Kaua‘i community college

Institutional Commitment

Evidence of the college’s commitment to provide high quality education and training to the community of Kaua‘i lies in the centrality of student learning to the mission. That commitment is expressed in the ongoing program actions for improvement and the stated outcomes that “contribute to the development of life-long learners who think critically, appreciate diversity, and lead successful, independent, socially responsible, and personally fulfilling lives.” The college is measuring the achievement of these outcomes through assessment and other evidence. New planning processes, structures, and policies were developed to help fulfill the mission and goals. Committees were re-purposed and many conversations were held across the campus within programs, divisions, committees, and campus-wide. The mission statement was created in 2002, reviewed in 2003, and was slated for another review in Fall 2005 but that was postponed until Fall 2006. Thereafter, it will be reviewed every two years. Overall, the college feels that this standard has been met and will be reinforced by more guidelines and training on the use of data.

Evaluation, Planning, and Improvement

One of the strongest areas of accomplishment with regards to the standards is in evaluation, planning, and improvement. The college has successfully created and implemented a planning process that begins with the mission and goals as beacons that guide the improvement process. The Program Review and Annual Program Review Update process is based on the examination of program data such as enrollment trends, student achievement, and student learning, and results in action plans and associated budget requests, which then move to the College Council, chancellor, and all the way through the UH budgeting process to the legislature and governor. A “mini” program review was completed by all instructional programs in Spring 2004 as a way of introducing the process. The full program review process has been ongoing since the Summer 2004 with 16 out of 24 programs completing the full review process and all programs, both instructional and non-instructional completing annual updates of action plans and budget requests. The budget allocation and development process has been fully implemented since 2005. These processes are evaluated continually by the Program Review Committee and the College Council.

Improvements to the curriculum are being further achieved through the course review process and the new Curriculum Action Form. The college has committed to reviewing courses periodically for content, relevance, methodology, and assessment of learning outcomes. Twenty percent of each program’s courses will be reviewed for five years. To date 60 courses have been reviewed.

Financially, the college maintains reserve funds above the minimum target to meet unforeseen emergencies and occurrences.

The college’s Long Range Development Plan is used to guide renovations and additions to the campus; the soon to be built, One-Stop Center is the result of such planning. The campus uses ADA and safety guidelines when renovating, building, or in the course or normal daily tasks. Recently new entry ways were renovated to meet ADA guidelines.

Student Learning Outcomes

The college’s greatest challenges lie in the area of systematic assessment of Student Learning Outcomes on program and campus levels. SLOs exist at the campus level, course level, and program level and are being more consistently and clearly tied together through the new Curriculum Action Form. However, the college lags in measuring outcomes at the program level in a systematic manner. Most programs established their SLOs but program assessment has not been fully developed in all programs.

An assessment committee was established in 1999 to help educate the campus about assessment. Various training events were and continue to be held. The committee developed and used a writing rubric in 2000 and 2002. In 2004 the committee re-focused on one of the campus SLOs each year for training and implementation by faculty. The Assessment Committee is currently working with selected programs to help them measure the Information Competency SLO since Spring 2006. Course level assessments are being aligned with program outcomes through program matrices.

Organization

The college has overhauled many of the processes on the campus having to do with planning or improving student learning. The typical change process involves an appointed task force to research and create processes, a committee to implement and evaluate, and policies or written documentation for guidance. The Assessment Task Force, Program Review committee, and Kaua‘i Community College Memorandum (KCCM) 1-6 is an example of this approach. The College Council became a decision-making body and is now guided by KCCM 1-7. The Information Technology Task Force developed the IT Strategic plan and was later transformed into the Information and Technology Advisory Council tasked with implementation of the plan. A new Position Request Form implemented this year requires justification as to how the position relates to the college’s plans, goals, and objectives. The Curriculum Committee, involved in the new course review effort, is working with a new Course Action Form (CAF) and providing tips and guidelines to help faculty move through the process. The Professional Development committee receives direction from program review action plans. The Assessment Committee was formed to aid in the assessment process. Each of these task forces and committees are (or have been) comprised of faculty or staff from appropriate programs or units and typically (but not always) an administrative contact or member is appointed to facilitate their actions.

The administrative staff was complete up to June 2006 when the Dean of Instruction retired. A search is underway to replace the dean at this writing. The college lacked a full-time Institutional Researcher (IR) for several years but that changed in January 2006 when the new IR came onboard. In 2005 the college considered re-organization of the administration to provide more administrative help to instructional programs.
The All College Hour on Friday afternoons was carved out of the class schedule initially to work on program review but it has been used variously for assessment workshops, self study, and to hold College Conversations on various campus issues. Convocations at the beginning of each semester are used to inform the faculty and staff about progress on various projects and upcoming events. Email, the campus mailboxes, the KCC Bulletin, and the campus intranet, CampusDocs, are additional channels for communication.