Due June 15, 2007
Annual Assessment Report - Instructions
The purpose of the Annual Assessment Report is to provide an update on the assessment of student
learning or program outcome(s) identified in your Program Assessment Plan. You are not expected to
provide results for all outcomes included in your assessment plan, but you must report results and planned
changes/improvements for at least one.
Western Carolina University
Office of Undergraduate Admission, Division of Enrollment Management
Annual Assessment Report for 2006-2007
Primary Contact Name/Info:
R. Alan Kines, Director, Undergraduate Admission Office
Program or Learning
Outcome(s) Assessed in
2006-07
The University is repositioned in the
marketplace as a first-choice school to
which to be admitted for prospective
students.
Method(s) of
Assessment
Results of
Assessment
The number of freshmen placing in the
top 25% of their graduating high school
class will increase as a percentage of the
applicant pool, and the mean SAT
composite score will increase.
It is highly unlikely WCU will realize
this outcome in the fall ’07 entering
class. (I joined the team in
December 2006, which was too late
to affect the current cycle with new
programming and best- practice
marketing and policy revisions.)
However, plans have been
implemented to realize this outcome
for fall ’08, primarily through more
rigorous list selection in the searchand-fulfillment phase. The mean
SAT composite score for deposited
students is holding steady; the end
result by August ’07 may be a slight
dip in the critical reading / math
composite—but only slight. Again,
the new search-and-fulfillment
program, funded this year at a cost
of about $250,000 should result in
greater interest from academically
talented prospects, including strong
test takers. Already, the response
rate (at this writing) is about 7%,
compared with a final response rate
of only 1.7% last year. The names
we have purchased this year are
much stronger academically, and
reflect broader ethnic and
geographic diversity. We are laying
the foundation for a much-improved
prospect-generation cycle next year.
The will be to improve the prospectto-applicant conversion rate. Again,
we are putting into place programs
to affect positively this rate as well.
Implementation Plan
Search-and-fulfillment is being
conducted in a more aggressive
and, if you will, scientific method.
Partnering with Royall & Co., we
have selected the names of test
takers (SAT, ACT, NRCCUA) in
greater geographic and ethnic /
racial parameters. Most
importantly, we are purchasing the
names of students with higher SAT
scores and self-reported grade
point averages. This process will
bear fruit during the fall ’08
recruitment cycle, underway as of
this writing. A new family of print
and Web-based marketing
materials are under development
this summer, stressing a more
academic message with less
emphasis on fun and games
(though co-curricular activities are
still given major emphasis). Less
money is being spent on nonmeasurable advertising (billboards,
in-school posters), with resources
redirected to academically talented
students—students who can
handle WCU’s level of instruction.
This should impact positively the
institution’s retention rate.
Freshman and transfer classes are
recruited by trained staff members in
pre-selected geomarkets determined on
the basis of data analysis.
Expenditures per geomarket will more
closely align with measurable admission
activity. Recruitment territories will yield
increased numbers of applicants overall.
Retention rates, especially the rate by
which freshmen return for the
sophomore year, improves as the admit
profile (grade point average,
standardized test scores, et al.)
improves.
Retention rates, specially the freshmanto-sophomore rate, will be monitored to
determine the impact more rigorous
admission standards are having on
student success.
The student population becomes more
racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse,
enriching the academic and social
experience for WCU students.
Populations of historically
underrepresented students (i.e. African
Americans, Native Americas, Latinos)
increase as percentages of the incoming
freshman and transfer classes.
Admission policies and procedures
reflect best practices as defined by the
National Association of College
Admission Counselors (NACAC), of
which the University is a member.
Compliance with the NACAC Statement
of Principles of Good Practice is used as
a criterion for satisfactory job
performance.
The process of sharpening our
recruitment efforts is scheduled for
this summer, and we are well
underway. Ray Barclay, Director of
Institutional Research and Planning,
has been engaged and has and is
providing reports on admission
activity down to the high school
level. He has provided analysis by
county and out-of-state geomarket.
We are using this research to target
areas for growth, for maintenance,
and for deletion. In other words, for
the first time, a comprehensive datadriven approach is being applied to
recruitment planning. Because the
travel season begins in September,
there are no results available.
It is, of course, too early to see any
improvements in retention rates due
to new admission policies and
procedures.
WCU is sorely in need of a
comprehensive Diversity Plan.
While Jamaal Mayo, Senior
Assistant Director of Undergraduate
Admission, is working on a diversity
marketing plan for the Admission
Office, I urgently advocate for a
campus-wide approach to increase
racial and ethnic diversity.
Leadership is needed from the
Corner Office, with strong emphasis
on campus life issues, recruitment
of faculty and administrators of
color, cultural centers, climate
issues endemic to the mountains of
Western North Carolina, and other
issues.
Training of staff, particular
admission counselors, has been
seriously inadequate in the past.
Counselors were pretty much on
their own in learning best practices
of the profession and institutional
policies and procedures.
Each counselor was required to
provide a written report on their
recruitment travel last fall. Those
reports have been analyzed by
Brenda Holcombe, Senior
Associate Director of
Undergraduate Admission, and
me. I currently am assigning fall
recruitment territories, setting
recruitment (application) goals for
each geomarket, and weeding out
unproductive markets, relying on
data and counselor reports. (There
will be no more cafeteria visits.)
The result will be a data-based
travel recruitment program for fall
’07 implementation.
The search-and-fulfillment and
recruitment programs described
above should affect positively the
retention rate. (As I am fond of
saying, “Retention starts with
admission.”) We are implementing
these programs.
The Office of Undergraduate
Admission is developing a
Diversity Marketing Plan for
implementation this fall. We have
begun this process by purchasing
an increased number of names of
students of color in the searchand-fulfillment project. Aspects of
the plan include programs to
increase conversion rates at the
prospect-to-applicant and admit-todeposit stages. However, our
success hinges significantly on the
efforts taken at the institutional
level (see text at left).
We have begun to compile a
paper and electronic training
manual. This manual includes the
State of Principles of Best Practice
as outlined by NACAC. Individual
and group training sessions have
been underway since late January
of this year. (We are currently in
the midst of presentation training
with Dr. Betty Farmer, Associate
Professor in the Department of
Communication.