CRC_Self-EvaluationAccreditationReport_2015

Cosumnes River College Self Evaluation Report of Educational Quality and Institutional Effectiveness Support of Reaffirmation of Accreditation Submitted by: Cosumnes River College 8401 Center Parkway Sacramento, CA 95823 Whitney I Yamamura, Interim President Dr Brian King, Chancellor Los Rios Community College District Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees Mr Dustin Johnson, President Ms Deborah Ortiz, Vice President Ms Kay Albiani Ms Pamela Haynes Mr Robert Jones Mr John Knight Ms Ruth Scribner Mr Omba Kipuke, Student Trustee Submitted to: Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges July 2015 Table of Contents Introduction History of Cosumnes River College Demographic and Institutional Data Organization of the Self Evaluation Process 33 Organizational Information: Organizational Charts 37 Organizational Information: LRCCD Function Map 42 Certification of Continued Compliance with Eligibility Requirements 56 Certification of Continued Institutional Compliance with Commission Policies 60 Reponses to Recommendations from the 2009 Comprehensive Evaluation 67 Standard I: Institutional Mission and Effectiveness A Mission 87 B Improving Institutional Effectiveness 106 Standard II: Student Learning Programs and Services A Instructional Programs 146 B Student Support Services 201 C Library and Learning Services 239 Standard III: Resources A B C D Human Resources 274 Physical Resources 305 Technology Resources 322 Financial Resources 346 Standard IV: Leadership and Governance A Decision-Making Roles and Processes 376 B Board and Administrative Organization 396 Glossary: College and District Acronyms 422 Actionable Improvement Plans 425   Introduction History of Cosumnes River College Overview: The College and its Communities Since 1970, Cosumnes River College (CRC) has provided quality educational programs and services to a growing and increasingly diverse community In the past 45 years, the College has grown from a small rural institution surrounded by pastures and dairies to an urban/suburban college that currently serves more than 14,300 students, most of whom live in the south Sacramento region The College is an open admission comprehensive community college located in Sacramento, the capital city of California The College is the third of the four colleges established by the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD) CRC opened on September 14, 1970 on a 159-acre site in south Sacramento The service area of the College includes some of the poorest and more affluent neighborhoods in the four-county Sacramento region Approximately 26% of CRC students are considered middle income and 64% live in poverty or are classified as low-income The communities within the service area include farming communities, which are experiencing very rapid growth and urbanization, and older suburban communities developed in the 1950s and 1960s that are now experiencing somewhat limited development Recent Changes The last Self Study began in fall 2008 with the accreditation site visit occurring in fall 2009 The College accreditation was reaffirmed without conditions The Midterm Report was sent to the Commission in fall 2012 and the three recommendations from the Commission were deemed to have been met The self-identified planning agenda items from the last Self Study have been addressed or are part of a continuous improvement plan, such as the goal of assessing and improving the College’s program review data packets A Distance Education Substantive change report for programs that provide students the opportunity to complete 50% of their courses through distance education was submitted and approved in fall 2013 In April 2006, the District submitted a Letter of Intent to the System Office for a new educational center in Elk Grove In fall 2008, the Board of Governors granted conditional approval for the Elk Grove Center, and construction on the new center began in fall 2011 The Elk Grove Center opened in its permanent facility located approximately six miles south of the main campus on August 26, 2013 The facility includes nine classrooms/labs (including a computer lab), a learning resource center, and office space in approximately 16,400 assignable square feet A substantive change proposal for the Elk Grove Center was submitted and approved in fall 2013 The required follow up site visit in April 2014 confirmed the Commission’s approval The California Community College Board of Governors approved educational center status for the Elk Grove Center on January 27, 2015 After many years of significant growth, budget issues facing the state of California caused enrollments to begin to decline The unduplicated student head count for fall 2009 was 16,235 Fall 2013 enrollment was 14,197, a decrease of over 12% in four years The trend in decreasing enrollment reversed in the 2014-15 year Enrollment rebounded modestly (4%) in       fall 2014 to 14,767, and the spring 2015 enrollment increased slightly by 1% compared to the previous spring semester The number of faculty members and staff has also been impacted by the 2009 budget constraints Between fall 2009 and fall 2014, full-time faculty head count at the College decreased from 187 to 172 This drop is due largely to decreases in scheduled FTE combined with the decision to only replace retirees when their positions were deemed to be mission or program critical This data does not include thirteen new faculty positions hired in the 201415 academic year, which represents a 7.5% increase in the College’s full-time faculty Between fall 2009 and fall 2014, the number of filled classified positions (head count) decreased from 183 to 161 The drop in classified head count is due largely to an increase in the number of unfilled positions that resulted from the “banking” of classified positions for the new Elk Grove Center and the judicious evaluation and reallocation of positions that were vacated due to resignations or retirement during this volatile budget period This data does not include the nine new classified positions hired in the spring 2015 semester, which represents an almost 5% increase in the College’s classified positions With the selection of a new College President in 2009, the management team has been expanded to meet the growing needs of the College The Dean of the Elk Grove Center position was created and filled in fall 2014 to provide adequate supervision and leadership to the ongoing development of the Elk Grove Center Over the past five and half years the College President hired six out of 18 managers, including the one Vice President The changes were due to retirements and promotional opportunities In December 2014, after serving more than five years, the College President retired The Vice President of Instruction and Student Learning was appointed interim College President through July 1, 2015 The interim College President appointed an Associate Vice President of Instruction from a sister college in the Los Rios District interim Vice President of Instruction and Student Learning In addition, the Vice President of Student Services and Enrollment Management left for a promotional position at the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District in January 2015 A retiree served in this position on an interim basis for the majority of the spring 2015 semester until a permanent replacement was identified and hired The College’s administrative capacity was enhanced in spring 2015 with the hiring of a Student Success and Equity Associate Dean, who will provide oversight of, and support for, the initiatives in the College’s Basic Skills, Student Support and Success, and Student Equity plans The Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees selected a new College President who will begin July 1, 2015 In addition to the new permanent educational facility in Elk Grove above, there has been significant construction of new buildings, facility expansions and remodeling on the main campus since the last site visit The science building remodel and expansion was completed in fall 2010 adding 15,800 square feet of lecture, lab, and office space (an 83% increase over the old building) to the campus footprint The construction of the Agricultural Greenhouse in 2011 and the Northeast Technical Building in 2012 added 17,631 assignable square feet on the north side of the College The old welding and construction building was remodeled for use by the custodial, maintenance, and receiving departments The athletic fields for baseball, softball and soccer were upgraded and enhanced the same year to improve the playing surface, increase audience capacity, expand storage, and provide press boxes and concession       facilities The five story parking structure, which provides parking for approximately 2,016 vehicles and includes solar panels and electric car charging stations, was completed in 2012 in partnership with the Sacramento Regional Transit The LEED Platinum Certified Winn Center was completed in 2013, adding 24,413 assignable square feet to the College As a result of the secondary effects of this project, the Disability Support Programs and Services and Test Proctoring will move from their current location in portables to permanent facilities in spring 2016 At this time all College programs and services will be located in permanent facilities Of note, The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Almanac of Higher Education in 2014 listed The College as the 9th most diverse public two year colleges of the 1,729 colleges in the nation The College embraces and celebrates its diversity as reflected in its statement of values In sum, Cosumnes River College has continued to expand to meet the diverse needs of the community it serves The College believes that it meets the accreditation standards and embraces and practices the goals of the Commission: to engage in ongoing dialog, reflection, assessment and improvement to better serve students and the community in a sustainable way       Demographic and Institutional Data Background The Los Rios Community College District, recognized as a leader in institutional data collection and analysis, provides a data reporting infrastructure including student application and demographic information, course enrollment and outcomes data, as well as curricular and behavioral data This data provides a comprehensive view of Cosumnes River College students, their course enrollments, course outcomes, degree and/or certificate achievement, and transfer rates The CRC Research Office analyzes and disseminates program level-data to inform the College’s planning, decision-making, and assessment processes in various forms throughout the year: Student Demographic and Academic Outcomes: This College wide data, updated annually, becomes a framework to inform the College’s program review process for instructional and student service programs Performance Benchmarks and Analysis: This data is generated annually to inform selfassessment in multiple areas, including the implementation of the College’s strategic plan Cohort Reports: These reports focus on basic skills students, transfer-designated students, and CTE students, identified and tracked for five academic years This new data set will be available to inform the next program review cycle in 2015 as well as ongoing development and assessment of the College’s Basic Skills Initiative Access A review of community and enrollment data indicates that CRC is serving its surrounding community Since 2009, however, as a result of recent state budget cuts, the enrollment has been declining at the College, despite the growth in Sacramento County and in Elk Grove This reflects reductions in offerings made in response to budget cuts, changes in Title that impacted enrollment patterns, and declines in the graduating class sizes at feeder high schools While the enrollment at the main campus has decreased overall, enrollment at the Elk Grove Center has increased almost 108% since it opened in fall 2013 CRC’s student population is ethnically diverse with no majority population According to Title III definitions, the College’s ethnicity profile reveals that the College is an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution By this same standard of measurement, recent increases in our Hispanic population indicate that the College will qualify as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the 2016-17 academic year An increasing percentage of CRC’s students: • report incomes that are “below poverty” based on their income to family size ratios and federal guidelines, • enroll in six or more units, and • are more focused on the educational goals of earning a certificate, degree or transferring (see graph in the College wide PrOF data packet)       A decreasing percentage of CRC’s students: • work 30 hours or more while attending school, • are over the age of 30, and • attend the College in the evening (a result of a reduction in evening offerings during budget cuts) Student Success College course success rates are the ratio of the number of students earning an A, B, C or P (Pass) divided by the number of student enrolled at census Although course success rates in 2013-14 exceed course success rates in 2008-09 and 2009-10, the College has experienced a gradual decline in average course success rates since 2012 Further investigation indicates that an increasing number of students are earning “Ws.” Certain enrollment management policies, such as moving the “drop date with penalty” from the fourth to the third week in the semester, have contributed significantly to this change The increased number of Ws is also related to the drop in retention rates, which measure the number of students who receive a grade in a course (excluding a W) divided by the number of students enrolled in the course The College’s average course success rates by ethnicity, freshmen status, instructional mode, course level, and academic standing illustrates a variation of outcomes For example, students who are Asian Pacific Islander or White have greater average course success rates than students who are African American, American Indian, or Hispanic The College is encouraged by progress made in the area of course success by course level (which is now comparable to College wide course success) and is looking forward to expanding and strengthening initiatives designed to address disparities in other areas The number of students who are transfer-ready has continued to increase since 2008-09, and after several years of decline in the transfer rate, the number of transfers from CRC to the CSU system has increased The College’s fall to spring persistence rates have been improving and are relatively high compared to other LRCCD colleges In addition, the number of degrees awarded has increased steadily since 2008-09 The number of certificates awarded has fluctuated due to the fact that some students earn multiple certificates at the same time upon completion of their educational pursuits at the College The College’s performance on the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Scorecard metrics is varied The College’s performance improved in seven of the metrics but decreased in five The declines in three of these areas resulted in performance below our baseline benchmark The College has addressed this concern through initiatives outlined in the equity plan and expects to see future improvements in these performance metrics The College’s performance on its Key Institutional Outcomes is also varied In 2013-14, the College’s performance exceeded our improvement benchmarks in four of the seven metrics It is also encouraging that in one of the areas where the performance dropped, the 2013-14 data point did not fall below our baseline benchmark In fall GPA and fall course success, however, our performance declined and fell below our baseline benchmark Several of the initiatives in the equity plan are designed to address these areas       Career Technical Education (CTE), Basic Skills and Transfer-Intent Cohort Analysis The analysis of the CTE, Basic Skills and Transfer-intent cohorts indicated no statistically significant differences in enrollment or persistence when the cohorts were compared to the College or when one cohort was compared to another Likewise, cohort to College wide data by ethnicity indicated no significant difference It is interesting to note that there were some differences in the trends among success measures for each cohort Based on the metrics of GPA and average course success rates, the CTE cohort was “highest performing” cohort, and the Basic Skills cohort was the “lowest performing” cohort The average course success rates and GPA of these cohorts was relatively stable over time This was not true, however, for the Transfer-Designated Cohort Although GPA was relatively stable over time, the average course success rate for this cohort declined over time This may reflect enrollment patterns of students who postpone courses they perceive as more challenging and/or students who are more apt to drop classes they perceive will negatively impact their GPA, and thus, their transfer opportunities Further study may be warranted if this pattern continues Student Demographic and Academic Success Access The Research Office provides data to decision makers regarding how well the College meets the needs of the student populations that we serve Although CRC serves students in the broader Sacramento region, the College continues to serve students most proximal to participation rates in the chart below measured for areas in the “Top-10” student ZIP Codes CRC is working with some communities south of the College to provide bus routes to give increased access to those students who live a significant distance away from the campus       CRC Student Service Area 2002-2013   ZIP Code CRC (F14 Enrollments) 2010 Census ZIP (Population) TOTAL Participation Rate 95829 – Sacramento 95758 – Elk Grove 95757 – Elk Grove 95624 – Elk Grove 95828 – Sacramento 95823 – Sacramento 95632 – Galt 95824 – Sacramento 95822 – Sacramento 95831 – Sacramento 842 2,018 1,285 1,925 1,596 1,989 571 316 365 312 24,755 60,435 40,222 61,989 57,862 73,985 29,269 30,221 42,347 41,321 3.4% 3.3% 3.2% 3.1% 2.8% 2.7% 2.0% 1.0% 0.9% 0.8% GRAND TOTALS 11,219 462,406 2.4%