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Labette Community College

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LCC Earns Exemplary Initiative Award

 

The National Council of Instructional Administrators (NCIA), headquartered at the University of Nebraska--Lincoln, has selected winners in its 2007 Exemplary Initiatives Competition.

 

NCIA is a professional organization affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The awards recognize outstanding ways to enhance the quality of higher education provided at the two-year institutions in the United States.

 

Each year, community colleges submit a variety of “Best Practices” that correspond to annual award categories. This year, the 19^th for the Exemplary Initiatives Awards competition, NCIA solicited entries in six broad areas; Student Retention and Success, Curriculum Innovation, Organizational Change, Assessment of Student Learning, Workforce Development, and Responding to Community Needs.

 

Labette Community College earned an honorable mention in the category of Assessment of Student Learning-Linking Assessment to the Improvement of Instruction and Instructional Programs.

 

Labette Community College sees assessment of student learning as an integral part of meeting its mission of providing “quality learning opportunities.”  Our outcomes assessment has clearly stated goals and is used to improve the teaching and learning process in each course and program, to increase accountability to those whose interests are served by LCC, and to link instructional outcomes and competencies with the college’s educational support services.  Assessment begins at the most basic level within each course and encompasses the entire institution to include such elements as exit exams for graduates, program reviews, strategic planning, and budgeting processes. 

 

In fall 1994, faculty started developing course outcomes for each course offered at LCC.  Each identified outcome was supported by competencies that measured achievement of course outcomes.  By fall 1996, all LCC syllabi contained student-learning outcomes and competencies.  As new courses were created, these syllabi were required to include course outcomes and competencies. 

 

Currently, at the end of each semester, every faculty member completes an Outcomes Assessment Report for every course.  These reports are submitted to the Dean of Instruction (DOI) who reads the reports and meets with instructors to ask and answer any questions or to address concerns.  The DOI then creates a summary report for each department.  This report, called the Department Outcomes Assessment Compilation Summary, summarizes all the data and course improvement plans for all courses taught in each department.  Each department reviews this report annually and creates a written response to the DOI that analyzes the strengths and weaknesses and provides ideas for the future of the program.  The intent of this report is to allow faculty to review data in a more longitudinal fashion comparing data from semester-to-semester and year-to-year so that changes in courses can be tracked over a period of time rather than a single semester.  To aid in this overall process, the DOI meets at least once per year with each full-time faculty member and many adjunct instructors to review their course level assessment reports. This process assures that assessment is linked to the improvement of instruction and instructional programs.

 

Winning and Honorable Mention institutions will be recognized on April 5, 2008 at the NCIA Academy for Instructional Leaders.  The NCIA Academy will be held in Philadelphia, PA in conjunction with the annual AACC Convention.