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Abstract
The Institution and Its Students : North Seattle Community College was established in 1967 as part of the three-college Seattle Community College District. The college serves students from throughout the metropolitan Seattle area, with the majority coming from the city’s north end. North Seattle awards associate transfer degrees, a wide range of professional-technical degrees and certificates, and a high school completion certificate. In 2007-08, the college employs 85 full-time faculty and approximately 200 part-time faculty to serve over 6,000 credit-seeking students (approximately 3,200
FTE students) each quarter (excluding summer quarter whose figures are much smaller). The student body comprises 62% female, 35% students of color, 71% part-time, 58% employed, x% evening and x% distance learning. The college serves nearly 1,000 ESL (English as a Second Language) students each quarter. Fifty percent of students taking the English placement exam place into developmental
(below college-level) English; 75% who take the math placement exam place into developmental math.
Project Title:
The Problem :
Inadequate enrollments affect the long-term sustainability of North Seattle Community College.
Inadequate enrollments are the result of two major drivers (1) declining enrollments in several professional-technical programs, and (2) large numbers of students leaving the college before completing their academic goals.
1.
Professional Technical programs show an overall decline of 259 FTEs over the past five years, equivalent to a 20% drop. Examples of specific Professional Technical programs showing even greater declines include: o Electronics (70% drop equivalent to x FTEs) o Information Technology (80% drop equivalent to x FTEs) o Pharmacy Technician (27% drop equivalent to x FTEs) o Medical Assisting (25% drop equivalent to x FTEs) o Large numbers of students are leaving the college before completing their academic goals: o Forty percent of students who intend to study for a year or more leave after only one quarter never to return. o Of degree/certificate-seeking students, only 30% earn a minimum of 45 credits or an award. o While one-third of them express the desire to do so, only 4% of ESL students progress into college-level coursework.
The Solution : The proposed activity— Strengthening Academic Programs and Services to promote
Student Engagement and Success
—is driven by four inter-related goals: (1) implement a “first

North Seattle Community College - 2 - quarter success initiative” to include mentoring, enhanced advising, and “College-Success Modules” integrating student support services and academic success strategies for the new student; (2) revitalize several Professional Technical programs per current industry standards, adhering to the career pathway model; (3) increase instructional supports targeting key student transition points and “high risk” courses – methods proposed include Supplemental Instruction (SI), tutoring, and a self-paced language and basic skills lab for ESL/ABE students; and, (4) increase the use of evidence-based instructional best practices in more classrooms across campus to increase student engagement in the learning process.
This Proposal : North Seattle Community College requests $2.0 million over five years to (1) increase enrollment in Professional Technical programs from xxx to xxx (2) decrease from 40% to 25% the number of students who leave after only one quarter, (3) increase from 30% to 45% the number of degree-seeking students earning 45 college-level credits or an award, and increase from 4% to 15% the number of ESL students who progress into college-level coursework. All measures are over the fiveyear duration of the grant.

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Academic Strengths:
1.
Well regarded and award winning Coordinated Studies program (examples here)
2.
Well regarded and award winning Undergraduate Research program in the sciences (three NSCC students selected to present research findings at the 2007 “Posters on the Hill” event held by the
National Council for Undergraduate research. NSCC was the only Community College invited to participate in this national event)
3.
Since early 2007, a cross-disciplinary General Education Task Force, supported by the AAC&U
Institute on General Education, is leading a campus-wide review of general education requirements and outcomes (x members participating from x # of depts.)
4.
Reputation for a strong Transfer Degree program, especially in math and science (stats about
NSCC grads going to UW)
5.
A regional leader in Distance Learning (something showing we’re leaders in the state – number of courses or something?)
6.
New energy, vitality and commitment from a new generation of full- and part-time faculty (xx new faculty hires over the past 5 years)
7.
Strong tutoring services in The Loft Writing Center and the Math/Science Learning Center
(serving an average of xx students per quarter. The Loft received one of four institutional accommodations during NSCC’s recently completed 10-year accreditation visit)
8.
Multiple competitive grants awarded in the past three years: Department of Labor Communitybased Jobs Training Grant for an expansion of healthcare training programs (2005 - $1.3 million for 3 years); National Science Foundation planning grant for developing a Nanotechnology program (2005 - xx ); Lead agency for The Seattle Transition Math Project funded by WA State and private foundations. Project works to align math curriculum and assessments across the K-12 and higher education systems in Seattle (2006 and renewed in 2007 - $x ). Recruiting Washington
Teachers Grant to increase the diversity of students entering a career in teaching in our region
(2008 - $128,000)
Academic Weaknesses:
1.
A number of Professional Technical Programs have not kept pace with the rapid changes in industry trends resulting in outdated curriculum.
2.
High student attrition rates across college programs
3.
High student failure rate in “gatekeeper” courses
4.
No systemic information literacy/technology literacy curriculum
5.
No program-level or college-wide system for assessment of student learning outcomes
6.
Lack of attainable, well-designed, step-by-step pathways for students to advance beyond ABE/ESL programs creating barriers for low skilled and ESL students to transition into college-level courses.
Institutional Management Strengths:
1.
A strong, respected Teaching and Learning Center that supports faculty and staff professional development
2.
Strong Student Development Services offering a wide range of student support programs and resources (stats here)

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3.
Extensive self-knowledge and campus-wide planning through recently completed (1) three-year institutional self-study and (2) four-year facilities master planning study. The self study for college ten year accreditation completed xx and Master Planning study completed xx – both with multi-year planning processes soliciting input from stakeholders across campus and the local community.
4.
Stable executive-level leadership (stats on our executive team’s tenure)
5.
Strategic Enrollment Management Initiative begun in Winter 2008 (data for this?)
6.
Highly diverse campus faculty, administration and staff supporting a commitment to multiculturalism, anti-bias and tolerance as an institutional value (stats here of employee to student ratios, DAC and Director position for multiculturalism student programs)
Institutional Management Weaknesses:
1.
Too few full time faculty especially in the ESL/ABE department (stats on this?)
2.
Lack of systemic, pro-active first quarter supports to help identify and address the needs of potentially at-risk students
3.
History and culture of “siloed” student services that result in duplication of efforts and/or piecemeal or disconnected services (student support services offered through workforce education programs for special populations, international student programs, advising services at the departmental level and through student services; department level tutoring as well as centralized tutoring, etc.)
4.
Lack of off-hour services to support evening, weekend and distance-learning students (x% of our population)
5.
Lack of resources in institutional assessment and research office to drive the shift towards a data driven cultural focused on student outcome assessment.
Fiscal Stability Strengths:
1.
Recently emerged from significant financial debt to a position of growing financial reserves (stat?)
2.
Recently “right-sized” the college budget by releasing xxx FTEs and reducing x# faculty positions accordingly through an offer of early retirement
3.
Strong and growing international student program which generates additional resources for the college at $xx per student over the state funded formula.
4.
BPT?
Fiscal Stability Weaknesses:
1.
Continuing to miss quarterly enrollment targets creating a danger of losing more FTEs (fall 2007 -
96% of target and winter 2008 - 94% of target)
2.
No funding to replace/upgrade campus technology and equipment
3.
High number of students in Basic Skills programs which generate a fraction of tuition revenue compared to traditional college-entry students (xx compared to xx per full time student). These same students tend to require a high level of support services to succeed on campus but come with fewer resources.

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4.
Insufficient and declining funds available for staff and faculty professional development (can we compare budgets?)
5.
Growing number of ‘unmet needs’ requests over the past x years during the campus budgeting cycle.