Carroll Community College is committed to ongoing assessment and evaluation of its programs and services, and to public documentation of institutional effectiveness to provide accountability to stakeholders. This commitment has been stated in the college catalog every year since 2000.

Middle States summarizes the assessment of institutional effectiveness as the answer to the question "Is the institution fulfilling its mission and achieving its goals?" (Characteristics of Excellence, page 26.) The college's institutional effectiveness assessment program focuses on the college's mission as defined by its 12 long-range, mission-based Institutional Goals: access and affordability; core competencies; student achievement; baccalaureate preparation; career and job skill development; county business development; educational partnerships; cultural awareness; community enrichment; employee development; effective resource use; and campus community.

The college's institutional effectiveness assessment program falls under the direction of the vice president for planning, marketing, and assessment and is guided by the college's Planning Advisory Council and approved by the college president and Board of Trustees.

Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Measures
During spring 1999, the Planning Advisory Council developed the college's first set of institutional effectiveness assessment measures. They were approved by the president and endorsed by the Board of Trustees on June 21, 1999. Revisions were approved in 2003 and again in 2008. The program now includes 50 Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Measures grouped under ten of the college's 12 long-range, mission-based Institutional Goals. Twenty of the measures were identified by the Board of Trustees as "core indicators" for annual presentation and discussion by the Board.

For each indicator of institutional effectiveness, the college's performance is compared to a benchmark or target value to be reached by the end of fiscal year 2010. Benchmarks were established by the college president, after examination of institutional trend data, reviews of state and national peer data, and discussions with selected faculty and staff.

Annual Performance Accountability Report
Maryland state law requires the Board of Trustees to submit a Performance Accountability Report to the Maryland Higher Education Commission each year. The report includes narratives describing the college's mission, explaining ways the college supports the Maryland State Plan for Higher Education, describing community outreach activities, and listing cost containment efforts. The report also includes institutional data trends for 32 benchmarked performance indicators covering six areas: access and affordability, quality and effectiveness, diversity, economic growth and workforce development, community impact, and effective use of public funding. The benchmarks are on a five-year cycle and must be approved by the Board of Trustees. The Performance Accountability Report is reviewed and voted on at the June meeting
of the Board. The college has incorporated this state-mandated accountability report into its institutional effectiveness assessment program. Nineteen of the indicators in the state report are included among the 50 Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Measures, and the college uses the same five-year cycle for establishing and monitoring the benchmarks. The Performance Accountability Report provides a second opportunity each year for the Board to review college-wide institutional effectiveness.

Analytical Reports Produced by Institutional Research
In addition to the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Measures and the state-mandated Performance Accountability Report, the college's institutional effectiveness assessment program includes formal analytical reports and client-requested data analyses conducted by Institutional Research. The formal reports are shared with the Planning Advisory Council, and with other selected faculty and staff depending on the content. The entire campus community is alerted to new reports through a recurring column in the Today newsletter and occasional campus-wide emails. These IR reports provide updated data analyses pertinent to assessing many areas of the college's mission. Recent examples are shown in the table on page 2.

Formal Reviews of Institutional Effectiveness
Assessment Data
The February meeting of the Planning Advisory Council is devoted to a review of the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Report, with emphasis on those indicators falling below benchmark values. The Council characterizes each measure into one of three categories: (1) the measure and benchmark are appropriate and the college meets or has a reasonable chance of meeting the benchmark; (2) the measure is poorly defined, or the benchmark needs revisiting given our recent experience, peer data, or foreseeable resources; or (3) the measure and benchmark are reasonable, but the college's performance is below expectations. Measures judged to be in category 3 prompt the development of strategic initiatives or other improvement strategies.

At its December meeting, the Board of Trustees receives the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Report. Discussion is focused on the 20 core indicators previously identified by the Board.

At the end of the five-year benchmarking cycle, the Planning Advisory Council participates in a review and revision of the Institutional Effectiveness Assessment Measures. Measures may be added or dropped, and benchmarks adjusted, subject to approval of the college president.

Evidence of Use of Institutional Effectiveness
Assessment Findings
During its review of the measures at its February 9, 2009 meeting, the Planning Advisory Council identified three areas with subpar performance: student completion of their developmental education program, student use of career planning services, and student cultural awareness and appreciation for diversity. The president identified strategic initiatives addressing all three areas of concern in her address to the campus in May 2009, and they are included in the college's FY2010 Strategic Plan.

Other Effectiveness Assessment Activities
Each area of the college has its own ongoing assessment processes in place to support continuous improvement and achievement of area goals.
Credit student learning outcomes assessment is the responsibility of the faculty, falls under the direction of the vice president of academic and student affairs, and is coordinated by the director of student learning outcomes assessment. Credit student learning outcomes assessment occurs at four levels: (1) classroom assessment, created and implemented by individual faculty within their classroom for classroom learning improvement; (2) course assessment, conducted by a group of faculty who teach different sections of the same course; (3) program reviews, to assess and improve the effectiveness of an entire curriculum; and (4) general education assessment. The academic area recently finished a "Syllabus Realignment Project" whereby every course syllabus was reviewed, and amended where appropriate, to assure that all courses associated with an academic program have properly-stated course learning objectives aligned with associated program learning goals and appropriate general education core competencies. The accomplishment of student performance on the college's new general education competencies will be assessed within each academic program review. A schedule of program reviews and examples of recent efforts are posted on the academic intranet site.
Assessment of achievement of Continuing Education and Training (CET) goals falls under the direction of the vice president of continuing education and training. CET has a rolling two-year business plan that includes quantifiable goals for FTEs, course enrollments, tuition and fee revenue, course cancellation rates, average class size, student and client repeat rates, course operating margin, instructional operating margin, and CET overall cost-to-revenue targets. Goals are established for workforce and business development, lifelong learning, and CET as a whole. Quarterly dashboard reports display performance compared to goals. Cost of instruction reports are used for daily decisions about course viability.

The non-instructional, institutional support areas (Administration; Planning, Marketing, and Assessment) also have area effectiveness assessment plans in place, with benchmarked goals and annual data reviews, that fall under the direction of the respective vice presidents.

Results from all of these mission-based assessment activities feed into institutional and area plans. Many of these plans have tasks and goals with their own intended outcomes or success indicators, providing another means of assessing institutional performance.

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