Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College Online Compliance Certification
Judgment of Compliance |
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Compliance |
Partial Compliance |
Non-Compliance |
NARRATIVE/JUSTIFICATION FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE
Southeast Kentucky Community and
One of the tools used to determine student achievement is course completion. At least once each year, reports are compiled showing the completion rate for each course offered at the college [1]. When failure and non-completion rates are above 40 percent, division chairs are alerted and—together with the dean of academic affairs—efforts are made to determine why the rate is high and then steps are taken for remedial action.
The college takes several steps to help ensure student success in the class room. During the semester instructors monitor attendance in their classroom and submit names of non-attendees to student services personnel. In addition, academic support center staff, working in cooperation with instructors, sends out a mid-semester status report to students who, for whatever reason, may be falling behind in their classes. This communication is designed to serve as an early warning system. Moreover, the college provides a variety of support services, including special programming through Title II C and Title IV of the Higher Education Act, and a comprehensive library, as outlined under Standard 3 that directly support student achievement.
When students are placed on probation at SKCTC for poor academic performance, they receive official notification from the office of the registrar. This correspondence provides information about meeting with academic support services personnel for the purpose of developing an individual improvement plan. When students are suspended at the college, they may, after one semester, apply for readmission. Students who have been suspended who reapply are required to appear before the academic review committee on his / her campus to make their case for reenrolling. The committee then recommends to the president or his designee to make a final determination.
It is noteworthy that the college has chosen to address the issue of student achievement in its Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Specifically, the Institution desires to improve student success in developmental mathematics. However, it is the belief of the QEP committee that the plan that is being proposed to achieve this result in developmental mathematics will in all probability work for other developmental disciplines as well.
In addition to examining course completion, the college also looks closely at program completion rates [2] as a part of its overall evaluation plan [3]. Completion rates for all technical programs are collected and reported as part of the Technical Education Data System (TEDS). This compilation and reporting responsibility falls under the auspices of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OEI).
Many programs, especially those in the allied health area, require students to write a national / state licensure examination. Results of these examinations inform program coordinators as well as the Institution about the degree to which student learning in these programs meets external standards and play an integral role in the overall program evaluation and planning. The college’s overall pass rate for all such programs has averaged 90 percent or higher for the past several years [4]. However, there is one exception: clinical laboratory technology. The pass rate for this program fell from 100 percent to less than 40 percent after the program was reorganized, following the retirement of the program coordinator. Recognizing that a problem existed, the division chair for allied health and the dean of academic affairs met with program personnel, as well as with program accrediting officials, to try to determine the reasons for this reversal. One thing that appeared to be a contributing factor was that the number of students admitted to the program had been increased from 14 to 24. Steps were taken in the fall of 2004 to reverse this change in the clinical laboratory technology program and administration continues to closely scrutinize all aspects of the program.
Another area that the college examines to evaluate student achievement is the success of transfer students at 4-year colleges and universities [5]. As is the case with the results from licensure examination, this information provided by the Institution’s primary transfer partners is shared with division chairs and classroom instructors.
Job placement rates [6] and employer satisfaction with graduate performance [7] are also used in gauging student achievement. This information is reported by individual programs through TEDS and through the work of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. Surveys are mailed to graduates and employers to gauge student employment rates and the level of employer satisfaction. Follow-up phone calls are made in an effort to elicit information not covered in the mail outs.
Finally, all of these factors are examined closely during the program review process [8].
