Self-Study Report - Olympic College

At the College level, the Cabinet has
included assessment measures in its work plan.
The results are reviewed quarterly, at the
Cabinet’s annual retreat, and shared with the
College community. As they have worked
through this year’s plan, the Cabinet has found
that the measures they selected are not all
strong ones. Efforts will be made to improve
upon this process in future years.
Administrative unit assessment activities
inform decision-making and resource allocation.
Instructional administrators use institutional
research around student faculty ratios, program
completions, and other data from the
Instructional Program Planning Data Book to
maintain and update an Instructional Program
Plan. The plan helps to determine which
disciplines are targeted for growth, including
faculty positions.
Participation in the College’s process of
institutional assessment through the fivecolumn
model is not always enthusiastic, but
most administrators and many staff do
understand its value and participate each year.
Over the years, the ability of individual
employees to write and understand outcomes
and objectives has improved significantly. Most
plans arrive each year with all five columns,
including the use of result, filled out in a
meaningful way. In most, but not all, cases
departments give extensive thought to the use
of their assessment results.
As shown in Figure 1.11 on previous page,
results of the five-column model impact
students by increasing students' understanding
of their educational options (Multicultural
Services); increasing GPAs of struggling students
(Running Start); increasing student persistence
(Opportunity Grant), and increasing students’
scheduling options (Shelton Campus).
It is, however, also the case each year that
some institutional effectiveness plans are not
completed. Limited resources, staff changes,
emerging and shifting priorities, etc., are often
responsible for unfinished plans; there are a
few areas, however, that choose not to
participate in the process. The President
encourages units to complete the five-column
model each year by endorsing the process and
by discussing its progress with Cabinet. The
College needs to explore strategies to
encourage all units to engage in this level of
assessment.
Educational�Assessment�
Description.��Olympic College’s program of
educational assessment includes elements
discussed in the section on institutional
assessment (such as the Student Achievement
Initiative and Instructional Program Planning
Program Review), and also focuses on the
assessment of student learning through course
and program level assessment and Core
Abilities. Educational assessment at Olympic
College stresses the value of improving student
learning through the same basic assessment
steps discussed above (i.e., collection of data,
analysis of findings, and use of results). The
adoption of a set of Core Abilities for Olympic
College graduates has furthered the discussion
among full and part-time faculty as they have
engaged in dialog and debated methods for
assessing student learning. The College now
has five Core Abilities which graduates should
have exposure to while they are at Olympic
College. They include communication, thinking,
information literacy and technology, global
perspective, and lifelong learning. For a full
discussion and specific information on
educational assessment please see Standard
Two.
Analysis.��Educational assessment in
particular has been a focus of the College over
the last five years and has grown in awareness
and importance among the faculty. One of the
College’s Strategic Initiatives (Strategic Initiative
Five) focuses on assessment and has several
outcomes and assessment measures evaluating
student learning. As a result, faculty
engagement in the assessment of student
1-24 {Standard�One}�Institutional Mission and Goals, Planning and Effectiveness