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Interim Report
| Submitted to Prepared by COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO October 2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Approval of Interim Report . . . . . ...... i ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO Approval of Interim Report This Interim Report is submitted in response to the recommendations from College of San Mateo's 2001 accreditation visit. This report has reviewed and approved by the San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees and with input from various members of the campus community. ______________/s/______________Ron Galatolo, District Chancellor ______________/s/______________Richard Holober, President, District Board of Trustees _____________ /s/______________ Shirley J. Kelly, President, College of San Mateo _____________/s/ ______________Rick Ambrose, President, Academic Senate i ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO Interim Report Preparation In Spring 2001, College of San Mateo (CSM) underwent a comprehensive site visit by a team from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) for the purposes of re-accreditation. The letter of transmittal advising the college of its re-affirmed accreditation included a request for an Interim Report, responding to six of the team's eight recommendations and a further request for information on district and college training of supervisors in an improved classified staff evaluation process. These concerns focus on a recognized need for improved integrated planning. This Interim Report responds to the issues raised in the letter of transmittal. This Interim Report was prepared by a history faculty member under special contract as selected by the college president and the college accreditation liaison officer. He conducted a comprehensive series of interviews with district and college leaders and collected documentation on planning processes. The following individuals participated in the collection of information and documentation: Ron Galatolo, Chancellor, San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) The draft was submitted to the Board of Trustees on October 11 and College Council on October 16. 1 College of San Mateo Interim Report Recommendation One: Institutional Planning The college should develop a comprehensive strategic plan that incorporates the results of all campus planning activities. Since receipt of the Commission letter re-affirming accreditation and asking for an Interim Report, College of San Mateo (CSM) has committed itself to improving its internal planning in virtually all respects. The various units within the college have embarked on efforts to improve their own planning and evaluation processes, which will form the basis for institutional strategic planning. The college began the strategic planning process in the Summer of 2001 when a sub-committee of College Council, the college's primary governance group, was formed and met to develop a model for planning. The Strategic Planning Committee (a subcommittee of the College Council) used extensively the Planning Resource Guide developed by the RP Group which describes numerous community college planning processes. In September 2001, the College of San Mateo Strategic Planning Model (Attachment 1) was presented to College Council for its consideration and input. Each of the four Council constituent groups - students, classified staff, faculty and administrators - were asked to seek input from their group. The model was completed in Spring 2002. The institution then turned its attention to developing a mission, vision, and values statement. For each statement, College Council began the process with a brainstorming activity to identify ideas that should be included. The Strategic Planning Committee then developed the ideas into coherent statements that were then returned to the Council for the members to discuss and share with their constituencies for additional input. The Strategic Planning Committee took this additional information and drafted the final statement for presentation to the Council. The mission statement was adopted by the Council in December of 2001, the vision statement in February 2002, and the values statement followed in April 2002. (Attachments 2, 3, and 4). Copies of these statements have been framed and placed in many public areas of the college. The next step was the identification of college goals that followed the process outlined above for the other statements. During Summer 2002, the Strategic Planning Committee refined the goals and presented the draft (Attachment 5) to College Council in September of 2002. Currently the measurable action steps for each goal are being developed. The new Strategic Planning Model relies heavily on research and on the program review process to both develop college goals and to respond to the previous year's activities (See also responses to Recommendations 2 and 3). Beginning with the current academic year, college goals will be reviewed and action steps developed in the spring for the following year. 2 Plans for human resources (primarily addressing needs for staff and faculty), enrollment management, technology, and facilities are to be developed using research outcomes, results of program reviews, and college goals (See responses to Recommendations 4 and 5). The new model will link all planning activities at the college with the budget development process. The unit plans from instruction, student services, operations and the president's office as well as the plans for human resources, enrollment management, technology and facilities will recommend appropriate expenditures that will be considered by the Budget Subcommittee of the College Council. Attachment 6 shows the annual planning timeframe that will be used to develop goals, submit program reviews and set expenditure priorities in areas of staffing and equipment. A more detailed timeline for the activities of the Office of Instruction has also been developed (Attachment 7). Recommendation Two: Integration of Institutional Research, Planning and Evaluation The college should support the development of a "campus climate of evidence" in which institutional research supports planning and decision-making and yields fuller understanding of both the college and the community it serves. College of San Mateo has made significant changes to support the development of a climate of evidence. The new reliance on program reviews will in itself require a greater use of internal and external data. These data will be more easily available in the future because of an administrative re-organization. During the past summer, the assignment of the dean of articulation and research was re-structured specifically to allow him to devote almost all of his work-load to his institutional and community research. That office also received a new 50%-time staff member to assist with the research. The dean had been publishing the results of institutional and community surveys on a regular basis for many years, but the new arrangement will allow him substantially more time for his research. (Attachment 8.) Also, the dean now reports not only to the president but also to the vice presidents of instruction and student services. During September 2002, the dean began working with the college president to establish a method for setting research priorities and responding to unit requests for assistance. As can be seen from the Strategic Planning Model flow-chart (Attachment 1), research and evaluation expertise will now be available to all college units. This will be particularly important for the instructional and student services areas. There will be not only the possibility of research requested by these units, but also the expectation that this possibility will be used as a foundation for planning. In addition to this re-structuring within the college, the district Chancellor's Office has commissioned an environmental survey of the district service area from an external consultant conversant with the needs of California Community Colleges. When completed, this will benefit all colleges in the district. Recently, several administrators and faculty have attended assessment conferences and will form an Academic Assessment Committee to guide college efforts on assessment. 3 Recommendation Three: Program Review The college should fully implement its self-study plan regarding program review. Strong faculty and administration leadership is needed to ensure that all program participate and do so in a timely manner. Also, a clear pathway needs to be established that links program review recommendations to the budgeting process. Planning within each instructional unit (division level) and by the vice president for instruction is now based on new departmental annual and quadrennial program reviews. During the summer of 2001, faculty leaders working under the authority of the Academic Senate developed a program review process, including an appropriate form. Approximately 40% of academic departments completed program reviews that first year. The vice president of instruction used this program review process during the last academic year in evaluating equipment and faculty position requests. Departments that had not submitted program reviews received little if any new funding as a matter of principle. The college views the first-year response to this major effort at departmental program reviews by faculty to be a major success. During Summer 2002, the faculty used the same procedure to revise the format of the program review form in light of the previous year's experience. The new format allows for the evaluation of the previous year's efforts towards the goals of each department. (Attachment 9) The results of the Fall 2002 program reviews will be used for decision-making during the 2002-2003 by the division deans and the vice president of instruction according to a time-line developed by the vice president. (See Attachment 7) Units within the student services area have undergone both annual and multi-year program reviews for the past ten years. The new planning model allows for instructional and student services program reviews to support directly the development of college goals and a strategic plan and to be related, through the vice presidents for instruction and student services and the College Council Budget Sub-Committee, to the financial aspect of institutional planning. Recommendation Four: Enrollment Management In coordination with recommendations relating to institutional planning, the college should develop and implement an effective enrollment management plan based on current and projected data about the college service area and students the college can serve. The plan should address declining student enrollments, changing demographics, and current instructional needs of the community. Until very recently, support for enrollment management efforts was not well organized. Many specific student programs in the student services area each had their own outreach, recruiting, and retention projects without significant coordination. The college had its own marketing program and one staff member assigned to high school recruiting within the service area. In addition, the language arts division and technology division (instructional areas) had their own recruitment programs. The dean of articulation and research had been conducting research on a continuing basis for many years without finding solid predictors of future student enrollment. Over the two years since the last self-study, total enrollment has increased by approximately 12%. The common wisdom is that the recent increase is due to 4 the economic downturn in the region. However, this increase is no reason for complacency. Responsible enrollment management is appropriate in all enrollment environments. CSM recently moved to consolidate enrollment management planning by establishing a new Enrollment Management Committee. The vice presidents of student services and instruction are working with the dean of admissions and records and the dean of the language arts division to set the parameters for the work of the committee, of which the two deans will be co-chairs. The purpose of the Enrollment Management Committee will be to develop an enrollment management plan which will be completed during Spring 2003. The approach of bringing together the student services and instructional areas shows promise. With the restructuring of the responsibilities of the dean of articulation and research, there will be substantial research support for the committee. The inclusion of representatives from the instructional side should guarantee attention to such issues as optimal utilization of scarce classroom resources, retention efforts, and cancellation of under-enrolled courses. Butte College has developed a plan that will be used as a model by the committee. The environmental scan commissioned by the district chancellor is designed to provide a baseline for both enrollment possibilities and community needs. Because of the dual reporting of the committee, to the instructional and student services areas, committee planning efforts can easily be integrated into college planning activities. Recommendation Five: Technology Plan The college should develop a long-range technology plan and a mechanism for its periodic updating. The primary acquisition of personal computers has been focused on classroom use, while teaching computer literacy is part of the task of the college. The acquisition of computers used by faculty, staff, and administrative units has varied widely and, except in the Office of Admissions and Records, seems to have been accomplished without any plan. Classrooms and offices are connected by an intranet. Many classrooms had been equipped with video players, but these are being replaced by monitors on carts wheeled about campus to various classrooms by audio-visual staff as needed. In November of 2001, the district secured voter approval of a large bond issue, and some of those resources will be available for technological upgrades. A new integrated science building will probably set many technological trends for the campus. There is, as yet, no integrated technology plan for CSM. The development of an integrated technology plan began at the September 2001 Management Council retreat. The dean of mathematics/science was asked to lead the planning. He prepared an outline for the project, which began with the formation of a technology planning committee composed of members from the relevant campus constituencies as well as community representatives and included a time-line. However, the passage of the bond measure required that he and many of his faculty turn their efforts to planning the new science building. He was succeeded in his technology planning position by another dean, who then found a position at another college. During September of 2002, the college appointed an electronic resources information librarian with experience in instructional technology issues to lead the effort. He has been given 13.3% release time for this planning assignment. This new technology planning coordinator will work with the Technology Officer of the district in developing his plans, beginning with a similar technology planning committee. 5 Recommendation Eight: Financial Resources The college should develop a long-range financial plan (two to three years). The plan needs to reflect a realistic estimate of enrollment and estimate of resources. This planning should take place in coordination with the college's overall planning activities. College of San Mateo has not had a long-term financial plan. During recent years, the District has been on the verge of becoming a basic aid district, which has helped free it from much legislative funding uncertainty. For the past two years, the district has used a conservative, zero-growth budget because of previous enrollment declines. The district apportions total unrestricted district revenues to the three colleges based strictly on relative percentage of full-time equivalent students. Because the salaries and benefits of the district comprise a higher percentage of the district budget than usual in California (about 90%), the colleges have relatively little opportunity for funding new initiatives. The new strategic planning model for CSM requires not only College Council coordination of programs with annual budgets but also college-wide long-range financial planning. In September 2002, the college dean of administrative services assumed the responsibility for developing such a plan beginning this October. He will begin by working with the existing Budget Subcommittee of College Council. Special Recommendation: Training for Employee Evaluation Procedures The district should conduct regular training for supervisors of classified staff and meet the obligation to initiate and guide the staff evaluation processes to that they are timely and consistent, and the college administration should follow through in conducting those evaluations. In the letter of transmittal of June 15, 2001, the above was singled out as a special topic for reporting. However, it is also verbatim the Recommendation Seven from the original team report. During the past academic year, the district's human resources department significantly improved its internal procedures. It corrected its computer database records on classified (and other) staff, and improved its mechanism for advising supervisors when employee evaluations were to be performed. However, the return rate of evaluations remained below 50%, which the director of human resources describes as "problematic but not uncommon in community college districts and other public agencies." To remedy this situation, the office is supporting efforts to make supervisor completion of employee evaluations part of the supervisors' evaluation by senior managers. However, due to staff shortages the district has not implemented a systematic approach to training supervisors in the evaluation process. Training does occur, but it is on an occasional basis, often at the request of supervisors. For example, the most recent training workshop was held on September 16, 2002, at the request of the CSM's facilities manager. The human resources director reports "the whole subject of how to evaluate employee performance is one of many topics that will be regularized as part of an overall training 'program' to be designed in the District as soon as possible." 6 Attachments (For copies of the attachments, please contact the President's Office at (650) 574-6222) 1. Strategic Planning Model 2. Mission Statement 3. Vision Statement 4. Values Statement 5. College Goals 6. Annual Planning Timeframe 7. Instructional Area Planning Cycle 8. College Organizational Chart 9. Annual Program Review Process 7 |
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