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NCCCS Performance Measures and Standards and Performance Funding
for 2005-2006
Background
The North Carolina Community College System has utilized numerous processes over the past three decades to ensure public accountability for state monies spent. These processes have included fiscal audits, program audits, institutional effectiveness plans and program review. Beginning with the 1999-2000 fiscal year, a new system of accountability based on 12 performance measures was implemented.
In February 1999, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges adopted 12 performance measures for accountability recommended by the Performance Measures and Standards Task Force chaired by Dr. Willard Lewis, president of Isothermal Community College. After working with the measures for one year and receiving feedback from college personnel, Dr. Brenda Rogers submitted to the Policy Committee of the State Board some recommendations for changes to the measures. These recommendations were accepted and approved by the NCCCS State Board in May 2000.
The core indicators of student success are (see more complete descriptions of each below):
1. Progress of basic skills students
2. Passing rates for licensure and certification examinations
3. Goal completion for program completers
4. Employment status of graduates
5. Performance of college transfer students
6. Developmental course passing rates
7. Success rate of developmental students in subsequent college-level courses
8. Student satisfaction of program completers and non-completers
9. Curriculum student retention and graduation
10. Employer satisfaction with graduates
11. Client satisfaction with customized training services provided
12. Program unduplicated headcount enrollment
Performance Funding
Concurrent with the development of the performance measures and standards, NCCCS developed a process to establish performance funding for "rewarding" colleges that met set standards on a small number of performance measures. This undertaking was in response to a special provision legislation (the full text of the performance budgeting/clarification can be found in G.S. 115-D31.3 ratified as Session Law 2000-67, Section 9.7).
The special provision legislation specified the following five required performance measures for use in performance funding:
- Progress of basic skills students,
- Passing rate for licensure and certification examinations,
- Goal completion of program completers,
- Employment status of graduates, and,
- Performance of students who transfer to the university system.
Colleges may choose one other performance measure from an approved list, excluding the enrollment measure that establishes minimum enrollment for a viable program.
For each of the six performance measures, a college shall retain and carry forward one third of one percent (1/3 of 1%) of its final fiscal year General Fund appropriations. A college may carry forward funds based on measures for which it meets the standard or shows significant improvement. A college will be eligible for additional funding, if funds are available, for superior performance. Funds can be used for purchase of equipment and program start-up costs including faculty salaries for the first year of a program, and one-time faculty and staff bonuses. Funds cannot be used for continuing salary increases or other obligations beyond the fiscal year into which they were carried forward. Further, funds shall be encumbered within twelve months of the fiscal year into which they were carried forward.
In addition, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges requires that each college publish performance on the 12 measures annually in its electronic catalog or the Internet and in its printed catalog each time the catalog is printed. NCCCS shall publish the performance of all colleges on the 12 measures in its annual Critical Success Factors Report.
Measures and Standards
- Progress of Basic Skills Students
Description/definition: Basic skills students include all adult literacy students. The percentage of students who progress is based on three measures: (1) progressing within level, (2) completing the level entered or a predetermined goal, and (3) completing the level entered and advancing to a higher level.
Methodology and data source: The indicator measures the progress of basic skills students through the basic skills program. All of the data on literacy students are entered at the college level. Data on the progression of students through the basic skills programs are collected and analyzed using the Literacy Education Information System (LEIS) at the North Carolina Community College System Office.
Reporting periods/timelines: Data are requested annually on students enrolled in basic skills programs in a community college between the beginning of the summer term and the end of spring semester. Colleges report the status of these students by August 15. The federal report completed by the System Office is due to Department of Education - Division of Adult Education and Literacy on October 1.
Standard: A fixed standard of 75%.
- 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 who transfer to public North Carolina universities with students native to the four-year institution.
Methodology and data source: The cohorts consist of college transfer students entering the public universities each fall. One cohort analysis compares the performance of college transfer degree recipients at the end of two semesters to the performance of native juniors. The other cohort analysis compares the performance of college transfer students completing at least 24 hours or more but not completing the degree at a community college to the performance of native sophomores. The two cohorts will be combined for this analysis. There must be at least ten students for a community college to have this measure reported for accountability purposes.
Performance data on students who transfer to a four-year public institution are provided by the University of North Carolina General Administration and include only those students who transferred to one of the 16 constituent institutions of the UNC System. No transfer performance data are currently available at the state level from the private colleges and universities in North Carolina. However, colleges may obtain and submit data from private colleges and/or out-of-state colleges and universities so long as the data are consistent with that provided by the UNC system.
Reporting periods/timelines: The UNC System provides data annually, between June and September. The data are published annually in the Critical Success Factors Report. If colleges collect data from private in-state or out-of-state colleges and universities, those data must be submitted to the Planning and Research Section of the System Office by December 30.
Standard: 84% of transfers will attain an overall GPA of 2.0 or higher after completing one academic year at a four-year institution.
- Passing Rates for Licensure and Certification
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 will not be reported.
Methodology and data source: The examination pass rates for each college are reported on a program-by-program basis. The pass rate for a particular college program will be calculated by dividing the number of first-time test-takers passing the examination by the number of first-time test-takers sitting for the examination. Data are collected by the Planning and Research section of the North Carolina Community Colleges System Office from agencies issuing the license or certification. The data are collected and analyzed during the fall and reported in the spring. There must be at least ten students taking an examination for the results of the examination to be reported individually.
Reporting periods/timelines: Participating boards and agencies report data to the System Office annually and colleges review the data before publication in the Critical Success Factors Report.
Standard: An aggregate institutional passing rate of 80% for all first-time takers of licensure/certification examinations, plus no passing rate falling below 70% for any single examination.
- Passing Rates of Students in Developmental Courses
Description/definition: The developmental course passing rates for all developmental English, mathematics, and reading.
Methodology and data source: The North Carolina Community Colleges System Office has developed a computer program to identify developmental courses, identify students who are enrolled in these courses, and calculate passing rates for these courses. The number and percent of students completing these courses with a grade of "C" or better will be calculated.
Reporting periods/timelines: Annually data from each college will be sent electronically to the System Office and reported in the Critical Success Factors Report.
Standard: 70% passing rate for all developmental courses.
- Success Rate of Developmental Students in Subsequent College-Level Courses
Description/definition: The performance of developmental students in subsequent college level courses will be compared with the performance of non-developmental students in those courses. Specifically, performance of students in English 111 will be used to assess developmental English; performance in the first college-level mathematics course will be used to assess developmental mathematics; and performance in designated humanities and social science courses after completion of developmental reading will be used to assess developmental reading.
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: A computer program has been developed and is being implemented at the colleges that will identify developmental courses and identify students who are enrolled in these courses. This program will have to be expanded to track cohorts of developmental students and compare performance with non-developmental students.
Reporting periods/timelines: Annually data from each college will be sent electronically to the System Office and reported in the Critical Success Factors Report.
Standard: No statistically significant difference in the performance of developmental students as compared to non-developmental students.
- Program Enrollment
Description/definition: The annual unduplicated headcount enrollment in a curriculum program.
Methodology and data source: This indicator measures the number of individuals enrolled in a given curriculum program, with enrollment meaning the student was enrolled as of the census date. In cases where a program is offered at various levels (certificate, diploma, associate degree) or at specific concentration levels, the enrollment figures shall be aggregated as if it were one program. The data are available from the colleges' Curriculum Registration File.
Reporting periods/timelines: Curriculum registration data are submitted to the North Carolina Community College System Office by the colleges at the end of each semester.
Standard:The current fixed standard of an average of 10 students over a three-year period is recommended. However, this measure is not recommended for use in performance funding since it is a minimum standard for program viability.
- Student 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: The data are collected by the colleges using a standard set of survey questions. A response rate of 50% is suggested, and a minimum of 15 respondents will be required to report the data at the institutional level. If a 50% response rate is not achieved, a statistically significant sample size will be necessary for the data to be used for performance funding.
Reporting periods/timelines: Colleges will submit data to the Planning and Research Section of the System Office in February of each year.
Standard: 85% of the combined respondents will report being satisfied with quality of the college's programs and services.
- Goal Completion of Program Completers and Non-Completers
Description/definition: The proportion of graduates of certificate, diploma, and degree programs and the proportion of non-graduates who do not re-enroll who report that their primary goal in attending has been met.
Methodology and data source: The data are collected by the colleges using a standard set of survey questions. A response rate of 50% is suggested, and a minimum of 15 respondents will be required to report the data at the institutional level. If a 50% response rate is not achieved, a statistically significant sample size will be necessary for the data to be used for performance funding.
Reporting periods/timelines: Colleges will submit data to the Planning and Research Section of the System Office in February of each year.
Standard: 90% of program completers and non-completers will report goal completion.
- Curriculum Student Retention and Graduation
Description/definition: This composite measure consists of:
1. Number completing a curriculum program with a certificate, diploma, or degree.
2. Number who have not completed a program but who are continuing enrollment in either curriculum or occupational extension programs.
This composite indicator will consist of two measures, each reported separately for each college. The sum of the two will be divided by the total 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. The cohort will be tracked from fall to fall 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.
Reporting periods/timelines: Initial cohorts will be identified each fall. Graduates of programs will be determined using software developed by the System Office. Student enrollment files as of the census date will be used to determine the number from the cohort who are still enrolled in either a curriculum or occupational extension program.
Standard: 60% of the defined cohort will graduate or be retained.
- Employer Satisfaction
Description/definition: The percentage of a sample of businesses who employ community college students indicating that their expectations have been met. This measure is intended primarily to determine the satisfaction of organizations whose employees have been trained through a community college.
Methodology and data source: A state-level survey, coordinated by the Planning and Research Section of the System Office, will be conducted each year to determine employer satisfaction. Employers will be divided into 3 categories based on historic enrollment of community college students and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. Each category of employers will be surveyed every 3 years on an alternating basis.
Reporting periods/timelines: The data will be collected in February of each year by the Planning and Research section of the North Carolina Community College System Office.
Standard: 85% of employers report being satisfied with preparation of community college students.
- Employment Status of Graduates
Description/definition: The proportion of identified community college completers who are employed within one year of last attendance.
Methodology and data sources: With the North Carolina Common Follow-up System (CFS), we are now able to accurately track students' employment status after they leave the colleges. The Common Follow-up System (CFS) is a cooperative venture of the participating state agencies under the auspices of the North Carolina State Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NC SOICC). The CFS provides a highly efficient and cost effective method for collecting follow-up information for education, employment, and training program participants statewide. The CFS is maintained by the Employment Security Commission (ESC).
Each year the agencies involved in the CFS submit unit record data on participants to the ESC. Among the agencies included in this process are the public high schools, community colleges, and the four-year public universities. Each agency's data are matched against the Unemployment Insurance (UI) files and the other participating agencies' files. A database containing information on employment, employer, quarterly wages, receipt of unemployment benefits, and participation in other agencies' programs is returned to each submitting agency. The database each agency receives is limited to the participants that the agency submits for the data match. This is to say, the database received by community colleges has information only on community college students.
Once the CFS database is received, it is matched against the Curriculum Student Progress Information System (CSPIS) database and the following year curriculum student registration database. This matching is conducted to determine demographic characteristics of the participants, such as students' completion status at the end of the academic year and whether they re-enroll the following year. Students who obtain an associate degree, certificate, or diploma in the year given and do not re-enroll in any of the colleges the following year are defined as "exit completers." Those who do not obtain an associate degree, certificate, or diploma in the year given and do not re-enroll in any of the colleges the following year are considered as "exit non-completers."
Students who have wages in any quarter during the year are considered employed. Those who are found both in registration records and UI records but have no quarterly wages during the year are considered unemployed.
Reporting periods/timelines: The data will be collected, analyzed and reported annually in the CSF Report.
Standard: 90% will be employed. The percentage will be corrected for the average annual unemployment rate in the service area of each college in the following way: compute the difference between the state's average annual unemployment rate and that of the service area and divide by 2. This amount will be deducted from (for colleges with unemployment rates higher than the state average) or added to (for colleges with unemployment rates lower than the state average) the 90%.
- Business/Industry Satisfaction with Services Provided
Description/definition: The percentage of a sample of businesses/industries that 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 who received services from a community college.
Methodology and data source: A state-level survey, coordinated by the Planning and Research Section of the System Office, will be conducted each year to determine business/industry satisfaction. Businesses/industries will be divided into 3 categories based on historic enrollment of community college students and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes. Each category of businesses/industries will be surveyed every 3 years on an alternating basis.
Reporting periods/timelines: The data will be collected in February of each year by the Planning and Research section of the North Carolina Community College System Office.
Standard: 85% will report being satisfied with the services provided by community colleges.
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