RVCC 2019 NECHE Self-Study

Description
River Valley Community College demonstrates its effectiveness by ensuring that levels of
student success are satisfactory, consistent with the degree/certificate awarded, and
appropriate to the College’s Mission and Purposes. The College gathers and analyzes data
on many of RVCC’s expected outcomes utilizing key institution-wide student success
measures, including program passage rates, academic program review, and Graduate
Satisfaction Surveys. To date, data across the four locations: Claremont, Lebanon, Keene,
and online are aggregated. Students at RVCC are not assigned to a specific campus, but
are a member of RVCC as a whole; therefore, data collected on students is not reflective of
any one location. Students often take courses in multiple locations simultaneously,
particularly since the geography of the Claremont Campus and the Lebanon Academic
Center are so close. For example, Business programs offer Zoom classes to allow students
at any location to attend. Data relevant to these success measures will be explored fully
later in this section. The Community College System of New Hampshire provides
enrollment and retention data needed for program review. The Registrar’s Office provides
graduate rates, IPEDS/VFA reporting, and the Academic Affairs Office has initiated
strategic planning. Other departments such as the Student Success Center and Career
Services, Admissions, and Academic Affairs collect specific student data important to their
respective functions. Many programs evaluate data to meet their individual accrediting
agency standards and the internal college program review process helps to evaluate the
effectiveness of non-accredited programs. RVCC enrolls students into either certificate or
degree programs as one student body.
Of interest to note, and one of the reasons data collection can be confusing, is that CCSNH
and RVCC use two distinct databases: IPEDS and Veera Bridge. IPEDS data is reported
through the Registrar’s Office by pulling reports from Banner and is reported from July to
June of the previous year. Veera Bridge pulls data from our Banner reporting system but
aggregates it by semester. Banner is the CCSNH database that is used to track all aspects
of individual student records from application to registration. Since RVCC follows three
semesters (fall: mid-August through December, spring: January through mid-May, and
summer: mid-May through mid-August); data pulled from Veera Bridge does not match
exactly with IPEDS. The differences in reporting cycles sometimes leads to a slight
mismatch in the numbers seen across data although both reporting systems are accurate.
Data Collection, Assessment & Effectiveness
College Outcomes
RVCC clearly identifies the expected outcomes for the College in the College Catalog and
on the website. The Expected Outcomes of the College are reflective of the mission of
RVCC and identify ways in which the College works to transform lives through personal
approaches to each student. RVCC is an open access college and provides access to
higher education for all members of the community. At River Valley, 53% of the student
population are age 21 and over. In Fall of 2017, of the 859 students enrolled at the
120 | P a g e