IV.B.3. Through established policies and procedures, the CEO guides institutional improvement of the teaching and learning environment by:

• establishing a collegial process that sets values, goals, and priorities;
• ensuring the college sets institutional performance standards for student achievement;
• ensuring that evaluation and planning rely on high quality research and analysis of external and internal conditions;
• ensuring that educational planning is integrated with resource planning and allocation to support student achievement and learning;
• ensuring that the allocation of resources supports and improves learning and achievement; and
• establishing procedures to evaluate overall institutional planning and implementation efforts to achieve the mission of the institution. 

The changes made at the College to comply with this standard were guided by Recommendation 3.

The effectiveness of the President’s leadership is determined by the successful
accomplishment of the mission, the achievement of student learning outcomes and the compliance to the achievement standards required by the Accrediting Commission.

Policy 3001.2 College Goals is “mutually agreed upon between the Board and the President, and the President is charged with developing an action plan for implementation of goals.  The goals will be reviewed quarterly by the Board to ensure status and level of accomplishment.” ¹

The President uses institutional program and individual assessment to guide institutional improvement.  The ISP 2015-2020 integrates educational planning with resource planning to support student achievement and learning.  Data from Bi-Weekly and Quarterly reports focus on student learning outcomes, which helps the President in advising the Board of Higher Education.  The College has established institutional-set standards for student achievement in assessing the institutional effectiveness and efforts to support continuous quality improvement. 

The CEO has direct access to the Institutional Effectiveness division and to data and analyses of institutional performance through institutional reports and updates that are made available through IE.

The IE division is under the direct supervision of the President. The IE division is the only College division directly under the authority of the President. This organizational change ² allowed for the direct access of the IE division to the President for the accountability and monitoring of institutional effectiveness.

All institutional reports to the accrediting commission, federal and local government, and external are reviewed and approved by the President and verified for accuracy through the Institutional Effectiveness Division.

The CEO communicates the importance of a culture of evidence and a focus on student learning through the charge and authority of the Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and the Vice President of Administration and Finance for all respective College divisions in the implementation of operations and decision making processes and functions to meet the ASCC Mission. ³

The CEO ensures the culture of evidence and focus on student learning is communicated throughout the College through its communication protocol detailed in Policy 3022 Communication Protocols ⁴. The administrative structure of the College is organized to reflect the purpose and philosophy embodied in the College’s mission statement and to fulfill its responsibilities for quality teaching and learning.

ASCC’s organizational chart provides an appropriate and effective structure given the number of employees and variety of College programs.

The organizational chart provides a framework for the President to organize the personnel, functions and financial resources to achieve the mission of the College.

The organizational chart provides a structure to clarify reporting and communication channels. The organizational chart with program functions and job descriptions, clarifies the responsibilities of Vice-Presidents, Deans & Directors, and other supervisory staff.

Delegation of authority follows the organizational chart and is communicated in writing to the College staff.

Policy 1004 Comprehensive Program Review and Assessment of Instructional Programs, Student Services and Administrative Services describe the implementation of assessment and review processes of the College. Roles and responsibilities of constituent groups in program review and assessment set the processes in which research and data are used to ensure sound planning and resource allocation.⁵

Data sets are available to all constituents of ASCC on the College website. This includes all program review reports. Program review and assessment data assisted in the identification of institutional strategic priority areas and in the institutional goals. The President has supported the efforts of the divisions of Finance and Procurement to put procedures in place for all divisions to use the planned purchases process for planning and resource allocation. The Finance Division provides a historical expenditure report to the Leadership Team for better budget planning.

1 - Governance Policy Manual 3001.2 College Goals
2 - IE Organizational Chart Memo 3/3/2015
3 - Participatory Governance Structural Manual, pp 2-4, p 16
4 - Governance Policy Manual 3022 Communication Protocol
5 - Participatory Governance Structural Manual, pp 19-29