Demonstrating Institutional
Effectiveness
Documenting Using SPOL
SACSCOC Standard 3.3.1:
Institutional Effectiveness
• The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to
which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of
improvement based on analysis of the results in each of the following
areas:
• Educational programs, to include student learning outcomes
• Administrative support services
• Academic and student support services
• Community/public service within its mission
Institutional Effectiveness
• Institutional effectiveness is based on an
impact-oriented philosophy of continuous
organizational improvement.
Some Guiding Definitions
• Institutional Effectiveness:
• The degree to which an institution (or department within the institution)
is meeting its mission (or having its intended effect or impact)
• Assessment:
• A systematic process of gathering and interpreting information to learn
how well your unit is performing and using that information to modify
your operations in order to improve that performance
Planning vs Institutional Effectiveness
• Strategic planning ensures that resources and activities are aligned with
common goals of the institution.
• Assessing goal attainment, however, does not necessarily reveal whether the
institution or unit is having the impact it wants or needs to have.
• For that, the institution or unit needs to examine its expected outcomes.
• Expected outcomes are derived directly from the institution’s or unit’s
mission.
Your Unit Mission Statement
• The mission of (name of your program or unit) is to (your
primary purpose) by providing (your primary functions or
activities) to (your stakeholders). These (services, functions,
activities, etc.) contribute to the college’s mission by (describe
how).
Identifying Outcomes
• An outcome is a result for (or impact on) a customer,
stakeholder, or the institution that is a consequence of
the work that you do.
• The outcome itself does not describe the activities that
you perform nor the service or product that you provide
to get the customer that result.
Identifying Outcomes
• Outcomes statements will have two critical elements:
• The intended beneficiary (customers, students, other internal
units, the institution as a whole, the community)
• The gain or benefit they receive from what you do (the
impact).
Identifying Outcomes
• Outcomes need to be measurable.
• You have to be able to monitor changes for those beneficiaries.
• Outcomes need to be actionable.
• You have to have some degree of controllable influence on the
outcomes.
Tips for Writing Expected Outcomes
• Begin the outcome statement with the beneficiary as subject:
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Customers have…
Administrators are able to…
Clients are aware of…
Students know how to…
The college gains…
Tips for Writing Expected Outcomes
• By contrast, a goal statement nearly always uses the department as an implied
subject and will typically begin with a phrase like:
• To provide…
• To establish…
• To implement…
• If you mistake a goal statement for an outcome, you will end up assessing
your goal attainment rather than the results for the beneficiary.
Example of a Goal Statement: To provide accurate and timely
reports to college administrators.
Example of an Objective Statement: To produce 4 quarterly
reports and 2 annual reports.
Example of an Outcome Statement: College administrators
will have the financial information they need to make decisions
effectively.
Measuring Outcomes
1. Develop Effectiveness Indicators (Measures)
An indicator is the particular characteristic, dimension, or
element you will be measuring to monitor changes in your
outcome attainment. It is a gauge you will use to determine
whether you are achieving expected results.
Measuring Outcomes
If the outcome is: College administrators will have financial information they need to
make decisions effectively,
Indicators might include:
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Timeliness of monthly reports to President’s Cabinet
Accuracy of information in reports
Timely response to requests for ad hoc reports
Number of proactive reports generated on topics of interest
Measuring Outcomes
2. Set Targets
Targets are the specific values on the indicator (like marks on a
yardstick) that you are expecting to reach.
• 100% of monthly reports are submitted by the 3rd business day of the month
• At least one proactive report is generated each quarter
• Fewer than 3% of reports are returned for corrections
Measuring Outcomes
• 3. Collect Data on your Measures
• Data collection is easier if you have defined your indicators/measures and targets
carefully.
• If you easily meet your success target, you will want to raise the bar in order to improve
your outcome.
• If you cannot use the data, do not collect it.
• Certain types of data collection should become a regular activity for the department.
The more you can make it routine, the easier it will be to incorporate into your
activities.
Measuring Outcomes
• 4. Compute Results
• Compare the results to your success target
• Did you meet your target or not? To what extent were you successful?
Examples of Assessment Methods
and Data Sources
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Surveys of customer satisfaction, perception, awareness
Analysis of error rates, processing time
Percentage or number of target stakeholders served; requests delivered
Compliance with industry standards
Interviews or focus groups
Year-to-year comparisons
Benchmarking with other institutions or best practices
Time and/or money saved
Analyzing Outcomes
• Now that you’ve determined the results of your assessment, what do those
results mean for your department?
• Why did you reach or not reach your target?
• What strategies were successful? Which were not? What will you do differently to
improve outcomes?
• Where do the results show additional attention is needed?
• What strengths do the results reflect? How can these by further strengthened?
Applying and Using Results
of Assessment for Improvement
• The purpose of assessing outcomes is to provide you with meaningful
information that will help you determine where modifications are needed (or
wanted) to improve those outcomes and make your department even more
effective.
• Identified problems/issues/gaps represent a need for action to correct or
improve performance.
• Successfully met outcomes represent opportunities for further improvement.
Applying and Using Results
of Assessment for Improvement
• Types of improvement actions or strategies
• Operational – modifying what you do or how you do it (improving a process, adding a
program/service, etc.)
• Organizational – modifying your structure or work assignments
• Strategic – modifying your mission, functional responsibilities or outcomes
• Assessment related – modifying your indicators/measures, targets, or methods of data
collection