August 7, 2013 Planning Committee Meeting

The Planning Committee of the Board of Trustees of Illinois Valley Community College District No. 513 met at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 7, 2013 at the Illinois Valley Community College Ottawa Center, Ottawa, IL.

THE INTEGRATED POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM (IPEDS)

IPEDS is a system of survey components that collects data from about 7,500 institutions that provide postsecondary education across the United States.  IPEDS collects institution-level data on students (enrollment and graduation rates), student charges, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances.  Comparison group data is included to provide a context for interpreting IVCC’s statistics.  IVCC chose 11 institutions to be in the custom comparison group which included:  Highland Community College, Illinois Eastern Community Colleges – Olney Central College and Wabash Valley College, John A. Logan College, Kankakee Community College, Kishwaukee College, Lake Land College, Lewis and Clark Community College, McHenry County College, Richland Community College, and Sauk Valley Community College.  The data provided is from academic year 2011-2012.  The percent of students enrolled by race/ethnicity and percent of students who are women was reviewed.  Because the summer of 2011 was the last semester Sheridan inmates were taking IVCC classes, there was a drop in some subpopulations, i.e., Male and Black/African American.  The federal government has also changed the way it categorizes students and employees by race and ethnicity.  The fall term full-time headcount continues to decline, while the part-time headcount has increased slightly.  The unduplicated headcount and total FTE for FY2011-12 remained fairly stable.  There were 45 fewer students, but those enrolled generated 63 more credit hours than in the previous year.  The number of completions has continued to increase, reaching an eight-year high in the number of Associate degrees and certificates of less than one year.  IVCC reported an increase in the number of Pell grant recipients, but the Pell grant package shows a decline because the larger number of students received marginal amounts of aid.  It was noted that institutional grants (financial waivers by the college) were well below the average of its peers.  From a KPI standpoint, what can IVCC do to help students with grants?  It was also noted the percent of all undergraduates receiving financial aid was seven percent below its peer group.  Many of the students do not apply for financial aid because IVCC’s tuition is low and they don’t think they will qualify.  It was suggested to look deeper into this issue when KPIs are discussed.  Of concern is the decline in students’ fall to fall retention rate.  The full-time retention rate has typically been in the 66 percent to 69 percent range.  Although 62 percent is still 5 percent above the median and third out of twelve peer institutions, this is still a large decline from previous reporting.  The part-time retention rate ranks second in the peer group.  IVCC has somewhat higher graduation rates than most of its peer institutions. This is a result of the admissions department a few years ago aggressively encouraging students to “Commit to Complete.”  Program coordinators were also encouraging students to stay together and graduate.  Average salaries of full-time instructional staff ranked high.  This could be attributed to having more senior members and more credentials and maybe the way it is being reported.  All of those factors can contribute to a higher cost.  KPIs will be presented and discussed with the Strategic Leadership and Planning Council and then presented to the Planning Committee.  With the next IPEDS report, the results will be compared with the past reports.

2012 PERSONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT (PACE)

IVCC has collaborated with the National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE) to conduct the PACE.  The underlying thesis of the PACE model is that organizational leadership motivates four factors of institutional climate:  Institutional Structure, Supervisory Relationships, Teamwork, and Student Focus.   Leadership style and institutional climate, in turn, affect student success and institutional effectiveness.   NILIE has identified four leadership models, arranged in order from least desirable to most desirable:  Coercive, Competitive, Consultative and Collaborative.  The Collaborative model yields greater productivity, job satisfaction, communication, and overall institutional effectiveness.  The PACE survey was distributed to 422 IVCC staff, faculty, and administrators in October 2012.  Of those, 218 (51.7%) completed the survey.  A comparison of climate factors for the past three surveys was presented.  IVCC’s overall mean score increased in 2009 and again in 2012.  The overall mean score for 2012 is 3.80 on a 5-point scale which indicates a healthy campus climate with a highly consultative management system.  The climate factor that increased most was in the climate of Teamwork.  IVCC’s mean score in this area is significantly higher than the 2012 NILIE Norm Base mean score.  Each of the 10 items under Institutional Strengths has an overall mean score that indicates a Collaborative system.  Six of the top 10 mean scores relate to a focus on students, which aligns well with IVCC’s Strategic Goal 1:  To enable all students to identify and achieve their educational and career goals.  In the area of improvement, the top two priority areas dealt with the opportunity for advancement within the institution and the ability to appropriately influence the direction of the institution.  The other eight items dealt with information sharing.  Administrative staff, in general, had more negative views than faculty and support staff.  There are 18 personnel classified as administration, but there were 22 surveys returned from administration.  A disgruntled employee could classify themself as an administrator and this brings a concern of the validity of this part of the survey.  Respondents were given an opportunity to write comments about areas of the institution they found most favorable and least favorable.  Of the 218 employees who completed the survey, 76 respondents provided written comments.  There were more negative comments on institutional structure, but surveys are not perfect.  There could have been someone who had a negative comment and had a legitimate concern with their supervisor.  The president and vice presidents have conducted “sharing, airing, and caring” sessions where everyone is invited to ask any questions they may have and notes are taken and sent to “everyone.”  Mr. Mallery suggested not discrediting any comments and he was pleased the administration had looked at this and tried to address it.  He believes it will reap benefits and encouraged the president and vice presidents to keep listening.  Dr. Driscoll noted three issues that have emerged from this survey.  Communication is being addressed and is a theme throughout.  Opportunities to be involved in decision making could also be a communication issue, but it gives people a chance to participate.  The whole KPI process addresses this.  Training opportunities and development will hopefully not emerge again as more money has been directed to this area.  There was a question as to if funds for professional development were actually cut.  Cheryl reported historically the College has never spent the budgeted amount for professional development so there was a cut in this area.  This is a perception issue and needs to be communicated.  It was suggested to communicate it during the sharing, airing, and caring sessions.  Lori noted that the travel account also includes extension travel and with the revenue situation with the State being so uncertain, she has told the faculty to hold back on professional development.  Because of this communication, faculty may have felt travel was cut. However, only 60 percent of what was budgeted for professional development (beyond travel to extension sites) was spent. When building the budget, faculty and staff are asked what type of professional development opportunities they anticipate and then there is a process in place to prioritize the travels that are requested.

STUDENT PROFILE

This report was formerly known as the Student Demographic Report.  There has been a change in the report with less information about the student characteristics and more about student progress.  Enrollment, headcount, and credit hours have declined and resemble 2008 levels.  This is cycling and the College has experienced a cycle in the past.  The split in gender is similar.  The racial and ethnic makeup of the student body remains the same from Fall 2011 to Fall 2012.   The largest percentage of students (28 percent) comes from non-population centers (noted as “other”) with slightly over 18 percent from Ottawa, 16 percent from LaSalle-Peru, and 12 percent from Streator.  The declared program of study shows 40 percent designating transfer, 27 percent designating career degrees or certificates, and 11 percent comprising adult education and 12 percent “other” (which includes those who do not declare their intent).   A new change in the report is the student academic success scorecard.  This is a subset of KPI measures that have to do with academic outcomes.  This is set by an action project team for AQIP accreditation.  Since the time KPIs were established, the data is no longer available to the College.  The State has not provided data since 2005.  Internal targets were set, but did not set them toward a benchmark.  Fall-to-Spring persistence rates exceeded College targets in 2010, 2011, and 2012, while Fall-to-Fall met target in 2010 only.  Full-time student success (earning A, B, C, or P) exceeded the target in 2010, 2011, and 2012, but part-time student success fell beneath the target all three years.  Graduation rates exceeded target (30 percent) all three years for the full-time cohort of students.  Program outcomes measured through state licensure examination pass rates for three programs (RN, LPN, and THM) showed favorable results.  Developmental education data will be added in two months.  The Counseling Center served fewer students during the 2012 calendar year as compared to 2011.  The total financial aid applications increased by five percent over the previous year.  Financial aid must still prepare financial aid packets for all FAFSA students who indicate an interest in IVCC.  If the student indicates interest at IVCC, ISU, and NIU, financial aid must prepare a packet even if they decide not to attend IVCC.  All students who apply for waivers or apply for scholarships must complete a FAFSA form.  Ninety percent of IVCC students complete a FAFSA.  The Tutoring and Writing Center provides assistance to students on an open-access basis.  Total utilization of the Center has grown dramatically since 2004, when the Writing Center was established.  Students are encouraged to attend the Center and the students have greatly benefited from this.  Headcount and credit hours do not tell the whole story.  When the budget is tight and the revenues uncertain, students come to IVCC with lots of needs and then the administration comes to the Board asking for more services and personnel.  The College seeks different ways to fund initiatives and does amazing things with less.  Fast-track math is a new initiative where students who fall into the higher end of development take a math “boot camp” the first two weeks of class.  This is a refresher course on math skills.  They then take a test after two weeks and if they score at the college level, they can register for a late-start algebra class.  This is the first semester this is being offered.  There is also the flipped math class.  The students check out a video or pod cast and then come into class to do homework with help from the instructor.  This seems to be very helpful and has had good outcomes.  This “flipped” math class will be repeated this year.  There are plans to do something similar in the spring with English.  College staff are meeting with high school faculty in English and math on “Bridging the Gap.”  Each high school was represented.  The math instructors met as a group with a facilitator and looked at junior, senior level classes in high school and compared them with college classes.  The instructors looked at alignment and identified the gaps and discussed how to fill the gaps.

OTTAWA CENTER

Lori Scroggs and Amy Smith provided information on the Ottawa Center enrollment and course-taking pattern analysis.  The Ottawa Center opened in Fall 2010.  The percentage of students attending classes on the main campus for Fall 2011 and Fall 2012 is balancing at about 85 percent, and the number of students at the Ottawa Center at about eight percent, with both at about seven percent.  In the past students were surveyed at the Ottawa Center to find out if the students would have attended IVCC if the Ottawa Center was not open.  This was discontinued because students complained regarding the frequency of the survey.  It is very difficult to draw conclusions from the current data, but it does not appear that the Ottawa Center is detracting enrollments from the main campus.  The Ottawa Center was developed in order to both attract new students to IVCC, and to meet the needs of students on the east side of the district with a convenient location.  Mr. Mallery noted that 42 percent of the College’s headcount came from the east side of the district.  Convenience was the main factor for opening the Ottawa Center with the concept of serving them better.  What percentage of those students are coming from those same zip codes?  Amy Smith is pulling the data that she has available for this.  Mr. Mallery noted if the percentage is 43 percent then we have a deeper penetration because of the Ottawa Center.  Dr. Driscoll stated it is worth looking at the data in several different ways to draw conclusions.