Solano Community College Planning Approach Current Status and

Solano Community College Planning Approach: Current Status and Suggestions for Refinement Andreea Serban, Ph. D. Solano Community College July 19, 2006

2005 Accreditation Recommendations Related to Planning and Institutional Effectiveness n General Recommendation 2: Improving Institutional Planning u In order to improve institutional planning, the College should clarify its terminology and processes used in planning so that the vocabulary is more easily understood and accepted institutionally, the planning processes are more integrated, and the plans actually get implemented. 2

2005 Accreditation Recommendations Related to Planning and Institutional Effectiveness n General Recommendation 3: Improving Institutional Effectiveness u In order to improve institutional effectiveness, the College should establish and implement a clear, systematic, consistent, and ongoing method of measuring and evaluating its effectiveness in achieving stated strategic planning goals and student learning outcomes. 3

Current SCC’s Plans and Planning Processes n Current Plans u Strategic Plan u Educational Master Plan u Technology Plan u Human Resources Plan u Facilities Plan u Fiscal Plan u Enrollment Plan u Marketing Plan u Matriculation Plan u Student Equity Plan u Three-year and annual operational unit plans u Annual Institutional Goals 4

Overall Observations n n n The college has put considerable effort into the development of various plans for all major areas of the college The college has developed a Master Planning Calendar and flow charts intended to clarify the sequence of steps and activities that are part of the planning process as well as the link between planning, evaluation and budgeting Commitment to process, not enough emphasis on outcomes and measurement of results 5

SCC’s Strategic Plan n Plan Development and Structure u Created in 1997 u One formal review/validation of the strategic plan done in 2000 u States College’s mission, vision and core values u Broad and solid statement of strategic directions and goals 6

SCC’s Strategic Plan - continued n Observations u There is no time frame associated with the Strategic plan u Goals are not clarified by associated specific objectives u Although the initial plan included performance indicators associated with each goal, they were removed during the validation process in 2000 u There is no formal annual evaluation of the strategic plan to determine the extent to which the strategic plan has been implemented 7

SCC’s Strategic Plan - continued n Observations u The strategic planning process is unclear. Such a process needs to be cyclical (conducted every 3 to 5 years) and should develop answers to three questions: q q q u Where are we now? – data on current operations Where do we want to be at a specified future date? – assessment of data on current operations, forecasts, environmental scans How will we get there? – activities necessary to achieve established goals There is not a clear connection between the annual institutional goals and the strategic plan 8

SCC’s Strategic Plan - continued n Suggested refinement of the Strategic Plan and process u Establish a cyclical strategic planning process u Employ existing shared governance groups, augmented by other faculty, staff and students as needed, to carry the strategic planning process u One standing group should have the overall and ongoing responsibility for the development, review, and evaluation of the strategic plan u Review the current strategic directions and goals; determine whether to continue or change them; associate a specific time frame 9

SCC’s Strategic Plan - continued n Suggested refinement of the Strategic Plan and process u u u Establish objectives for each goal that become the framework for institutional activities for the time frame of the strategic plan (3 to 5 years) Objectives should be: specific, measurable, time specific, attainable, result oriented The objectives should guide funding priorities and allocation of part of new resources or re-allocation of existing resources Establish an institutional effectiveness framework and set of indicators associated with each goal that are monitored and reviewed in conjunction with the annual evaluation of the strategic plan Institutional effectiveness indicators should help define broad terms such as “student success” – what is student success for SCC; how does the college know that its students are successful Establish an annual evaluation of the strategic plan to determine the status and progress made in achieving stated strategic plan 10 goals and objectives

SCC’s Educational Master Plan n Plan Development and Structure u Stated three year time frame u Repeats the content of the current strategic plan u Description of program review, planning and budget development process u Brief statement of SCC’s strengths and challenges identified for a given year u Summary for each of the units in Academic Affairs and Student Services u Brief review of prior year’s institutional goals and statement of next year’s institutional goals u Academic Affairs and Student Services priority activities for next year 11 u Reviewed annually

SCC’s Educational Master Plan n Observations u The plan contains a great degree of detail but it does not set broad educational goals or overall directions for the college u The annual priority activities at the end of the plan are either operational in nature (e. g. , hire a campus Web master) or are broad in scope and overlap with major goals included in other plans (e. g, identify and implement ERP software) u There is no integration between the educational and facilities master plan 12

SCC’s Educational Master Plan n Suggested refinement u The plan should be integrated with the Facilities master plan u Based on a cyclical environmental scan conducted in conjunction with the development of the strategic plan as well as an analysis of the demand for existing and new programs, the plan should concentrate on establishing major programmatic directions for the college for a stated period of time (ideally, the same as the strategic plan) 13

SCC’s Educational Master Plan n Suggested refinement u The text of the strategic plan does not need to be repeated in the educational master plan u The departmental synopses should be supporting information for the plan rather than the core of the plan u Annual priorities are better placed in operational unit plans rather than in the educational master plan 14

Unit Three-year and Annual Plans n Plans development and structure u The three-year and annual unit plans are long lists of activities or actions, mostly operational in nature u Many of the items listed are routine and fairly minor budgeting requests that should be handled within each unit u While such activities are certainly needed, they are part of the day-to-day operations and activities of any college 15

Unit Three-year and Annual Plans n Suggestions for refinement u The budgeting process should differentiate routine budget changes from major funding decisions and priorities u Vice Presidents should deal with routine budgeting decisions (e. g. , increase supply budget, buy new equipment for Engr 17 lab) within their own units u The three-year plans should deal with overall goals and objectives for the unit; while the annual plans should emphasize the operational and tactical activities to achieve the stated objectives 16

Suggested Next Steps n n Establish a cyclical strategic planning process Develop a complete strategic plan which includes objectives, timelines and institutional effectiveness indicators Establish an annual evaluation of the strategic plan, including an evaluation report for the that is widely disseminated and discussed Consolidate educational and facilities master plans; separate operational, annual activities from master plans 17

Suggested Next Steps n n n Review other existing plans (e. g. , technology, human resources) and establish formal annual evaluations for each to determine the degree to which they are being implemented Simplify three-year and annual unit plans Separate routine budget decisions from major ones 18