November 14, 2017 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 Tuesday, November 14, 2017 in the Board Room-C307 at Illinois Valley Community College.

Committee Members Physically Present

Amy L. Boyles, Committee Chair
Everett J. Solon
Angela M. Stevenson

Committee Members Absent

Board Members Present

Jane E. Goetz

Others Physically Present

Jerry Corcoran, President
Cheryl Roelfsema, Vice President for Business Services and Finance
Deborah Anderson, Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mark Grzybowski, Associate Vice President for Student Services
Leslie Hofer, Director of Human Resources
Matt Suerth, Director of Institutional Research
Stephen Alvin

The meeting was called to order at 5 p.m. by Dr. Boyles.

PROGRAM REVIEW REPORT

The committee members received a memo from Dr. Deborah Anderson and the Community College Program Review Report submitted to the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB).  Certain programs are reviewed each year and over a course of five years every program is reviewed.  New this year, ICCB provided a template for completion.  All programs completed the same questions for each of three areas: Program Identification and Information, Program Review Analysis, and program Data Analysis.  The new template is much more useful in following the programs.  ICCB will be reviewing the results of the new template.  Enrollments in most academic areas were down between 12 percent (Forensics) and 35percent (Criminal Justice and Electronics) over the course of the five-year period.  This mirrors the overall enrollment decline the college has experienced during this same time frame.  Forensics has struggled and there are no jobs when the students finish the program.  The enrollments never really took off when the program was created.  Under consideration is the deactivation of the forensics programs due to continued low enrollment and limited job prospects in the area.  Students believe they are going to be crime investigators, but in reality, they are technical assistants.  Some of the forensics will be offered for the criminal justice program as electives.  Enrollments increased 2 percent in one area (Therapeutic Massage); however, because this is a generally low enrolled program, it is more precise to indicate that enrollments held steady over the five-year period.  The Therapeutic Massage program continues to boast 100 percent board pass rates.  The Computer Networking Administration program modified its courses so that lectures were presented online and labs were presented in the face-to-face environment.  This movement toward a “flipped classroom” is designed to attract more students.  In addition to academic programs, the Student and Academic Support Services areas of Admissions, Recruiting, and Registration and Records also completed program reviews.  A strategic plan was developed and the adoption of a Communications Management System to improve the areas’ communication plan with current and prospective students was recommended.

INTEGRATED POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION DATA SYSTEM (IPEDS)

The 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 student enrollment, graduation rates, student charges, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances.  The drawback to this report is that it tends to focus on a specific group of students – first-time, full-time enrollees.  IVCC uses the IPEDS Feedback Report for benchmarking against a group of Illinois peer institutions (11) and for tracking IVCC trends over time.  It was noted that students receiving Pell grants decreased from 61 to 45 percent.  This relates to the number of Pell grants available and this can fluctuate.  Pell grants are need-based and there is a financial driver present.  It was noted that IVCC’s retention rate is good, especially the part-time retention rate increased from 46 percent to 54 percent, with the peer average at 39 percent, ranking IVCC first among its peers. 

NATIONAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE BENCHMARK PROJECT (NCCBP)

This project has been conducted annually, during the spring term at IVCC since 2007 to gain a better understanding of where IVCC ranks nationally among community colleges on a variety of predetermined benchmarks. State and National participation rates fluctuate from year to year which changes IVCC percentile rankings on any given measure. In 2017, 20 Illinois community colleges participated up from 16 in 2016.  The report focuses on selected strengths and opportunities for the College.  The NCCBP considers a strength as any metric above the 75^th percentile on the national survey and opportunities for improvement as any metric below the 25^th percentile.  IVCC’s strengths were concentrated in three general areas:  management of finances, national student satisfaction inventory rankings, and academic course completion/higher education persistence rates.  Over a third of IVCC’s strengths (10 measures) originate from measurements on the Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory. IVCC excels in a number of academic measures related to course completion and success and ranks high on gateway course completions.  IVCC performs well in the area of academic persistence.  IVCC’s attendance tracking at campus events has become more intentional which accounts for an improved ranking from a new strength this year from an opportunity for improvement last year.  Five metrics were targets for improvement.  This was the same overall number as last year but with a few new additions.  In the report, the area most in need of improvement is the Ratio of Minority Employees of the Minority Population of the Service Area.  Although compared unfavorably to national benchmarks, IVCC’s annual demographic report notes that IVCC’s student and employee demographics are consistent with area minority demographics.  Two course completion metrics have been identified as new opportunities for improvement this year – percent of students that received a passing grade in writing developmental/remedial courses of these that completed the course and all development-level course enrollee success rate. Most notably, IVCC’s Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) Academic Challenge Benchmark remains on the list.  IVCC identified this metric as an area in need of improvement in its own CCSSE assessment after the spring 2015 survey administration.  A new financial indicator appears in the opportunities for improvement area. “Return on Net Assets Ratios” ranks in the 20^th percentile.  This is fixed assets plus cash less $90 million in assets.  In other words, the College needs more tuition dollars.  Only 20 community colleges participated in the spring 2017 administration, an increase from 17 in 2016.  IVCC has confidence in what it is doing and wants data to help make decisions.  This project gives the administration a sense on how the College is doing nationally.  Like last year, IVCC’s strengths outnumber its opportunities for improvement.  In most areas, IVCC compares favorably with the national comparison group.

HIGH SCHOOL MARKET PENETRATION RATE

The Institutional Research office tracks IVCC’s high school market penetration rates in six-year intervals.  The penetration rate reflects the percent of recent high school graduates that subsequently matriculate to IVCC and shows how well IVCC is promoted to district high school students. Calculating the high school market penetration rate has always been challenging.  It has been difficult to accurately track from where the student graduated.  IVCC now has the high schools supplying their graduation class lists and compares this with the National Student Clearinghouse tracking data which improves its ability to accurately identify from which high school newly enrolled students graduated.  The result is a 23.4 percent average high school market penetration rate over the current six-year time frame.  Despite the fact that high school class sizes are declining, the market penetration rate last year increased by 8.7 points.  Because of the small number of students that annually enroll from the split-district schools, an additional examination was performed to gauge the effect of removing the enrollments from the current analysis.  After removal, the average penetration rate increased from 23.4 percent to 25.7 percent. The Illinois Community College Board defines the high school penetration in one way.  IVCC touches more high schools students than those that have graduated.  It has a robust dual credit program.  There were 606 students enrolled in dual enrollment in high school in 2016 and were not included in the 23.4 percent.  This provides a sense of IVCC is doing very well in attracting students to attend after graduation, but also coming in contact with the students while in high school.  Interact Communications advised IVCC to provide service to the high school population as this is the most fertile ground and increases the likelihood of student success and lends to the possibility of getting credentials that much sooner.  Dual credit is a gateway to IVCC.

NOEL LEVITZ STUDENT SATISFACTION INVENTORY

The Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) is administered every three years since 2004 via email.  Roughly one in five IVCC students responded to this year’s survey.  The national average response rate is 20 percent so IVCC compares well on this important measure.  The Noel Levitz SSI is a Gap Analysis which measures only satisfaction with the college experience.  The SSI claims to measure what students think is important and then asks what degree their satisfaction is being met.  The difference between the two scores is the gap being measured.  The SSI’s findings highlight the strengths and challenges confronting IVCC.  Strengths outnumbered challenges 14 to 9.  The two strengths at the top of the list are IVCC’s faculty are knowledgeable and IVCC is a safe and secure campus.  The bulk of the challenges identified (4 of 9) impact academic affairs with concern for quality of instruction and role of faculty.  Despite being listed as challenges the College’s results consistently rank above the national benchmarks on most metrics.  The 95 items on the complete survey are compressed into 12 related scales for ease of understanding.  IVCC students are significantly more satisfied with their IVCC experience than the National Community College cohort. 

DUAL CREDIT PILOT PROGRAM

IVCC has been piloting two initiatives in Dual Credit this past year:  Free and Reduced Lunch and 30 Credit Hours for Reduced Tuition.  During the 2016-2017 school year 123 students qualified for Free and Reduced Lunch benefits.  Data shows that 45 percent of the students (56) are either enrolled at IVCC for the Fall 2017 semester or are still in high school enrolled in IVCC dual credit/enrollment coursework.  Three students earned at least 30 college credits during their time in high school and were eligible for reduced IVCC tuition for the 2017-2018 academic year.  One of the three students enrolled at IVCC and is currently taking 14 credit hours.  Mark Grzybowski reported that his department is receiving more calls to reach the 30-hour threshold and it looks promising that more students will take advantage of this initiative.  For the 2016-2017 academic year, $60,000 in waivers were given for dual credit.  Not every student would have taken the courses if it were not for the incentive.  Over time, Mr. Solon would like to see the success of the students that have been helped by this initiative.

QUICK FACTS

Every board member received IVCC Quick Facts.  The data on this sheet includes enrollment, credit hours, student demographics, program/degree information, persistence rates, etc.  Quick Facts will periodically be updated.

ACADEMIC PLAN 2017-2020

The development of an academic plan began during the fall 2016 semester.  Faculty collaborated in the development of an academic mission and vision.  The drafts were evaluated by the Teaching and Learning Committee with additional feedback from each academic division.  Final statements were approved by the Teaching and Learning Committee.  During the spring 2017 in-service, faculty provided input into the development of academic goals.  Goals and objectives were drafted and reviewed and revised by the Teaching and Learning Committee and sent to academic divisions for further review.  The academic goals and objectives for the next three years were approved by the Teaching and Learning Committee and the Strategic Leadership Planning Council.  This plan provides guidance for prioritizing the activities that Academic Affairs will pursue and the activities will shape the foundation of instruction, ensuring students graduate with meaningful credentials, developing programs to meet community needs, and contributing to the workforce of the Illinois Valley.

STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE

The College began working on a strategic plan.  It was started with information obtained through a SWOT analysis conducted one year ago.  As part of the fall development day, IVCC employees were broken into groups to brainstorm ideas for the college’s mission and vision.  The results were submitted to the Strategic Leadership Planning Council (SLPC).  SLPC reviewed the input and developed the following mission and vision statements:

MISSION: Illinois Valley Community College provides a high-quality, accessible, and affordable education that inspires individuals and our community thrive.

VISION: Illinois Valley Community College is the preferred gateway to advance individual and community success.

The next steps will be developing goals and objectives that are consistent with the mission and vision statements. IVCC was on track for the Higher Learning Commission quality check-up visit one year ago with evidence of its planning process.  The timing will be perfect for the report due to the Higher Learning Commission in November 2018.

BOARD POLICIES

Three new policies will be presented at the next board meeting. The State of Illinois has requested that each college have an Alternative Credit policy in place beginning the first of the year in 2018.  As a result of an April meeting of transfer coordinators, a policy on the Illinois Articulation Initiative was recommended.  This is a best practice but not mandated.  The College has started to see the use of drones on campus.  There was uncertainty as to where the drones were located and if they were authorized.  This policy will help protect the College.

Two current policies were revised.  Revisions to Policy 3.1 – Classification of Employees: Removing language that made reference to the support staff union which is not in existence.  A statement was added to Policy 3.19 – Hiring Process – Administrators and Support Staff:  If a full-time position is being eliminated, the employee may be appointed to an open position, if qualified for that position.

Whenever there is a recommended change in policy, it is brought to the Board for approval.

OTHER

None.

ADJOURNMENT

Dr. Boyles declared the meeting adjourned at 5:55 p.m.