The 2013-2016 Queensborough
Academies Assessment Protocol:
Findings from 2013-2014
The Queensborough Academies Assessment
Protocol …
 … guides the impact assessment of the Queensborough Academies
 … is a modified and expanded version of the original assessment
protocol of the Freshman Academies.
 … was developed with input from Academic Affairs; Strategic Planning,
Assessment, and Institutional Effectiveness; Student Affairs; and faculty.
 The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment is executing and
coordinating the assessment based on the protocol (Dr. Fichera, Dir.
Lackner)
The Areas, Assessment Methods, and the
three “Prongs” of the Queensborough Academies
Long term objectives: Increased graduation; retention; student
satisfaction
Areas
Assessment methods
Prongs
First Semester Student
Experience
First Semester Freshman
Experience Survey
Advisement and student
support
Student Support Network
through use of
Technology (Starfish) and
Student Services
Analyses of Starfish Early
Alert usage and the
Technology
effects on course
performance
High Impact Practices
HIP Experience Survey
Critical Course Analyses
Review of key courses
with high failure and
withdrawal rates
High Impact Practices
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/oira/docs/Academy-Assessment-Protocol.pdf
Additional assessment activities
Examples
 CUNY Student Experience Survey (every other spring)
 Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (every other spring)
 Analyses of association between HIP experiences and course
performance and college persistence
 OIRA internal analysis of graduation, retention, and transfer out
rates
Highlights of Findings 2013-2014
 First-Semester Student Experience Survey
 Early Alert
 High Impact Practice Experience Survey
 Critical Course Analysis
 Long Term Objectives
First Semester Student Experience Survey
N = 683
 81 % of freshmen who attended orientation events agreed that these
events made them aware of the Academy they belong to
 73 % of freshmen who interacted with their Academy Adviser since the
start of the semester agreed that this interaction improved the
connection to the college community
 92.4 % of freshmen have had no difficulty navigating through college
procedures in their first semester
 98 % of freshmen had a positive (70.8%) or very positive (27.1%)
attitude towards QCC.
Student Support Network: Starfish Early Alert
 Remedial course sections that used Early Alert had higher course pass rates and
completion rates (group average) than sections that did not participate in Early
Alert.
 Math gateway courses (group average), BU 101: Principles of Accounting I, BU 201:
Business Organization and Management, and Psychology 101 saw higher course
pass rates since the start of Early Alert.
 Unofficial withdrawal rates (WU grades) have declined since fall 2013 in credit
bearing courses campus-wide.
 Flagged students tended to be weaker students. Flagging alone does not get students
to tutoring; referrals are a potent action.
 Students referred to a learning center through Starfish were much more likely to
receive tutoring than students who were only flagged.
 Tutoring resulted in higher course pass rate gains for flagged students than for non-
flagged students.
High Impact Practices Experience Survey
N = 630
Students who had experienced one or more HIPs in fall 2013 offered the
following feedback in the survey:
 70% felt more comfortable interacting with people from different
backgrounds and cultures
 68% felt that their writing improved.
 70% had used reflection to improve learning.
 69% have been motivated to invest more time and effort into learning.
Critical Course and Program Analysis
General education gateway courses with below 50% pass rate (C or better) of
enrolled students in all fall and spring terms since fall 2010. These heavily
enrolled courses, critical for student progress through the curriculum, have high
official withdrawal rates every term:
 BI 201: General Biology I
 BI 301: Anatomy and Physiology I
 HI 110: Introduction to Ancient Civilization
 HI 112: Introduction to Modern Western Civilization
 MA 120/119: College Algebra
VP Karen Steele (Strategic Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Effectiveness) is leading
in-depth reviews and discussions with the departments to determine potential causes and
possible remedies. Additional data provided by the OIRA office was reviewed, such as
remedial needs, course performance in related areas (Mathematics and Chemistry for BI 201
and 301, English for HI 110 and 112), and academic performance and enrollment history of
students.
Long term objectives: Increase Retention & Graduation
QCC retained/
graduated
Additional QCC
students
retained/graduated
at other CUNY
colleges
Rates published in
academic year 2013-14 2012-13 2013-14 2012-13
Additional QCC
students retained/
graduated outside
CUNY
Overall Rates
National
Average ¹
2013-14 2012-13
2013-14 2012-13
2013-14
One year retention
rate:
70.9% 69.2% 2.0%
1.2%
3.4% 3.4%
76.3% 73.8% 57.1%
Three year
graduation rate:
18.5% 16.2% 0.5%
0.5%
0%
19%
Four year
graduation rate:
23.5% 20.7% 0.8%
1.3%
0.5% 1.4%
24.8% 23.4% 20.7%
Six year
graduation rate
QCC:
28.7% 25.3% 5.8%
5.4%
3.0% 3.3%
37.5% 34.0%
0%
¹National Average of all Public Urban Associate’s Institutions. Data Source: IPEDS Data Center:
nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter
16.7% 15.4%
--
The entire report can be found at:
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/oira/index.html
Any questions?
Elisabeth Lackner
elackner@qcc.cuny.edu or at extension 6279