Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment

Strategic Planning

At Texas Southmost College, strategic planning is a dynamic, collaborative, and continuous process that sets the college’s future direction and ensures our institution’s long-term viability for our students and community.

a.) Strategic planning allows the institution to develop a long-term direction and focus. As a result, this process serves as the framework for continuous planning at TSC. This allows for the president to develop objectives derived from the institutional goals identified in the five-year Strategic Plan. In summary, strategic planning serves to identify the intended purpose, direction, and expected outcomes of the College.

The institutional effectiveness process at TSC begins with the mission statement and strategic plan, which provides the focus and scope of the college’s activities. Texas Southmost College (TSC) is an institution of higher education still emerging from two decades of operation under The University of Texas at Brownsville. Now, under the leadership of new TSC President Jesús Roberto Rodríguez, Ph.D., and with a Board of Trustees in place that has an interest in planning for the future, TSC embarked on a 7-month long strategic planning process.

Operational Planning

Linked to the College’s Strategic Plan and Annual Strategic Priorities, operational planning allows for broad-based involvement and participation by faculty and staff. All plans and evaluation reports are reviewed by the department chairs, deans, or vice presidents and finally brought to and approved by the president.

b.) Operational planning allows for a focused review of educational, administrative, and support programs and services based on the College’s goals, objectives, and expected outcomes. Individuals at the implementation level are responsible for developing different but complementary plans of action for service and improvement:

• Institutional effectiveness plans (IEPs) are developed by each planning unit (i.e., Division, Office, Department) to address the effectiveness of programs and services. IEPs serve to guide all employees in the design, implementation, and changes in procedures and services based on the previous year’s evaluation and assessment results. All IEPs are on an annual cyclical timeline in which they are created, implemented, and analyzed every fiscal year. (See Figure 2.1) All IEPs are live and are archived in the Planning Site.

 

Institutional Research to Inform Planning

Planning and improvement decisions are the result of the analysis of both outcome metrics and feedback provided by students and other institutional constituents. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) requires the submission of record-level students, faculty, and courses at the beginning and then at the end of each institutional semester. The THECB uses student record-level data to track student progress, movement between institutions, and post-graduation outcomes.

Student satisfaction is monitored through a collection of student feedback mechanisms in the form of surveys, evaluations of faculty, focus groups, and other less formal mechanisms. Recurring studies providing student feedback on their satisfaction, attitudes, and values are captured through the administration and collection of the following:

• Incoming Freshman Survey
• Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Survey
• Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE)
• Student Evaluation of Faculty
• Graduating Student Survey

Student progress is also tracked using internally produced data like course grade distributions that help faculty and administrators identify trends in high failure rate courses throughout the curriculum so that interventions and improvements can be implemented to boost student success levels. The State of Texas publishes institutional information on the THECB website. In addition, the reports submitted by TSC are audited by the state.

The data submitted to the THECB is aggregated and tracked over time, providing rich data sources to determine where strengths and weaknesses in both student and institutional performance lie. THECB data that informs strategic and operational planning includes:

• Closing the Gaps Accountability System tracking TSC participation, success, excellence, research, and institutional efficiency and effectiveness
• Existing Program Review Data Resources allow institutions to compare enrollments, number of awards, transfer data, persistence, licensure pass rates, and time to degree against peer Texas institutions
• Online Resume that includes a 3-year historical view of enrollments, funding, institutional versus peer group costs, financial aid, and graduation and persistence rate compared to peers
• Carl Perkins Data Resources, which detail technical skill attainment, licensure, retention and transfer rates, nontraditional student participation, employment in nontraditional fields, degrees and certificates awarded, and placement rates of graduates by program.
• THECB Annual Data Profile provides data for access by gender, ethnicity, and special populations; retention and remediation by CIP code; graduates by gender, ethnicity, and special populations; cumulative outcomes for graduates; and contact and semester credit hours generated by CIP code.
• The Annual Licensure Report provides the most recent outcomes of student performance on licensure examinations in the seven disciplines requiring students to achieve certification in TSC programs.
• Data resources for Legislative Budget Board Performance Measures include the percentage of course completers, university transfers, percent of students meeting college readiness standards, licensure exam data, and the number of special population students enrolled.
• Developmental Education Accountability Measures track the attainment of college-level competencies by students who enter the institution requiring developmental education.

The resources above that provide data for analysis and consideration help to inform decisions regarding where efforts and attention should be focused with regard to students and their success, as well as the efficiencies of the institution.

IRB number IRB00010974

Research involving human subjects and to protect their rights and welfare must comply with the regulations set forth by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Human Research Protections.

Proposals for research must be submitted to the Office of Institutional Planning, Research and Effectiveness via email at [email protected].

No research is to begin until the Institutional Review Board has acted.

FISCAL YEAR 2023 DATES

Application Submission Deadlines	Application Review Dates
May 26, 2023	June 8, 2023
June 30, 2023	July 13, 2023
July 28, 2023	August 10, 2023
September 1, 2023	September 14, 2023
September 29, 2023	October 12, 2023
October 27, 2023	November 9, 2023
November 21, 2023	December 7, 2023
December 19, 2023	January 11, 2024
January 26, 2024	February 8, 2024
February 23, 2024	March 7, 2024
March 29, 2024	April 11, 2024
April 26, 2024	May 9, 2024

IRB ACTIVE PROTOCOLS

 

Protocol #	Title	Expiration Date
00007	“Biotechnology Unified Education Network of Opportunities (BUENO) Project”	March 20, 2024

Institutional Effectiveness

Texas Southmost College (TSC) engages in a continuous quality improvement process. The institution’s institutional effectiveness process integrates institution-wide researched-based planning and evaluation activities, which incorporate reviewing programs and services. This results in continuous improvement and demonstrates that the institution effectively accomplishes its mission.

TSC Institutional Effectiveness Process

TSC’s Institutional Effectiveness Process consists of the following key components: a) Strategic planning and b) Operational planning. An evaluation component is included within each of these key activities. TSC’s Institutional Effectiveness (IE) Cycle is on a 5-year cycle. The diagram below identifies the components of the IE cycle, which informs the strategic and operational planning of the institution (see Figure 1.1).

TSC Student Learning Outcomes

Program Student Learning Outcomes (PSLOs) are developed by the faculty to focus on improving the effectiveness of teaching and student learning. The results of assessment and student outcomes are used to review and revise their PLOs, aiming to improve the student learning experience.

• • Academic Program Reviews are conducted on a four-year cycle based on the Program Review 4-year schedule. Through the Learning Management System (Instructure Canvas) and Compliance Assist, the following are documented and cataloged: Annual administrative and operational plans, program review documentation, student learning outcomes plans, and reports of results and reports of improvements implemented and assessed.

Student Achievements

In accordance with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Principles of Accreditation Core Requirements 8.1 (Student Achievement), Texas Southmost College identifies, evaluates and publishes goals and outcomes for student achievement appropriate to the institution’s mission, the nature of the students it serves, the kinds of programs offered.

Strategic Plan: Vision 2023

Mission Statement: Transforming our communities through innovative learning opportunities.

In Alignment with the Vision 2023 Strategic Plan, Texas Southmost College has identified five student achievement goals:

Goal 1: Continue to Grow Texas Southmost College Student Body.

• Fall-to-fall overall enrollment headcount
• Fall-to-fall on-campus enrollment headcount

Goal 2: Increase Timely Student Graduation

• 3-Year Graduation Rate
• Degrees and Certificates Awarded

Goal 3: Increase Student Persistence

• 1-year Persistence Rates

Goal 4: Increase or Maintain Course Completion

• Course Completion

Goal 5: Increase or Maintain State Licensure Passage Rates

• State Licensure Passage Rates

Each goal includes baselines, criteria, thresholds of acceptability, evaluations, and results.

In addition, Texas Southmost College utilizes the graduation data reported on the SACSCOC Annual Profile as its student completion indicator.

Submission Year	Completion Rate
2018	11.5%
2019	18.9%
2020	22.8%

 

Accountability
Almanac
TSC

Enrollment By Semester as of Census Date

PREVIOUS ENROLLMENT AS OF CENSUS DATE
TERM	CAMPUS	DUAL	ECHS	TOTAL
2017/FA	3816	1073	1327	6216
2017/S2	420	0	80	500
2017/S1	568	88	227	883
2017/SP	3216	540	1638	5394
2016/FA	3600	416	1046	5062
2016/S2	351	0	0	351
2016/S1	519	0	0	519
2016/SP	3099	671	1167	4937
2015/FA	3166	430	433	4029

 

Semester to Semester Enrollment Comparisons

• Fall to Fall Enrollment Comparisons
• Spring to Spring Enrollment Comparisons
• Fall to Spring Enrollment Comparisons

Term Profiles

Fiscal Year	Fall	Spring	Summer 1	Summer 2
FY 2018	Fall 2017	Not Available	Not Available	Not Available
FY 2017	Fall 2016	Spring 2017	Summer 1 2017	Summer 2 2017
FY 2016	Fall 2015	Spring 2016	Summer 1 2016	Summer 2 2016
FY 2015	Fall 2014	Spring 2015	Summer 1 2015	Summer 2 2015
FY 2014	Fall 2013	Spring 2014	Summer 1 2014	Summer 2 2014