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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.
Total student enrollment, on average, is comprised of x% academic transfer, x % professionaltechnical and x% basic skills students. 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:
Strengthening Academic Programs and Services to Promote Student
Engagement and Success
The Problem:
Declining enrollments and high student attrition affect the long-term sustainability of North
Seattle Community College.
1. Overall college enrollments declined by 10% in the five-year period ending 2006-07. During
that same period, professional-technical enrollments dropped by 20%, or 259 FTE students.
2. Large numbers of students leave the college prematurely:
a. Forty percent of students who intend to study for a year or more leave after only one
quarter never to return.
b. Although more than half of all ESL students express the desire to progress into collegelevel coursework, over the past ten years only 4% have done so.
c. Over the past x years, only x% of all NSCC degree or certificate seeking students attain
the research-based “tipping point” of 45 college credits and award.
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 quarter success
initiative to include multiple “college-success modules” integrating student support services and
academic success strategies into key courses serving large numbers of statistically at-risk students (2)
increase instructional supports targeting critical student transition points and “high risk” courses –
methods proposed include Supplemental Instruction (SI), tutoring, and a basic skills/career exploration
lab for ESL/ABE students; (3) Revise and strengthen several professional-technical programs per
current industry standards incorporating the career pathway model; and, (4) increase the use of
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evidence-based instructional best practices in more classrooms across campus to increase student
engagement in learning and campus life.
This Proposal: North Seattle Community College requests $2.0 million over five years to: (1)
increase from 60% to 70% the number of first-quarter students who re-enroll for a second quarter; (2)
increase from 64% to 75% the number of students successfully completing pre-college level math
courses and increase from 77% to 82% the number of students successfully completing pre-college
English courses; (3) increase by 15% (from 3,258 in 2006-07 to 3,747 in 2012-13) the number of
students successfully completing their first 15 college-level credits, their first 30 college-level credits
or their first 45 college-level credits and an award; (4) increase from 4% to 15% the number of ESL
students who progress into college-level coursework; and, (5) increase enrollment in targeted
professional-technical programs by 30%s. All measures are over the five-year duration of the grant.
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Comprehensive Development Plan
A. Institutional Narrative
B. Strengths, Weaknesses, and Processes for Identifying Them
Academic Strengths:
1. Well regarded and award winning Coordinated Studies program (documentation?)
2. Well regarded and award winning Undergraduate Research program in the sciences. Three NSCC
students were selected to present research findings at the 2007 “Posters on the Hill” event held by
the National Council for Undergraduate Research in Washington D.C. NSCC was the only
Community College invited to participate in this national event.
3. Reputation for a strong Transfer Degree program, especially in math and science (stats about
NSCC grads going to UW)
4. A regional leader in Distance Learning (something showing we’re leaders in the state – number of
courses or something?)
5. New energy, vitality and commitment from a new generation of full- and part-time faculty (xx new
faculty hires over the past 5 years)
6. 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. (2006 and renewed in 2007 - $x ). Recruiting Washington Teachers Grant
to increase the diversity of students pursuing careers as K-12 math and science educators (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. (show declining enrollments but what else?)
2. High student attrition rates across college programs, especially during a student’s first quarter
(some additional stats stated differently than in the abstract?)
3. High student failure rate in “gatekeeper” courses (need stats for this)
4. 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.
(x% of profession-technical programs and all academic transfer programs require English 101
equivalency. Illustrate the English-level progression requirements for a typical ESL or ABE
student to attain entry into these programs)
Institutional Management Strengths:
1. A strong, respected Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) that supports faculty and staff
professional development. The TLC was established under previous Title III funding in 1995.
2. Strong Student Development Services offering a wide range of student support programs and
resources (stats here – ask Marci for some language)
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 was
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completed in 2007 for the college ten-year accreditation and the master planning study was
completed xx – both with multi-year planning processes soliciting input from stakeholders across
campus and the local community.
4. Strong executive-level leadership team and new leadership within instruction (stats on our
executive team’s tenure, Mary Ellen’s appointment as VP and # of new divisional deans)
5. Strategic Enrollment Management Initiative begun in Winter 2008 (data for this? What do we
want to say?)
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 student multicultural programs)
Institutional Management Weaknesses:
1. Too few full time faculty on campus to sustain instructional continuity (stats for % of PT faculty
campus wide and within targeted divisions)
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 campus-wide coordination of tutoring services and lack of collaboration between faculty
and tutors (how document).
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 and High School Running Start contract programs that
generate additional resources for the college. In 2006-07, International Student Programs earned
the campus a total of $xx and Running Start earned a total of $xx over the equivalent per-student
state-funded formula.
4. Annual Budget Planning Team process with campus-wide representation. Currently x staff and
faculty serve on the team representing x different divisions, offices and departments across the
college.
Fiscal Stability Weaknesses:
1. Continuing to miss quarterly enrollment targets creating a danger of losing more FTEs (fall 2007 96% of target and winter 2008 - 94% of target)
2. High number of students in Basic Skills programs which generate a fraction of tuition revenue
compared to traditional college-entry students ($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.
3. Insufficient funds available for staff and faculty professional development (can we compare budget
for staff development to number of staff/faculty and show a paltry per-person allocation for PD?)
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4. A growing number of “unmet needs” requests over the past x years during the campus budgeting
cycle. The 2006-07 unmet need requests totaled $x and the college was able to support only x% of
the requests. The majority of unmet request result in lost opportunities for instructional
innovation, upgrades of basic technology or the piloting of new programs and/or services.
5. Poor fiscal efficiently due to high student turn-over rate. Finding new students to replace those
who leave is more costly than better serving and thereby retaining the ones we already have.
Process for Identifying Strength and Weaknesses
1. Institutional Self-Study 2004-07
2. Master Planning 2004-08
3. Strategic Plan 2005-2010
4. Title III Planning
a. November 2007 Executive Team deliberations
b. November 2007 Faculty Coordinators’ meeting
c. December 2007 Open meetings for input
d. December 2007 Data mining (iterative process)
e. January 2008 meeting with Strategic Enrollment Management Committee
f. January 2008 meetings with SDS Council and Instructional Council
g. Meetings with targeted groups as grant activity began to take shape
C. Key Goals for Title III Proposal
Goal 1 – Develop First Quarter Success Initiative: Ensure all students experience an engaging,
comprehensive introduction to their new learning environment during their first quarter on
campus.
Goal 2 – Increase Instructional Supports for High Risk Students: Ensure a wide variety of instructional
supports are available to students across programs
Goal 3 – Revitalize Professional-technical Programs: Revise specific professional-technical programs
to meet current industry standards and better serve non-traditional students through the
development of career pathways
Goal 4 – Support and Expand Innovative, Learning-centered Instructional Models and Methods:
Increase the number of classrooms incorporating evidence-based best-practices into their
curriculum
D. Measurable Objectives
Objective 1 - Increase from 60% to 70% the number of first-quarter students who re-enroll for a
second quarter.
Objective 2 - Increase from 64% to 75% the number of students successfully completing pre-college
level math courses and increase from 77% to 82% the number of students successfully
completing pre-college English courses
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Objective 3 - Increase by 15% (from 3,258 in 2006-07 to 3,747 in 2012-13) the number of students
successfully completing their first 15 college-level credits, their first 30 college-level
credits or their first 45 college-level credits and an award
Objective 4 - Increase from 4% to 15% the number of ESL students who progress into college-level
coursework
Objective 5 - Increase enrollment in targeted professional-technical programs by XX%.
Table 1. Relational Matrix of Institutional Goals and Grant Objectives
GOALS
Objectives
2
3
2. Increase Instructional Supports for High Risk Students


3. Revitalize Prof/Tech Programs


1. Develop First Quarter Success Initiative
4. Expand Learning-centered Instructional Models
1
4
5








F. Plans for Institutionalization
1. The college anticipates that the Title III retention and student progression interventions (goals 1, 2,
and 4) will result in an increase of approximately 300 annualized FTE students. Title III
interventions will help retain students and result in their enrolling in more quarters and completing
more credits than is currently the case. Each annualized FTE student represents $5800 in revenue
from state-support and student tuition/fees. Thus an annual increase of 300 FTE represents an
additional $1,740,000 for the college each year.
2. Through revitalization of professional-technical programs (goal 3), the college expects to increase
enrollment by 100 FTES each year. Again, at $5,800 per FTE, the college will realize an annual
increase of $580,000.
3. The NSCC Master Planning Study from 2004-08 projected a population and employment increase
of 40% in the Northgate neighborhoods surrounding the college. Conservatively, the college
projects an additional 100 annualized FTE by the year 2010 based on these significant population
and economic activity increases in the college’s primary catchment area. An additional 100 FTEs
corresponds to an annual increase of $580,000.
4. Over the life of the Title III project, projected increases of 550 student FTEs will result in an
annual increase of $2,900,000 in college revenues. Incremental FTE increases may well be
realized prior to the five-year horizon of the Title III grant, generating additional funds beyond the
summative five-year analysis. Even without taking incremental FTE increase in to account, Title
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III interventions will generate sufficient recourses to institutionalize grant initiated activities by the
end of the funding cycle.