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.