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Performance Measures and Standards
Adopted March 16, 2007
Background
In February 1999, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges adopted 12 performance measures for accountability. This action was taken in response to a mandate from the North Carolina General Assembly to review past performance measures and define standards of performance to ensure programs and services offered by community colleges in North Carolina were of sufficient quality. In the 2007 Session, the General Assembly approved modification to the North Carolina Performance Measures and Standards as adopted by the State Board of Community Colleges on March 16, 2007. As a result, the number of performance measures was reduced to 8.
Core Indicators of Student Success
Beginning in 1993, the State Board of Community Colleges began monitoring performance data on specific measures identified in the Critical Success Factors Report and in the Annual Program Review report. Standards of performance were established for measures that were identified as being critical to ensure public accountability for programs and services.
In 1998, the North Carolina General Assembly directed the State Board of Community Colleges to undertake a review of all performance measures and standards with the intent of ensuring stronger public accountability. Concurrently, the General Assembly directed the State Board of Community Colleges to develop a plan for the implementation of performance funding.
As a result of efforts undertaken by the community college system, a set of 12 performance measures of accountability was adopted in February 1999. Recognizing the importance of these measures in the System’s public accountability efforts, the System Planning Council decided to designate the 12 measures as the core indicators of student success and include them as the first factor of the Critical Success Factors report. In the 2007 Session, the North Carolina General Assembly approved modifications to the North Carolina Performance Measures as adopted by the State Board of Community Colleges on March 16, 2007. As a result, the number of performance measures was reduced to eight (8).
Any college not meeting a standard is required to submit to the State Board of Community Colleges an action plan for improving performance.
The Core Indicators of Student Success are:
A. Progress of Basic Skills Students
B. Passing Rates on Licensure and Certification Examinations
C. Performance of College Transfer Students
D. Passing Rates of Students in Developmental Courses
E. Success Rate of Developmental Students in Subsequent College-Level Courses
F. Satisfaction of Program Completers and Non-Completers
G. Curriculum Student Retention, Graduation, and Transfer
H. Client Satisfaction with Customized Training
Performance Measures and Standards
Core Indicator of Success A: Progress of Basic Skills Students
Description/Definition—Basic skills students include all adult literacy students. Progress of basic skills students is a composite measure that includes the percent of students progressing within a level of literacy, the percent of students completing a level entered or a predetermined goal, and the percent of students completing the level entered and advancing to a higher level.
Methodology and Data Source—Data on basic skills students are collected by the college providing the instruction and entered into the Literacy Education Information System (LEIS). Data on the progression of basic skills students are submitted to the North Carolina Community College System Office annually. The data are compiled at the system office, and the composite measure and adjustment for each college are calculated.
Performance Standard—Standard for the progress of basic skills students is 75 percent for the composite measure. This measure is a required performance funding measure.
Core Indicator of Success B: Passing Rates on Licensure and Certification Examinations
Description/Definition—The percentage of first-time test takers from community colleges passing an examination required for North Carolina licensure or certification prior to practicing the profession. A licensure requirement for an occupation is one that is required by state statute for an individual to work in that occupation. Certification is generally voluntary but may be required by employers or an outside accrediting agency. Purely voluntary examinations are not reported.
Methodology and Data Source—Data are collected by the Planning, Accountability, Research and Evaluation Section of the North Carolina Community College System Office from the agencies issuing the license or certification. Examination data are reported only for those licensure/certification exams for which data are available from the licensure/certification agencies; data are not collected from the colleges on this measure. The data for most examinations are reported on a fiscal year; however, the data on nursing, emergency medical technician, physical therapy assistant, and veterinary medicine technology are reported on a calendar year.
Passing rates, if not provided, are calculated by dividing the number of persons who successfully pass an examination the first time they take the exam by the number of persons who sit for the exam for the first time. An aggregate institutional passing rate is calculated by dividing the total number of first-time test takers for all reported examinations by the total number of persons who sit for the exam for the first time. For privacy and statistical validity, no examination data are reported when the number of first-time test takers is fewer than 10 persons.
Performance Standard—The performance standard for the aggregate institutional passing rate is 80 percent. To be rated Superior, a college could not have any licensure/certification exams for which the college controlled who was eligible to sit for the exam with a passing rate less than 70%.
Core Indicator of Success C: Performance of College Transfer Students
Description/Definition—College transfer programs provide educational experiences that will enable transfer students to make the transition to a baccalaureate program and perform as well as the students who enroll as first-time freshmen at universities. The purpose of this measure is to compare the performance of community college associate degree students (Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Fine Arts) who transfer to public North Carolina universities with students native to the four-year institutions.
Methodology and Data Source—Data on two cohorts of college transfer students entering the public universities each year are analyzed. One cohort analysis compares the performance of college transfer degree recipients (AA, AS, AFA) at the end of two semesters at the public university to the performance of native juniors. The second cohort analysis compares the performance of college transfer students completing at least 24 hours or more of college transfer courses at a community college but not completing the degree to the performance of native sophomores. A cell size of at least 10 students is required for reporting this measure.
Community colleges may elect to work with private colleges and universities in collecting data on students who transfer to those institutions. The data must be consistent with the methodology employed by the UNC GA in calculating the data for transfer to public universities. If colleges submit data from private or out-of-state institutions, then the System Office will include the data with the public university data. When the total number of students is less than 10, the total number of students in three year and the respective percentage are reported.
Performance Standard—Eighty-three percent (83%) of students in both associate degree recipients and the students who transferred with 24 or more semester hours at community colleges had GPA equal to or greater than 2.0 after two semesters at a university. To be identified as exceptional performance, performance of community college transfer students will be equivalent to the performance of native UNC sophomores and juniors: 87% for 2006-07.
Core Indicator of Success D: Passing Rates of Students in Developmental Courses
Description/Definition—The percent of students who complete developmental English, mathematics, or reading courses with a grade of "C" or better.
Methodology and Data Source—At the end of each semester, colleges submit a Curriculum
Registration, Progress, Financial Aid (CRPFA) Report data file to the North Carolina Community College System Office. These student unit record files are loaded into the System data warehouse and are the official data of record for state level reporting. In the CRPFA file, the number and percent of students completing developmental courses with a grade of "C" or better will be calculated.
Performance Standard—Seventy-five percent (75%) of students who complete a developmental course in English, reading or mathematics will have a grade of "C" or better for that course.
Core Indicator of Success E: Success Rate of Developmental Students in Subsequent College-Level Courses
Description/Definition—Performance of developmental students in subsequent college level courses will be measured. Specifically, performance of who took developmental English courses and subsequently took college-level English courses was assessed. Likewise, the performance of who took developmental math courses and then took college-level math courses was tracked. The purpose of this measure is to provide evidence that developmental courses equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary for success in their college studies. Once students have successfully completed the developmental courses, they should be able to pass curriculum courses.
Methodology and Data Source—At the end of each semester, colleges submit a Curriculum Registration, Progress, Financial Aid (CRPFA) Report data file to the North Carolina Community College System Office. These student unit record files are loaded into the System data warehouse and are the official data of record for state level reporting. In the CRPFA data file, identify students who took developmental level English, Reading, and Math courses. Then their records were matched with subsequent performance in college-level English and Math courses.
Performance Standard—Eighty percent (80%) of students who completed a developmental course in 2005-06 and completed subsequent college level course in 2006-07 will have a passing grade for the college level course.
Core Indicator of Success F: Satisfaction of Program Completers and Non-Completers
Description/Definition—This indicator reports the proportion of graduates and early-leavers who indicate that the quality of the college programs and services met or exceeded their expectations.
Methodology and Data Source—Data are collected by survey, with each college using a standard set of questions. For colleges with fewer than 250 non-returning students, a minimum of 25 valid surveys must be obtained. For the colleges with more than 250 non-returning students, a response rate equal to 10% of the total non-returning students or a statistically valid sample size must be obtained.
Performance Standard—Ninety percent (90%) of the combined respondents will report to be satisfied with the quality of the college's programs and services.
Core Indicator of Success G: Curriculum Student Retention, Graduation, and Transfer
Description/Definition—This composite indicator consists of:
1. Number of individuals completing a curriculum program with a certificate, diploma, or degree; and
2. Number of individuals who have not completed a program but who are continuing enrollments in either curriculum or occupational extension programs.
3. Number of individuals who transferred to a university or another community college
This composite indicator will consist of the above three measures, each reported separately for each college. The sum of the three will be divided by the total number of curriculum students in the cohort to compute an indicator of curriculum student progress and success.
Methodology and Data Source: Cohorts will be defined each fall based upon number of students enrolled in degree granting curriculum programs (associate degree, certificate, and diploma). At the end of each semester, colleges submit a Curriculum Registration, Progress, Financial Aid (CRPFA) Report data file to the North Carolina Community College System Office. These student unit record files are loaded into the System data warehouse and are the official data of record for state level reporting. Each college has a minimum of two trained Skilled Knowledge Workers (SKW) with complete access to their data in the data warehouse. Each SKW has the ability to verify the accuracy of the data once loaded into the data warehouse. The cohort is tracked from fall to fall using data from the data warehouse to determine those who have graduated and those who have continued to be enrolled. This number, divided by the initial cohort, is the percentage reported. Transfer rates were calculated using the National Student Clearinghouse data.
Performance Standard—Performance standard for this measure is 65 percent of the fall cohort will have completed their program, still be enrolled the following fall at the community college, or transferred to another community college or university.
Core Indicator of Success H: Client Satisfaction with Customized Training
Description/Definition—The percentage of businesses/industries who have received services from a community college indicating that their expectations have been met. This measure is intended primarily to determine the satisfaction of organizations that received services from a community college.
Methodology and Data Source—A survey for businesses/industries receiving services from New and Expanding Industry Training and the Small Business Centers is administered by colleges to determine level of satisfaction with their customized training. The data are submitted annually to the System Office at the end of the fiscal year.
Performance Standard—Ninety percent (90%) of businesses/industries surveyed will report satisfaction with the services provided by community colleges.
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