementing, particularly in the area of developmental education and the First Year Experience. Although conceptually approved, this division has not been formally established and lacks comprehensive leadership. Unfortunately, limited internal expertise exists to lead this comprehensive effort so additional resources, both human and financial, may need to be secured to ensure seamless integration.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY El Centro College leadership team will work to continue gaining institutional buy-in, not only for ATD efforts, but also for ongoing organizational changes that will enhance student success. Organizationally, the College will embark on creating a new College Readiness Division as part of our existing organizational plan. This Division will house the First Year Experience and developmental reading and writing. Additional leadership efforts will be directed at gaining greater efficiencies in several academic support areas of the writing lab, reading lab, and the college’s learning center. This overarching goal of collaboration, seamless course scheduling, shared services, and integrated learning will be a hallmark of the new division.

DATA & TECHNOLOGY

Data & Technology

PROGRESS El Centro College continues to strive to make meaningful student success decisions that are supported through empirical quantitative and qualitative data. As a first step, the ATD data team embarked on developing a disaggregated data set across the ATD key performance indicators. Previously, this data was viewed at the aggregate level only and provided little insight into various sub-groups and their requisite student success performance. As a result of this effort, ECC now uses the following disaggregated variables of ethnicity/race, full-time/part-time status, degree type, age, first-generation classification, Pell eligibility, and gender across all ATD performance indicators. Through these efforts, we are able to much more closely monitor success of various efforts as it relates to a diverse set of demographic variables.

In addition to ongoing data analysis, ECC also has made significant strides in implementing technology solutions that are grounded in student success promising practices. Currently, software tools such as Estudias, Starfish, Student Lingo, and Appointment Plus are helping faculty, advisors, and other support staff make more meaningful engagement connections with students. These efforts further drive our Engagement efforts.

CHALLENGES In spite of significant data collection improvements, the College still struggles to collect and synthesize data in a timely and efficient manner. Shortages in IE staffing and a cumbersome SIS system hinder effective data collection. Although multiple data platforms exist (e.g., Estudias, Colleague, Tableau), these various tools seem to be disparate and fail to provide accurate and comprehensive data collection and reporting.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY Beginning in Fall 2016, ECC will have access to CIVITAS for predictive analytics reporting. The CIVITAS platform will provide indicators where interventions can be applied to improve student retention and completion. Furthermore, a realignment of budget priorities may be necessary as the need for more data collection, analysis, and synthesis increases.

In July, The ATD team will host a data-analysis retreat in order to analyze our performance in 2015-16. Through this effort, the ATD plan will be adjusted to align with our most critical improvement areas.

EQUITY

Equity

PROGRESS El Centro College serves some of Dallas’ most diverse, yet disenfranchised communities. Last year, more than 60 percent of all ECC students received the maximum Pell eligibility. With more than 28 percent of students identifying as African American and 41 percent identifying as Hispanic, the ECC campus is highly diverse. With such levels of economic and cultural diversity, the College attempts to design all experiences and efforts toward this richly diverse population.

One foundational ATD effort is appropriately tied to our Engagement activities and is focused particularly at male success. Less than 4 percent of African American males graduate within four years. On average, males persist from term-to-term 4 percent less than their female counterparts.

The new ATD plan includes a direct commitment to male success efforts and specifically the Men of Distinction program (MOD), which is intended to impact the success of males (Figure 3). This group experiences the largest achievement gaps at the College. The mission of MOD is to increase retention, success and completion of male students, who are then equipped with the marketable academic, social and leadership skills needed in the workplace. ECC has an established history of making equity a priority, both in the classroom and with respect to institutional policies and practices (e.g., hiring). As a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), ECC focuses significant grant resources toward federal, state, and regional funding streams that will help Hispanic, African American, and other underrepresented populations.

As a result of our efforts, the College saw a 2.08% increase in Fall to Spring retention among males from 2014-15 to 2015-16; however, the overall male retention stills lags behind females by more than 4 percent annually.

CHALLENGES As with any institution serving such a high percentage of underrepresented populations, there is a constant battle combating the effects of poverty, lack of preparedness, and general capacity of students to maneuver the complex higher education landscape. In spite of this, ECC’s ATD team is committed to make significant and meaningful impact in the lives of the students and the communities we serve.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY The Men of Distinction (MOD) Program will continue to expand beyond its initial 17 original mentors. Efforts will be focused on scaling the program to impact more male students. Additional focus will be placed on empowering former mentees to become mentors, thus, developing a strong cadre of peers, colleagues, and mentors in the MOD program.

Figure 3. PTK Nerd Nation attendees and Men of

Distinction Fellows

TEACHING & LEARNING

Teaching & Learning

PROGRESS Student Engagement is a key component of El Centro College’s Achieving the Dream Initiative. As part of the new ATD master plan, it was just as critical to address student engagement at the instruction level as it was through comprehensive student services. In the 2014 CCSSE, El Centro students rated Active and Collaborative Learning at 10 points lower than those of top performing schools. While success in gateway courses has increased overall by 3 percent, Fall 2014 to Fall 2015, Hispanic and African American student success in traditional gateway courses still lags far behind their Anglo-student counterparts (20% lower for African Americans, 9% lower for Hispanics). Engaging male, African American and Hispanic students is therefore a major focus area of our ATD efforts, specifically in the area of problem-based learning.

Student Engagement through a Problem-Based Learning Pilot

General biology is a very detailed and technical freshman-level college course, and proves to be a significant challenge for students of all backgrounds (Moore 2006). Fewer than 30% of high school graduates are adequately prepared for college-level biology courses (Cavanagh 2004). In a typical semester, most students predict they will do well in college-level courses, but many fail to succeed (Pryor et al 2010; Moore 2006). These numbers are typical regardless of instructor, which suggests that methods other than the typically lecture-heavy coursework could encourage more student success (Jensen and Moore 2008). Over the last decade several techniques have been developed and proposed in order to address such gaps in student learning. Flipped classrooms, contextualized learning, and project-based learning (also referred to as problem-based learning (PBL)) techniques have become popular methods for encouraging student engagement (Goh, 2014; Smith 2014).

In order to address student-learning challenges, Biology Instructors at El Centro College decided to overhaul the traditional methods used to teach the lecture and lab components of Biology 1406 (a majors-level general biology course). Instructors sought to limit the traditional ‘lecture’-style of class time and bring in more hands-on work including group activities and projects. This PBL design included reviewing textbook and lecture presentations prior to each class period (i.e. a flipped classroom model) in order to allow for more interaction and engagement during class time. In addition, lab activities were introduced in lecture to provide a more seamless transition between the two classroom components.

Students in PBL classes showed a higher overall success rate in the course (Figure 3). All students who enrolled in the course (including students who eventually dropped the course) were compared with those students who ultimately completed the course. In PBL courses, 54% of all students enrolled scored 70% or

Figure 4

TEACHING & LEARNING

higher in the class, while 37% of all students enrolled in traditional courses scored 70% or higher. Of those students who completed the PBL-formatted course, 73% scored 70% or higher in the class, while 55% of students who completed the traditional course scored 70% or higher.

The PBL class also exhibited a lower drop rate as compared to the traditional lecture class. On average 26% of students enrolled in PBL courses dropped the course; in contrast, an average of 33% of students enrolled in traditional courses dropped the course. This may be, in some degree, due to the significant differences in scoring on the first three exams in the course. PBL students scored an average of 66% on Exam 1 while traditional students averaged 61%. PBL students averaged 65% on Exam 2 while traditional students averaged 60%. PBL students scored an average of 65% on Exam 3 while traditional students averaged 57%. These higher PBL test averages likely had an effect on overall student confidence and the resulting lower drop rate in the PBL courses.

Embedded On Course Strategies across the Curriculum

In addition to problem-based learning, significant progress was made toward our ATD Engagement Goal by launching expanded On Course© instructional strategies through the curriculum. ECC currently uses Skip Downing’s On Course book in our student success/first-year experience course. Topics include personal responsibility, self-motivation, self-management, interdependence, self-awareness, lifelong learning, emotional intelligence, and believing in yourself. ECC’s Engagement effort focuses on expanding the use of these strategies, so students will have On Course principles reinforced through their educational journey. This will lead to higher student persistence rates and increased credentials attainment. This year, 137 faculty and staff participated in at least one On Course professional development event. Our Circle of Excellence proposal was funded to add a faculty champion position for On Course professional development for next year. Goals for this role will be to train 100 faculty and staff, add twenty course sections with embedded On Course skills, and create a repository of On Course Strategies faculty can use.

CHALLENGES Problem-based learning requires significant curricular rework at the discipline-level which can be costly, both from a financial and faculty investment perspective. El Centro College was fortunate to receive institutional dollars from the College’s Circles of Excellence program, a presidential-initiated grant program to help seed new initiatives. Additional funding will be required to accomplish the goal of having 4 gateway disciplines adopt problem-based learning. Although the Biology department has buy-in from faculty, other disciplines may be less-inclined to commit to problem-based learning and therefore, will require uniquely-targeted faculty-to-faculty outreach to gain further buy-in from faculty. One of the challenges with the On Course initiative is instilling greater faculty buy-in to redesign curriculum in their courses. Although this

Accomplishments: • 137 faculty & staff received

On Course© prof. dev.

• On Course© Faculty Champion position approved

TEACHING & LEARNING

ATD effort has produced high satisfaction and participation in On Course professional development, embedding those concepts into the curriculum requires new knowledge and stepping outside ones comfort zone. Another challenge is scaling of the project. While the College does well with using active learning strategies in student success courses, it is difficult to convince faculty in traditional disciplines to adopt similar practices.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY El Centro College’s four-year ATD goal is to implement problem-based learning across four (4) gateway disciplines. This initiative is a core component of our ATD plan’s Engagement focus. Problem-based learning has been embedded into all Biology 1406 courses -- consisting of more than 12 course sections each semester with headcounts exceeding 700 per academic year. In 2016-17, the Anatomy and Physiology curriculum (BIOL 2401 and 2402) will be transitioned to problem-based learning concepts. Additional gateway courses in Math and Psychology will be explored for possible conversion to problem-based learning with expected implementation dates for those disciplines to be during the 2017-18 academic year. The On Course Initiative goals for 2016-2017 are: (1) Train 100 faculty and staff, (2) Add twenty course sections with embedded On Course skills, and (3) Create a repository of On Course strategies faculty can use.

ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION

Engagement & Communication

PROGRESS In the past, El Centro College lacked a clear vision for broadly institutionalizing ATD efforts and acculturating the broader college community toward this national movement. With the recent restructuring, ATD has taken on a new institutional importance and now is seamlessly aligned with the institution’s strategic plan. Several key efforts have enhanced the profile of ATD at the College in the last year and subsequently increased its institutional reputation.

Newsletter: First, the ATD team initiated the quarterly ATD e-newsletter, ATD News, which is distributed quarterly to the entire campus community. The newsletter focuses on key initiatives and reports on quantifiable success across various key performance indicators that are tied to ATD success.

Score Cards: A series of Score Cards, available on the ATD website and distributed to the larger college campus, were developed to track success across all major ATD activities. ECC adopted the Score Card concept from Pierre Community College, an ATD Leader College. This method allows for clear delineation of goals and progress toward their completion. (Figure 5).

Partnerships: Pathways that promote completion are a major emphasis for ECC’s ATD plan. Pathways are most successful when (a) they are grounded in meaningful partnerships with stakeholders and (b) when they lead to defined career or educational opportunities.

YearUp: ECC has partnered with YearUp© to address closing the Opportunity Divide among Dallas’ most talented, yet disenfranchised urban young adults. Through this partnership, ECC has designed two unique pathway options in IT and Business that are seamlessly aligned with entry-level corporate jobs at Bank of America, Liberty Mutual, and AT&T, among others. YearUp’s© high expectation model focuses on a combination of college credits, marketable job training, and internship opportunities that lead to full-time employment.

DISD Collegiate Academies: Directly tied to ECC’s ATD Pathway Initiative, the DISD Collegiate Academies formalize high school and college pathways through dual enrollment alignment. More than 100 students from Pinkston, Roosevelt, and Adamson High Schools have been identified to begin key dual pathways this Fall 2016 with expected dual credential attainment in both HS diploma, Business and IT certifications.

Figure 5

ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION

CHALLENGES ECC’s marketing department is highly supportive of ATD efforts; however it is sometimes limited in financial and human resources. Much of the outreach, marketing, and branding of ATD happens organically within the various divisions where an effort may be focused. While this sometimes creates limitations, it also encourages ATD leads to think creatively about ways to garner faculty, staff, and external support for ATD efforts.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY El Centro College’s ATD team is committed to keeping ATD initiatives at the forefront of the institution’s efforts. ATD will again be a primary focus of fall 2016 and spring 2017 return weeks—with opportunities for faculty, staff, and administrators to learn more and participate in ongoing ATD efforts. The ATD team will continue to communicate to the greater campus community through its second volume of the ATD News and will continue using the Pierre Community College Score Card concept to keep external and internal stakeholders informed. Specific efforts will be geared toward both video and poster media outlets that feature key students who have benefited from ATD efforts.

STRATEGY & PLANNING

Strategy & Planning

PROGRESS El Centro College redesigned its 2015-2018 Strategic Plan to focus on five strategic initiatives. Three of these initiatives are designed around guided pathways. The college focused on pathways based on data showing that students who have determined a program of study at the beginning of their career are more likely to be retained, successfully complete courses and obtain a credential than those students who do not. A fourth strategic initiative focuses on the effectiveness of the institution through continuous assessment of programs, processes, and practices that maximize resources for improving student and employee success. The Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, the Outreach & Recruitment Plan, and the Academic Master Plan contain objectives associated with the onboarding of students, orientation and advisement, and scheduling of classes focused on making the path from entry to graduation more easily navigable. The Achieving the Dream initiatives were redesigned focusing on Student Engagement, Institutional Process Improvement, and Pathways.

CHALLENGES A new performance-based funding model was implemented by the State of Texas and is scheduled to go live in 2017. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) is providing data to the institutions based on the following performance measures or momentum points:

• Math/ Reading/Writing Readiness • Completion of 15 & 30 Sem. Credit Hours • Transfer to a 4-year Institution

• Passing 1st College-level Math/Reading/Writing Courses

• Completion of a Credential

In addition, the college district implemented a performance-based budget model utilizing the state momentum points including graduate employment. The college has aligned its key performance indicators to the momentum points and the college district performance measures. The challenge is the disaggregating ECC data from its sister colleges’ data. The VFA data will help with the disaggregation. Also, new state regulations regarding dual credit offerings to high school students now requires ECC to document and revise its dual credit enrollment processes and develop budgeting procedures to ensure that the college has the capacity to manage the enrollment growth. Tracking the dual credit student data to access student achievement and transition to postsecondary enrollment will be important to ECC’s overall success.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY Institutional process improvement is key to ECC maintaining its effectiveness. The following activities from the new ATD plan will ensure that ECC meets and overcomes its challenges: 1) Evaluate New Student Orientation and imbed proven success techniques; 2) Determine those pre-enrollment activities that will most improve success; and 3) Develop strategies that focus on converting applicants to registrants (including dual credit students). In addition, ECC will be developing student achievement reports using the

STRATEGY & PLANNING

Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) data. There are 46 ATD colleges including ECC that are members of the VFA. A review of the data presentation by Broward College gave a wonderful example of how colleges can leverage limited IR resources to improve student success. We will also develop benchmarks with other ATD colleges with additional VFA measures including career and technical education completions (Appendix A). The VFA reports also aligns with the college’s new strategic plan key performance indicators including the state and district performance funding measures.

PROMISING PRACTICE Compression planning is a tool developed and taught by the McNellis Group. ECC has utilized compression planning to move from ideas to initiatives in developing its Strategic Plan, the related master plans and the new ATD plan. Compression planning was also used to help identify the issues regarding dual credit enrollment and determining the actions required to improve the dual credit admissions process.

POLICIES & PRACTICES

Policies & Practices

PROGRESS In an effort to commit to continuous quality improvement, El Centro College (ECC) has implemented two major process initiatives, a self-study of all student services programs and strategic course scheduling. This spring the Student Services and Enrollment Management (SSEM) Division implemented a year-long self-study project to evaluate 17 different student programs and services. The project, named APPEX: Advancing Procedure and Protocol Excellence, will use the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) in Higher Education as its evaluative framework. CAS, a 35-year old trusted resource, is an established set of professional standards for the development, assessment, and improvement of quality student learning programs and services. Because this project includes services areas from the students initial points of connection (Recruitment/Outreach/Dual Credit) to the point of entry (Admissions/ Testing/Advising) as

well as all progressive points through completion (Career /Veteran/Disability Services/Multicultural/Student Life/ etc.) this project has the potential to positively impact all enrolled and prospective ECC students.

APPEX participants received training in February 2016, and by August 2016, each evaluated student service area is projected to implement an improvement action plan. Participating team members and programs will receive milestone recognitions as they make progress in implementing action plans, documenting processes, and providing coordinated staff training.

Within academics, ECC has taken a more intentional and proactive approach in strategic course scheduling. Leaders from across academic disciplines have refreshed processes for monitoring and planning for course enrollment. These efforts have resulted in a variety of block schedule offerings designed to easily illustrate logical course sequencing options offered during times that meet the needs of ECC students. A particular highlight this academic year was the college’s “Sprint to Finish” program, a sequenced block of eight-week core course offerings that illustrate a timely completion pathway towards an Associates of Arts or Sciences.

CHALLENGES The bulk of challenges related to changing processes and procedures is largely cultural in nature. ECC has undergone a vast amount of change over the last three years, which have yielded multiple phases of institutional reorganization. ECC, like many institutions, is challenged with positively framing assessment and evaluation for the purpose of improvement, as opposed to a variety of misconceived rationales that are punitive in nature. Trying to successfully implement process changes in a fifty year-old institution, where there are recent changes in leadership and subsequent perspective requires patience, open communication,

PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS:

• CAS (Council for the Advancement of Standards)

• APPEX (Advancing Procedure & Protocol Excellence

• Strategic Course Scheduling o Block scheduling o Sprint-to-Finish

POLICIES & PRACTICES

and genuine messaging explaining how changes will ultimately benefit our students, employees and community.

GOALS FOR 2016-17 AY Goal 1: 100 percent of student service areas will implement an improvement action plan based on the results of their APPEX self-study.

The college has already taken great measures to ensure that each student service area has a report that highlights areas for improvement. Student Services staff will have the opportunity in summer 2016 to develop department goals that will consider APPEX findings. Progress will be evaluated following the college’s normal assessment and program evaluation cycle.

Goal 2: Finalize and implement a renewed exit strategy for developmental reading and writing classes.

The college will utilize newly identified staff to focus on this effort which significantly impacts the pathway from developmental to credit for ECC students.

RESOURCE HELP FROM ATD? • Institutional policy/practice assessment models • Developmental exit strategy models • Course scheduling software vendors

Goals: •100 % of student service areas

will implement an improvement action plan •Finalize and implement a

renewed exit strategy for developmental reading and writing classes

REFERENCES

References

References

Cavanagh, S. (2004). Students Ill-prepared for College, ACT Warns. Education Week. 24(8). Retrieved October 17th, 2015 from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/10/20/08act.h24.html?qs=ACT+warns

Goh, K. (2014). What Good Teachers Do to Promote Effective Student Learning in a Problem-Based Learning Environment. Australian Journal of Education & Developmental Psychology. 14.

Jensen, P.A. and Moore, R. (2008). Students’ Behaviors, Grades & Perceptions in an Introductory Biology Course. The American Biology Teacher. 70(8).

Moore, R. (2006). What Uncouples Students’ Goals from Students’ Outcomes in Introductory Biology Courses? The Science Education Review. 5(1).

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2004/10/20/08act.h24.html?qs=ACT+warns

CONTACT INFORMATION

Contact Information

C. GREGORY MORRIS VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

Tel 214-860-2019 [email protected]

El Centro College 801 Main Street Tel 214.860.2019 www.elcentrocollege.edu

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.elcentrocollege.edu/

TERM TO TERM R 1

Column LabelsFULLTIME PARTTIME Total ECC OVERALL Total % RETAINED

Row Labels ECC OVERALL % RETAINED ECC OVERALL % RETAINED2014FA 1797 56.89% 9357 49.37% 11154 50.45%

NO 605 33.67% 4635 49.54% 5240 46.98%SP15 1192 66.33% 4722 50.46% 5914 53.02%

2015FA 1362 43.11% 9595 50.63% 10957 49.55%NO 344 25.26% 4675 48.72% 5019 45.81%SP16 1018 74.74% 4920 51.28% 5938 54.19%

Grand Total 3159 100.00% 18952 100.00% 22111 100.00%

TERM TO TERM 1

Column LabelsAFRICAN-AMERICAN ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER HISPANIC OTHER WHITE Total Count of STUDTotal % RETAINED

Row Labels Count of STUDENT % RETAINED Count of STUDENT % RETAINED Count of STUDENT % RETAINED Count of STUDENT % RETAINED Count of STUDENT % RETAINED2014FA 3152 53.18% 540 47.54% 4558 48.27% 623 51.19% 2281 51.97% 11154 50.45%

NO 1557 49.40% 269 49.81% 1969 43.20% 290 46.55% 1155 50.64% 5240 46.98%SP15 1595 50.60% 271 50.19% 2589 56.80% 333 53.45% 1126 49.36% 5914 53.02%

2015FA 2775 46.82% 596 52.46% 4884 51.73% 594 48.81% 2108 48.03% 10957 49.55%NO 1384 49.87% 318 53.36% 1968 40.29% 274 46.13% 1075 51.00% 5019 45.81%SP16 1391 50.13% 278 46.64% 2916 59.71% 320 53.87% 1033 49.00% 5938 54.19%

Grand Total 5927 100.00% 1136 100.00% 9442 100.00% 1217 100.00% 4389 100.00% 22111 100.00%

TERM TO TERM 1

Column LabelsF M Total Count of STUDENT Total % RETAINED

Row Labels Count of STUDENT % RETAINED Count of STUDENT % RETAINED2014FA 7398 50.45% 3756 50.43% 11154 50.45%

NO 3344 45.20% 1896 50.48% 5240 46.98%SP15 4054 54.80% 1860 49.52% 5914 53.02%

2015FA 7265 49.55% 3692 49.57% 10957 49.55%NO 3232 44.49% 1787 48.40% 5019 45.81%SP16 4033 55.51% 1905 51.60% 5938 54.19%

Grand Total 14663 100.00% 7448 100.00% 22111 100.00%

PrimaryFirst 1

Column LabelsAA AAS AS CERT NO DEGREE Total Count of STUDTotal % RETAINED


NO 649 49.54% 1950 41.76% 1123 45.52% 445 54.47% 1073 56.74% 5240 46.98%SP15 661 50.46% 2719 58.24% 1344 54.48% 372 45.53% 818 43.26% 5914 53.02%

2015FA 1170 47.18% 4080 46.63% 2296 48.20% 706 46.36% 2705 58.86% 10957 49.55%NO 582 49.74% 1650 40.44% 1043 45.43% 353 50.00% 1391 51.42% 5019 45.81%SP16 588 50.26% 2430 59.56% 1253 54.57% 353 50.00% 1314 48.58% 5938 54.19%

Grand Total 2480 100.00% 8749 100.00% 4763 100.00% 1523 100.00% 4596 100.00% 22111 100.00%

Fall to Spring (Overall) by Ethnicity, Gender, and Degree

FTIC_ATD YESTERM TO TERM 1



NO 97 28.28% 412 48.58% 509 42.74%SP15 246 71.72% 436 51.42% 682 57.26%

2015FA 284 45.30% 874 50.75% 1158 49.30%NO 65 22.89% 471 53.89% 536 46.29%SP16 219 77.11% 403 46.11% 622 53.71%

Grand Total 627 100.00% 1722 100.00% 2349 100.00%


Column LabelsAFRICAN-AMERICAN ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER HISPANIC OTHER WHITE Total Count of STUDENT Total % RETAINED


NO 166 45.86% 13 52.00% 215 36.69% 28 45.90% 87 55.41% 509 42.74%SP15 196 54.14% 12 48.00% 371 63.31% 33 54.10% 70 44.59% 682 57.26%

2015FA 312 46.29% 36 59.02% 605 50.80% 69 53.08% 136 46.42% 1158 49.30%NO 154 49.36% 14 38.89% 235 38.84% 37 53.62% 96 70.59% 536 46.29%SP16 158 50.64% 22 61.11% 370 61.16% 32 46.38% 40 29.41% 622 53.71%

Grand Total 674 100.00% 61 100.00% 1191 100.00% 130 100.00% 293 100.00% 2349 100.00%


Column LabelsF M Total Count of STUDETotal % RETAINED


NO 280 36.84% 229 53.13% 509 42.74%SP15 480 63.16% 202 46.87% 682 57.26%

2015FA 715 48.47% 443 50.69% 1158 49.30%NO 282 39.44% 254 57.34% 536 46.29%SP16 433 60.56% 189 42.66% 622 53.71%

Grand Total 1475 100.00% 874 100.00% 2349 100.00%

FTIC_ATD YESPrimaryFirst 1

Column LabelsAA AAS AS CERT NO DEGREE Total Count of STUDENT Total % RETAINED


NO 53 32.12% 165 38.64% 86 29.55% 41 42.27% 164 77.73% 509 42.74%SP15 112 67.88% 262 61.36% 205 70.45% 56 57.73% 47 22.27% 682 57.26%

2015FA 153 48.11% 328 43.44% 283 49.30% 92 48.68% 302 58.87% 1158 49.30%NO 53 34.64% 101 30.79% 104 36.75% 47 51.09% 231 76.49% 536 46.29%SP16 100 65.36% 227 69.21% 179 63.25% 45 48.91% 71 23.51% 622 53.71%

Grand Total 318 100.00% 755 100.00% 574 100.00% 189 100.00% 513 100.00% 2349 100.00%

Fall to Spring (FTIC) by Ethnicity, Gender, and Degree Type

FALL TO FALL RETENTION 1



FA15 736 40.96% 3069 32.80% 3805 34.11%NO 1061 59.04% 6288 67.20% 7349 65.89%

Grand Total 1797 100.00% 9357 100.00% 11154 100.00%




FA15 968 30.71% 176 32.59% 1811 39.73% 196 31.46% 654 28.67% 3805 34.11%NO 2184 69.29% 364 67.41% 2747 60.27% 427 68.54% 1627 71.33% 7349 65.89%

Grand Total 3152 100.00% 540 100.00% 4558 100.00% 623 100.00% 2281 100.00% 11154 100.00%




FA15 2626 35.50% 1179 31.39% 3805 34.11%NO 4772 64.50% 2577 68.61% 7349 65.89%

Grand Total 7398 100.00% 3756 100.00% 11154 100.00%


Column LabelsAA AAS AS CERT NO DEGREE Total Count of STUDENT Total % RETAINED


FA15 417 31.83% 1848 39.58% 853 34.58% 254 31.09% 433 22.90% 3805 34.11%NO 893 68.17% 2821 60.42% 1614 65.42% 563 68.91% 1458 77.10% 7349 65.89%

Grand Total 1310 100.00% 4669 100.00% 2467 100.00% 817 100.00% 1891 100.00% 11154 100.00%

Fall to Fall (Overall) by Ethnicity, Gender, and Degree Type

FALL TO FALL RETENTION 1FTIC_ATD YES



FA15 154 44.90% 244 28.77% 398 33.42%NO 189 55.10% 604 71.23% 793 66.58%

Grand Total 343 100.00% 848 100.00% 1191 100.00%

FALL TO FALL RETENTION 1FTIC_ATD YESDEGREE_TYPE (All)



FA15 82 22.65% 6 24.00% 254 43.34% 18 29.51% 38 24.20% 398 33.42%NO 280 77.35% 19 76.00% 332 56.66% 43 70.49% 119 75.80% 793 66.58%

Grand Total 362 100.00% 25 100.00% 586 100.00% 61 100.00% 157 100.00% 1191 100.00%




FA15 285 37.50% 113 26.22% 398 33.42%NO 475 62.50% 318 73.78% 793 66.58%

2015FA 715 48.47% 443 50.69% 1158 49.30%(blank) 715 100.00% 443 100.00% 1158 100.00%

Grand Total 1475 100.00% 874 100.00% 2349 100.00%


% RETAINED Column LabelsRow Labels AA AAS AS CERT NO DEGREE Grand Total

2014FA 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%FA15 41.82% 36.30% 41.24% 29.90% 11.85% 33.42%NO 58.18% 63.70% 58.76% 70.10% 88.15% 66.58%

Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

Fall to Fall (FTIC) by Ethnicty, Gender, and Degree Type

GATEWAY COURSES (Multiple Items)

Row Labels Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL2014FA 1342 52% 2032 79% 2570

FULLTIME 504 53% 772 81% 954PARTTIME 838 52% 1260 78% 1616

2015FA 1306 55% 1969 82% 2390FULLTIME 470 56% 708 85% 834PARTTIME 836 54% 1261 81% 1556

Grand Total 2648 53% 4001 81% 4960


ETHNICITY Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL2014FA 1342 52% 2032 79% 2570

AFRICAN-AMERICAN 296 42% 540 77% 703ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER 40 77% 47 90% 52HISPANIC 688 53% 1026 79% 1294OTHER 66 58% 89 79% 113WHITE 252 62% 330 81% 408

2015FA 1306 55% 1969 82% 2390AFRICAN-AMERICAN 247 42% 446 77% 582ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER 61 70% 78 90% 87HISPANIC 671 56% 1000 84% 1192OTHER 75 53% 114 81% 141WHITE 252 65% 331 85% 388

Grand Total 2648 53% 4001 81% 4960


GENDER Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL2014FA 1342 52% 2032 79% 2570

F 936 52% 1418 79% 1786M 406 52% 614 78% 784

2015FA 1306 55% 1969 82% 2390F 928 57% 1346 83% 1618M 378 49% 623 81% 772

Grand Total 2648 53% 4001 81% 4960


PROGRAM Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL2014FA 1342 52% 2032 79% 2570

AA 174 46% 290 76% 382AAS 503 49% 807 79% 1017AS 433 54% 631 79% 797CERT 58 45% 101 78% 129NO DEGREE 174 71% 203 83% 245

2015FA 1306 55% 1969 82% 2390AA 168 50% 262 78% 335AAS 445 50% 707 80% 889AS 429 58% 635 85% 745CERT 50 46% 85 79% 108NO DEGREE 214 68% 280 89% 313

Grand Total 2648 53% 4001 81% 4960

Success in Gateway Courses by FT/PT, Ethnicity, Gender & Degree Type

DEVELOPMENTAL (Multiple Items)

OVERALL Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL2014FA 1149 53% 1854 86% 2165

FULLTIME 377 50% 627 84% 748PARTTIME 772 54% 1227 87% 1417


Grand Total 2133 56% 3364 88% 3836



AFRICAN-AMERICAN 458 47% 829 84% 982ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER 11 46% 21 88% 24HISPANIC 532 60% 779 88% 886OTHER 56 51% 95 87% 109WHITE 92 56% 130 79% 164

2015FA 984 59% 1510 90% 1671AFRICAN-AMERICAN 263 49% 469 88% 535ASIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER 10 71% 14 100% 14HISPANIC 605 64% 870 92% 941OTHER 45 71% 59 94% 63WHITE 61 52% 98 83% 118

Grand Total 2133 56% 3364 88% 3836



F 823 55% 1298 86% 1505M 326 49% 556 84% 660

2015FA 984 59% 1510 90% 1671F 731 63% 1061 91% 1167M 253 50% 449 89% 504

Grand Total 2133 56% 3364 88% 3836




2015FA 984 59% 1510 90% 1671AA 154 55% 253 91% 278AAS 372 58% 571 89% 638AS 304 66% 426 92% 462CERT 75 51% 127 87% 146NO DEGREE 79 54% 133 90% 147

Grand Total 2133 56% 3364 88% 3836

Success in Developmental Courses by FT/PT, Ethnicity, Gender & Degree Type

ECC Overall Success and Completion RatesOVERALL Sum of SUCCESS Sum of % SUCCESS Sum of COMPLETION Sum of % COMPLETION Sum of TOTAL



Grand Total 33910 70% 42306 87% 48372


AFRICAN-AM 4382 60% 6218 85% 7297ASIAN OR PA 1026 86% 1123 94% 1200HISPANIC 7186 72% 8884 89% 9953OTHER 1076 76% 1274 90% 1421WHITE 3993 79% 4529 90% 5037

2015FA 16247 69% 20278 86% 23464AFRICAN-AM 3787 61% 5265 85% 6225ASIAN OR PA 955 76% 1087 87% 1253HISPANIC 7210 70% 8912 87% 10227OTHER 905 70% 1108 85% 1301WHITE 3390 76% 3906 88% 4458

Grand Total 33910 70% 42306 87% 48372


F 11855 72% 14615 89% 16478M 5808 69% 7413 88% 8430

2015FA 16247 69% 20278 86% 23464F 11217 72% 13629 87% 15642M 5030 64% 6649 85% 7822

Grand Total 33910 70% 42306 87% 48372



2015FA 16247 69% 20278 86% 23464AA 1707 63% 2339 87% 2697AAS 7371 73% 8980 89% 10043

Course Success by FT/PT, Ethnicity, Gender, and Degree Type

AS 3628 68% 4672 88% 5302CERT 1031 67% 1331 87% 1538NO DEGREE 2510 65% 2956 76% 3884

Grand Total 33910 70% 42306 87% 48372

Annual Reflection - El Centro College · vision. For benchmarking purposes, ECC is using data from...

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