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| Last
updated
3/7/06
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Person
responsible for report: Delos Monteith |
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| 4.1
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When evaluating success with respect to student
achievement in relation to the institution’s mission,
the institution includes, as appropriate, consideration
of course completion, state licensing examinations, and
job placement rates. |
| |
 Compliance |
 Partial
Compliance |
Non-Compliance |
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| Narrative: |
Overall
student success is an integral component of the Southwestern
Community College mission. A portion of the College mission
statement reads: “seamless links with the community,
advanced technology and a culturally rich environment
promote student achievement and academic
excellence (1).”
In order to evaluate student achievement and success,
the college utilizes a variety of tools. The following
is a summary of the methods employed by the College to
assess student achievement and success.
Course Completion
The College monitors graduation rates as required by the
U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary
Education Data System (IPEDS) Graduation Rate Survey.
This survey evaluates the graduation rate of a cohort
of students over a four-year period. The following chart
provides the graduation rate of these cohorts as contained
in the spring 2002 – spring 2005 IPEDS reports.
| Cohort
Year |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
| 150%
Graduation Rate |
26% |
26% |
24% |
24% |
The North Carolina Community College System has established
twelve performance measures and standards for all 58 colleges
in the System. For a description of these measures, refer
to the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS)
web site (2).
One of the measures is designed to measure fall-to-fall
retention and graduation rates. The standard for this
measure is a combined retention and graduation rate of
at least 60 percent. As the following table indicates,
Southwestern has met this standard each of the past four
years.
| Cohort
Year |
Fall
2000 |
Fall
2001 |
Fall
2002 |
Fall
2003 |
Fall
2004 |
| %
of SCC Cohort Graduated/Retained |
68% |
63% |
65% |
65% |
65% |
In compliance with Title IV requirements, the College’s
Financial Aid Office monitors recipients of financial
aid to ensure these students make satisfactory academic
progress toward completing a degree or approved program.
Progress is measured in two ways – (1) by maintaining
a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0, and
(2) by limiting the number of credit hours a student may
attempt before finishing a program of study. For additional
information, refer to the Satisfactory Academic Progress
section of the SCC Student Handbook (3).
Irrespective of Title IV requirements, the College has
additional internal procedures to ensure students make
satisfactory progress. These include the Academic Probation
and Suspension Policy for students failing to maintain
a grade point average of 2.0 and the requirement of a
grade point average of 2.0 or higher in order to be eligible
for graduation (4).
Licensure Exam Pass Rates
Licensure Exam Pass Rates is another of the twelve performance
measures and standards implemented by the NCCCS. This
measure is based upon the percentage of first-time test
takers from community colleges passing an examination
required for North Carolina licensure prior to practicing
in the profession. The standard for the measure is an
aggregate pass rate of 80 percent, plus no single exam
lower than 70 percent. The System Office collects pass
rate information from the appropriate licensing board
for the areas listed below. The most recent exam results
for the college as presented in the table below:
| Licensure
Area |
Passing
Rate for 2004-05 Report |
| Basic
Law Enforcement Technology |
71% |
| Cosmetic
Arts: |
| Cosmetology |
95% |
| Manicurist |
82% |
| Emergency
Medical Technician: |
| EMT |
83% |
| EMT-I |
100% |
| EMT-P |
94% |
| Nursing
(Practical Nursing) |
100% |
| Nursing
(Registered Nursing) |
75% |
| Physical
Therapist Assistant |
82% |
| Radiography |
100% |
| Real
Estate |
65% |
| Aggregate
for All Exams |
84% |
Job
Placement
The College utilizes two methods to evaluate job placement
rates of its completers. The first method is a component
of the twelve performance measures and standards implemented
by the NCCCS. This measure is based upon the Common Follow-Up
System maintained by the North Carolina Employment Security
Commission (ESC). This measure is based upon employment
one year after graduation. Individuals
who are not found in the ESC database are omitted from
the measure. This would include individuals working in
another state, enrolled in a four-year college/university
and not working, never entered the labor market, etc.
The standard for this measure is 95 percent employed,
plus an adjustment up or down based upon the annual unemployment
rate for the service area of each college. The following
table provides the results of this survey for the 1998-99
through the 2002-03 graduating cohorts from Southwestern.
Southwestern met the standard for this measure each year.
| |
1998-99 |
1999-00 |
2000-01 |
2001-02 |
2002-03 |
| Percentage
Employed |
100% |
98.7% |
99.1% |
100% |
99.5% |
The second method used by the College to assess job
placement is an annual survey of SCC graduates. This
survey is conducted approximately six months after graduation
from the College. This data is compiled for the overall
College as well as by curriculum program. The following
table indicates the number of graduates, the number/percent
responding to the survey and the percentage indicating
that they were employed at the time of the survey.
| |
2000-01 |
2001-02 |
2002-03 |
2003-04 |
2004-05 |
| Number
of Graduates |
270 |
242 |
243 |
297 |
306 |
| Number
Surveyed |
266 |
235
|
235
|
289 |
283 |
| Number
Responding to Survey |
166 |
145
|
158 |
177 |
155 |
| Response
Rate |
62% |
62% |
67% |
61% |
55% |
| Percentage
Employed* |
93% |
87% |
82% |
82% |
83% |
| *Excludes
College Transfer Program graduates |
Other Measures of Student Success
In addition to the previously listed evaluations of
student success, the College utilizes several other
measures to assess student success.
Two of the twelve Performance Measures are designed
to assess the success of students taking developmental
courses. The first of these measures calculates the
percentage of developmental students completing Developmental
English, Math and Reading courses with a grade of “C”
or higher. The standard for this measure is that a minimum
of 70 percent of students completing these courses will
earn a “C” or higher. For the most recent
year, 87 percent of developmental students at Southwestern
earned a “C” or higher, compared to the
System average of 80 percent.
The second measure concerns the performance of developmental
students in subsequent college level courses compared
with the performance of non-developmental students in
those courses. These subsequent courses include English,
mathematics and social science courses. The standard
for this measure requires that there be no statistically
significant difference between the overall percentage
of developmental and non-developmental students earning
a grade of “C” or higher in these courses.
For the most recent year, Southwestern met the standard
for this measure, as there was not a statistically significant
difference in the performance of these two cohorts in
subsequent college courses (5).
A final example of how the College has evaluated student
achievement (specifically as it relates to the area
of retention) is the major retention initiative it undertook
in partnership with Noel-Levitz. Noel-Levitz has a national
reputation in higher education research and assessment.
This project began in fall semester 2001 and was completed
in spring semester 2004. The effort included the administration
of both student and faculty surveys in fall semester
2001 and in fall semester 2003. In response to issues
that emerged from the survey results, the College implemented
the following actions designed to increase overall student
retention.
| • |
Develop
an early alert system to be piloted by fall semester
2002 |
| • |
Create
a profile of non-persisting students by spring semester
2002 |
| • |
Strengthen
the advising process by developing a comprehensive
advising model with multiple phases to begin piloting
by summer semester 2002 |
| • |
Identify
students who are undecided majors and provide comprehensive
services in order to move them toward the choice
of a major |
| • |
Develop
a recruit back program to be piloted by fall semester
2002 |
| • |
Improve
and expand orientation to include program goals
and objectives as suggested by the National Orientation
Directors Association and the Council for the Advancement
of Standards in Higher Education for each semester
beginning summer semester 2002 |
| • |
Develop
a student centered, written service philosophy |
| • |
Implement
a training program that corresponds to the written
service philosophy |
| • |
Evaluate
the resources allocated to Financial Aid so that
the processing and counseling functions are better
managed to meet student needs |
| • |
Restructure
the job placement center to include current methodologies
regarding job search and career attainment |
| • |
Provide
an efficient and effective bookstore operation that
leads to increased customer satisfaction |
Teams were appointed to address each of these items
and action plans were developed for each item. The follow-up
survey conducted in fall semester 2003 indicated increases
in student satisfaction levels in a number of areas,
such as for the Bookstore, advising, career counseling
services, etc., which are likely attributable to the
actions implemented by the various teams.
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Support
Documentation: |
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