COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL
PROGRAM REVIEW
Honors Program
Norco College
Round Three 2011-2014
Revised for 2012
Web Resources:
http://www.rccd.edu/administration/educationalservices/ieffectiveness/Pages/ProgramReview.aspx
Need Help? Contact Dr. Jim Thomas (Jim.Thomas@norcocollege.edu) or
David Torres (David.Torres@rccd.edu) )
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Table of Contents
A.
Mission and Relationship to the College ………………………………….
B.
History …………………………………………………………………….. 4
C.
Data and Environmental Scan …………………………………………….
D.
Programs and Curriculum ………………………………………………… 9
E.
Student Outcomes Assessment ……………………………………………
F.
Collaboration with Other Units …………………………………………… 13
G.
Outreach …………………………………………………………………… 13
H.
Long Term Major Resource Planning …………………………………….. 13
I.
Summary ………………………………………………………………….. 13
J.
Recommendations to the Program Review Committee…………………… 13
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3
6
9
COMPREHENSIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM REVIEW
HONORS PROGRAM
NORCO COLLEGE
2008-2011
A. Mission and Relationship to the College(s)
Norco College Mission Statement:
“Norco College serves our students, our community, and its workforce by providing
educational opportunities, celebrating diversity, and promoting collaboration. We
encourage an inclusive, innovative approach to learning and the creative application of
emerging technologies. We provide foundational skills and pathways to transfer, career and
technical education, certificates and degrees.”
Honors Program Mission Statement:
“The primary goal of the Riverside Community College District Honors Program is to
provide an educational experience that allows students to stretch themselves intellectually
and to actively work with fellow students and faculty to cultivate an awareness and
understanding of the diverse points of view necessary for a rich and productive intellectual
environment. The Honors Program is committed to drawing a diverse group of students and
faculty together, one that is representative of our college community as a whole, and
providing learning opportunities and services which will prepare the students to be
competitive in reaching their future goals.”
The RCCD Honors Program’s mission statement aligns with Norco College’s mission in terms of
education, diversity, and support to help students achieve their goals. The Honors Program, with its
seminar style class instruction and active learning philosophy, mirrors the learner-centered
philosophy of our college as well as the mission of developing communication skills and promoting
a close-knit academic community. We call this “an educational experience,” one that is based on
student inquiry and classroom innovation. To create this experience, the Honors Program
emphasizes research and gives students opportunities to present their research at undergraduate
conferences, further developing their information skills, collaborative skills and, in many cases,
their global awareness. The Honors Program also supports the college’s mission of serving a
diverse community of learners, as evidenced by the demographic data for the program; our students
and faculty are diverse in age, race, gender, socio-economic status, sexuality, and background. We
empower this diverse group to succeed in their goals with advising and mentoring; extracurricular
activities, like workshops and field trips; and leadership opportunities for students within the
program. Finally, the Honors Program clearly supports the college’s mission of helping students to
achieve their goals with our focus on transferring students to four-year universities, seen most
directly in our transfer data and in our negotiation of transfer agreements through the regional
Honors Transfer Council of California. Our mission statement reveals that our goal is not just to get
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students to transfer to their four-year school of choice but also to empower them with the
intellectual skills and confidence to succeed once they get there.
B. History
The RCCD Honors Program completed its last Comprehensive Program Review (CPR) in 2009.
Norco College reinstated the Honors Program in the Spring semester of 2009. The 2009-2010
academic year represented our first complete year of offering classes since Spring of 2006. Since
2009, we have grown to 171 students declaring Norco as their home campus as Honors students.
Since 2009, the Norco Honors Program has reported directly to the Dean of Instruction at Norco
College. The Office of the Dean of Instruction provides administrative support for the Norco
Honors Program with regard to budgetary issues. The Norco Honors Program budget has been fully
integrated into the Norco College budget. In addition, the Norco Honors Program remains part of
comprehensive district-wide program that reports to the Associate Vice Chancellor of Instruction.
The Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor provides administrative support in all non-budgetary
matters.
The Norco Honors Program is a member of the Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC).
HTCC certifies the quality and rigor of Honors Programs at Community Colleges within the state;
Norco College is one of fifty-five (55) member colleges. In addition, HTCC negotiates transfer
agreements with 4-year partner institutions; there are currently 18 partner institutions. Each of the
transfer agreements provides differing arrays of benefits to Norco students who successfully
complete the Honors Program and meet the standards of the transfer institution; these may include
priority consideration for admission, early enrollment considerations, library access, housing
consideration, scholarship consideration, and more. The Norco Honors Program is also a member
of the UCLA-Transfer Alliance Program (UCLA-TAP). As participants in the UCLA Transfer
Alliance Program, Norco College students who complete our Honors Program and otherwise meet
the rigorous admissions requirements receive priority consideration for admission to UCLA College
of Letters and Science and other benefits.
The successful offerings during the Fall 2009 semester indicate that the timing was right for the reintroduction of the Honors Program to the Norco Campus. In addition, the upward trend in Fill
Ratio data district-wide for the Honors Program during the re-introduction of the Norco Program
and the addition of a section at the Moreno Valley Campus provides evidence that the program is
strong from an enrollment management perspective.
Our program coordinator became Interim Dean of Instruction and Dr. Lyn Greene became
Coordinator in her place following Fall 2010. Our designated counselor retired in Fall 2010 and
the Honors Program experienced a succession of designees over the Spring 2011 semester.
Currently Marissa Iliscupediz offers support and help to our students and serves as our designated
counselor with extensive experience with the UCLA-TAP and TAG transfer programs.
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Goals and Recommendations
List the goals of your unit
for 2012-2013
List activity(s) linked to the goal
Relationship of goal to
mission and master plan
1. Develop a new course
offering
1. Consult with faculty; begin
curriculum process.
Mission: listening to students
about additional needed courses
and SP Goal 4:1 to enhance
academic programs and meet
student needs by helping
programs become selfsufficient.
2. Increase interactions
between Honors students and
faculty.
1. Consult with faculty and
students.
SP Goal 2: 1 to increase the
quality of student life on
campus and increase the hours
students spend on campus.
3. Gain approval to increase 1. Consult with administrators
course offerings by Fall 2014 and faculty about increasing
to improve our program
offerings
completion rate, especially
providing the opportunity of
our students to take their
courses over 2 years at Norco
College.
Mission: listening to students
about additional needed
courses.
To help with goal 1, the Honors coordinator is providing a flex workshop for faculty in Spring 2013
on creating Honors courses from their current course offerings. She is also working with a faculty
member to convert her Anthropology course to an Honors offering. For goal 2, the Norco Scholars
Association is pursuing a field trip offering for all students and Honors faculty members to help
increase the opportunities for students and faculty to interact outside of the classroom. The Honors
coordinator has worked with the STEM grant coordinator to include space in the STEM Student
Success Center for the Honors students with a possible lounge and computer lab that could help
increase interaction as well between STEM and Honors students. This plan has gone through and
been approved in the strategic planning process. Goal 3 is in process but unfortunately an Honors
Humanities 4 class needed to be cancelled because of weak enrollment and the Honors program will
have to show increased need before such a consideration would happen.
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C. Data Analysis and Environmental Scan
1. Enrollment Analysis
NOR HON Enrollments,
Retention and Success Rates, Fall 2009 - 2011
100
100%
90
80
80%
70
60
60%
50
40
40%
30
20
20%
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Enrollments
2009
2010
2011
59
87
85
Retention
84.7%
86.2%
91.8%
Success
71.2%
77.0%
85.9%
0%
*Data provided by David Torres and the Office of Institutional Research .
Our enrollments have grown over the 3 year period as we have grown from 3 courses to 4 courses
offered on the Norco campus. In Spring 2011, our courses were oversubscribed with over 20
students in each. With caps of 20 as a program requirement, our enrollments are controlled. Only
an increase in class offerings will add to our enrollment figures.
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2. Efficiency Analysis
NOR HON Efficiencies,
Fall Terms 2009 - 2011
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Efficiency
2009
2010
2011
393.43
399.55
389.59
The Honors Program is required to cap our courses at 20 students to optimize the seminar
presentation mode. We carefully watch our courses fill and make sure that we have reached over
100% in each. Our efficiency numbers have remained relatively stable over 3 years until this Fall.
We have studied the problem and have come up several approaches on how to eliminate this
problem that we will implement with the Spring enrollment process.
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3. Success and Retention Analysis
Looking above at Figure 1, the success rate of Honors students has increased to 85.9%. This
reflects a steady increase in our success rate while increasing the number of students served. Below
shows the analysis by course offering for both Spring and Fall 2011.
SPRING 2011
Fill Ratios
Success
Retention
English 1AH
95%
63.16%
68.42%
English 1BH
100%
80.95%
85.71%
Math 12H
105%
85.71%
85.71%
Philosophy 10H
100%
80.00%
95.00%
Fill Ratios
Success
Retention
English 1AH
125%
68.00%
92.00%
English 1BH
105%
80.00%
85.00%
Humanities 4H
100%
85.00%
85.00%
History 6H
115%
100%
100%
FALL 2011
In comparison to the College’s success and retention overall, the Honors Program success overall is
greater than the College’s and retention are relatively to somewhat higher than the College’s.
Spring 2011
Honors
Norco
Success
77.78%
66.11%
Retention
83.95%
81.24%
Fall 2011
Honors
Norco
Success
90.91%
67.26%
Retention
90.91%
84.12%
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D. Programs and Curriculum
(see part B.)
E. Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
2009 -2010
Most honors courses are assessed as part of their department’s assessment of entire course offerings
and therefore reported in their department’s program review. However, in Spring 2010 Philosophy
10H completed an assessment of the course to see if rewriting papers improved outcomes. Using
the standard rubric for philosophy papers adopted by the discipline (below), an assessment was
conducted in the Spring 2010 Introduction to Philosophy-Honors (PHI 10H) for the first writing
assignment. The rubric was used to assess the successful achievement of the outcome: “Identify,
restate, and explain philosophers’ answers to fundamental questions, along with their supporting
arguments.” The first three columns of the rubric address that outcome: column 1-essay is wellinformed; column 2-essay is well-argued; column 3-essay is well written. Papers were scored 2 for
achieving rows one or two (successful achievement of the outcome); 1 for achieving row three; and
0 for any other row. The overall scores for the class are as follows:
1. 7 Average for the class (7 students assessed).
The papers were returned to the students with extensive comments and the rubric. Students were
invited to rewrite but not required to do so. 4 students chose to re-write. Of those 4 students 3
improved in at least 1 column. The second paper average for class on the same outcome using the
first three columns of the standard rubric for philosophy papers was:
2. 8 Average for the class (7 students assessed).
The conclusion: “While the sample was too small to really draw any conclusions, there is at least
the suggestion that rewriting is worthwhile to improve outcomes and that the feedback on the first
paper does slightly improve performance on the second paper.”
2011
The assessment results relating to our courses are reported in their department’s program review.
The Assessment Committee has recommended that we include course assessments in our Program
review so we are going to support the faculty in each of our three courses in the Fall to assess all
courses and provide that assessment to our Coordinator for Program Review.
Our District Honors Advisory Council attended by our Honors Coordinator is in the process of
developing program-level assessment measures. I have asked for and acquired other assessment
measures from our state Honors Council members and will provide suggestions both to HAC and to
Norco Honors faculty for inclusion in assessment.
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However, at Norco we thought it would be important to report on our internal assessment of our
student support services this year:
1. Student recruitment:
We improved our recruitment methods at Norco College by:

Working more closely with Admissions and Records and Counseling.
o In Summer 2011, we provided our program brochures and materials about transfer
rates for distribution to high schools as well as students applying for classes. We
recruited 37 students in summer working directly with counselors at our district high
schools provided to us by the Outreach Office.

Working more closely with the AP Political Science faculty at Norco High School. We
recruited 1 student for Fall semester. We plan to work with these AP faculty and invite
students into our Honors classes as outreach.

In Fall we worked with Student Activities to promote the Honors Program in campus
advertisements and provided scholarship workshops for general students in conjunction with
Student Activities to help students apply for scholarships and promote the Honors Program
at the same time.
2. Orientation Sessions:
In terms of services to our Honors Program students, we increased the number of orientation
sessions both before school started and during the school year. As a result we increased the
number of students served by an orientation sessions from 7 in Spring 11’ to 38 in Fall 2011.
It is reflected in the increase of our number of Honors Program students over the academic
year and the District now reminds students when they are accepted to contact their Honors
Coordinator for an orientation.
3. Tracking Students:
We have worked with Student Services to better track Honors students and the Program now
has its own (decidedly small) database with flagged students’ full name, student ID, address
and phone information and date of flagging by the District. Almost complete with the help
of the District and Student Services, it is definitely complete in terms of email addresses so
communication to our Honors students is now improved.
4. Transfer data:
We have begun to collect as much data as possible on the students who have left the Honors
Program at Norco since 2009. Of the 128 students who have left, we were able to verify that
58 students had transferred to a four-year institution. The majority of the transfer
institutions are identified in Table 1 and 2. We collected the GPA’s of the unverified
students (70) to show their eligibility to transfer to a UC or a CSU. 43 of the unverified
students had UC Transferrable GPA’s of 3.30 or above (28 of those above 3.5). 42 of the
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group of unverified students had CSU Transferrable GPA’s of 3.30 or above (30 of those
with 3.5 and above). 38 unverified students have eligible CSU Transferable GPA’s and an
additional 28 unverified students have eligible UC Transferrable GPA’s (not accounting for
major which could affect which institution the 66 of them could pick). So it is probable that
out of 128 students, all but 3 transferred to a 4-year institution. See some of our data below.
Table 1
Confirmed Transfers to CA Public Universities
UC
TOTAL
% (of UC)
% (All)
Irvine
6
23.1
15
Los Angeles
9
34.6
22.5
Riverside
5
19.2
12.5
Other
6
23.1
15
Totals
26
100
65
Table 2
CSU
TOTAL
% (of CSU)
% (All)
Cal Poly Pomona
3
21.4
7.5
Fullerton
4
28.6
10
San Bernardino
6
42.9
15
Other
1
7.1
2.5
Totals
14
100
35
*Out of 58 students (69% of all confirmed transfers)
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Table 3
Unverified Students' GPAs
UC TRANSF. GPA
STUDENTS
% (of 3.30+)
% (All)
3.75 - 4.00
16
37.2
22.9
3.50 - 3.74
12
27.9
17.1
[3.50+]
[28]
3.30 - 3.49
[3.30+]
[65.1]
15
[40]
34.9
21.4
[43]
[100]
[61.4]
STUDENTS
% (of 3.30+)
% (All)
Table 4
CSU TRANSF. GPA
3.75 - 4.00
16
38.1
22.9
3.50 - 3.74
14
33.3
20
[3.5+]
[30]
3.30 - 3.49
[3.30+]
[71.4]
12
[42]
[42.9]
28.6
[100]
17.1
[60]
*Out of 70 unverified students
The Norco Honors Program is working with the Dean of Instruction to develop a permanent process
for collecting actual transfer data from our students to enhance the reporting of this possible PSLO
for our program.
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F. Collaboration with Other Units Including Instructional, Student
Services, or Administrative Units (Internal)
(see part E. & part B. p.5)
G. Outreach Activities
(see part E.)
H. Long Term Major Resource Planning
We would like to gain administrative approval to increase course offerings by Fall 2013 to increase
our program course offerings so that our increasing Honors student population can complete more
of their course requirements at Norco College in a two-year period. Currently our students travel to
RCC and Moreno Valley for the majority of their course work. This change is related to several
strategic planning goals and the mission of our College as noted above. We are currently working
with our Dean to explain the need.
I. Summary
Goals and Recommendations
1. Acquire the resources to fill a small computer lab in our future home, the STEM Success
Center.
2. Increase interaction between Honors students and Honors faculty especially through field
trip experiences that also serve to enhance our curriculum.
3. Increase the variety of course offerings on the Norco campus.
4. To capture verified transfer data from all identified Norco students starting in Spring 2013.
5. To implement a critical thinking PSLO for assessment purposes by Spring 2013.
J. Recommendations to the Program Review Committee
(none at this time)
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