XII. Incorporation of Evaluation Findings into Improvement Processes

The use of evaluation findings is directly incorporated into 1) the Implementation Plan, as the last task listed under each of the three objectives is the use of in-progress measures to determine necessary changes and additions to the plan, and 2) the Strategic Plan, as each objective and action step in the Strategic Plan is evaluated each year, and the results are used to determine the next steps to be taken. This will allow for the review of in-process measures and results by several groups, including the faculty/staff strategic planning focus groups, the QEP Team, Administrative Council, the Leadership Team, and the Board of Directors. The use of multiple measures for the evaluation of each objective will allow the groups to note particular tasks and action steps that need additional attention. For example, objective number one has five measures that indicate progress toward attainment of the objective. As these measures are monitored, those that show greater progress will receive less attention than those that indicate a greater opportunity for improvement. Additionally, several of the measures are included in a single CCSSE question, allowing us to rank the items as compared to the national average, as demonstrated in figures 1, 2, 7, and 9. Furthermore, the QEP is built directly into the OCTC Strategic Plan, institutionalizing the use of QEP evaluation findings for improvement as a part of the college’s standard operating procedures.