Foundations of Excellence

1
Foundations of Excellence

• FoE Steering CommitteeDebby King, Lynn Boone,
  Carolyn Turner, Susan Luebke, Michael Fisher,
  Tarsha Smith
• WHY NOW?
• We Cant Afford to Wait

2
Why Now?

• Need for change is great.
• Enrollment (recruitment and retention) is a
  problem.
• We have more programs and grants to help us
  improve what we do (Title III, Career Pathways,
  Carl Perkins).
• We have a process which can help make this
  happen.
• How is FoE Different?
• It is a process for change.
• It involves a true self study for our use.
• It relies on valid (information based) action
  plans
• There is accountability for action plans and
  overall plan.
• It provides external expertise to help make the
  change.

3
FoE Outcomes

• Enrollment gains
• Retention gains
• Increased campus-wide awareness of the importance
  of the first year
• Improved academic affairs/faculty/student affairs
  collaboration
• More faculty buy-in to first-year efforts
• Linkage to strategic planning, general education
  revision, integration with other
  multi-institution projects, interests of boards
  of trustees

4
Definitions

• FRESHMAN
• Any student with less than 30 college credit
  hours.
• Approximately 70 of the PCCUA students are
  classified as freshman.
• FoE will help all students.

5
FoE Process

• Gather information (surveys, discussions,
  practices, enrollment trends, policies,
  interventions).
• Analyze the state of the College in terms of
  information collected and specific dimensions or
  spheres (philosophy, organization, learning,
  campus culture, transitions, all students,
  diversity, roles and purpose, improvement).
• Use given performance indicators to evaluate the
  quality of the student experience ( we want to
  develop ways to improve those experiences.

6
FoE Process (cont.)

• Develop action plans for gaps or deficiencies in
  providing services, instruction, or meeting
  students needs
• Build FoE teams (use the whole college for
  information and brainstorming but work teams to
  get things accomplished).
• Review and Prioritize action steps.
• Designate who is accountable. Identify and
  charge appropriate people or departments with
  implementing actions (there must be a
  relationship between the action and the employee
  job function).

7
Surprises

• Survey respondents were too generous.
• Dialogue reflected a different picture.
• Student dialogue contradicted the student surveys
  in several ways.
• Low enrollment forced us to re-examine what we
  do.
• Current Practices Inventory stunned us.

8
Freshman EnrollmentTop 5
9
D-F or W
10
Current Interventions (CPI)

• Student Orientation
• Tutoring (Student Support Services, Title III,
  Career Pathways, Student Services)
• Advising
• We have few formal assistance and intervention
  programs in place

11
Interventions (cont.)

• We do not do a good job of communicating policies
  which impact the freshman student.
• Do our students get it ?
• Do we know if our students understand why they
  are here, are they able to set tangible goals,
  etc. etc. etc
• Do we get it?
• Are we helping them understand the importance of
  college, are we teaching them to learn, set and
  complete goals, and do we show a genuine concern
  that we want them here and care what happens to
  them?????

12
Bottom Line

• Adoption of some of the action plans can only
  bring about a positive change through
• Increased retention
• Better experiences for students
• Greater success for our students
• Higher morale for employees, students and the
  community.
• We can make PCC a better
• place for students and we need everyones help to
  do this. We also need everyones voice for input
  at the In-service.