Strategic Plan Comments (back to list)

II. DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLEGE PLANNING PROCESS

A. The Strategic Planning Committee

The Strategic Planning Committee is a standing committee that reports to the Chancellor and is charged with reviewing, evaluating and updating the College’s Strategic Plan.  The committee also prioritizes strategic actions based on program reviews, annual reports and summary reports from the deans and directors so it can make recommendations to the Chancellor and the Budget Committee regarding the use of resources in the college operating budgets, and regarding resource requests for future college funds following the guidelines of WCC Policy 4.2 Strategic Planning Policy.  It is composed of representatives from Vocational and Community Education, Administrative Services, Credit Instruction, Academic Support, Student Services, Administration, a Student, and a representative from the Budget Committee. Members must include faculty, administrators, APT’s and Civil Service employees and serve a 2-year term that is staggered, with opportunity to be reappointed. They are nominated by groups being represented to Chancellor.

B.  The Strategic Plan

The ACCJC Standards govern institutional mission and effectiveness; evaluation of student learning, programs, and services; appropriate resource distribution and adequacy; and evaluation to verify that financial resources planning is integrated with institutional planning. Strategic planning is the core process that allows the College to effectively meet the requirements of its mission.  It is the responsibility of Windward Community College’s Chancellor to provide effective leadership in planning, organizing, budgeting, selecting and developing personnel, and assessing institutional effectiveness (http://windward.hawaii.edu/Accreditation/ACCJC_Guide_to_Evaluating.pdf).  Additionally, the University of Hawaii Board of Regents policy on planning “provides for the regular and systematic assessment of programs, campuses, and the University as a whole to ensure that:

• The goals and objectives of each unit of the University reflect the unit’s mission;
• Planning is complemented by systemic monitoring of progress towards achieving planned objectives;
• The collection of information about the achievement of goals and objectives is an ongoing activity designed to maximize the use of existing data;
• The information collected is used to improve programs and services.”

The Strategic Plan is the fundamental document driving types of programming, new initiatives, program improvement activities, staffing, and facilities improvements and additions. It drives WCC’s biennium budget request, integrating the college’s programs and services to meet the college’s mission. It is linked to an evaluative process of program review, both annual major five-year reviews and annual reviews of the Liberal Arts, CTE Programs and Certificates in addition to the annual CTE Program Performance Health Indicators (PHI).

Windward Community College’s planning process encompasses a number of elements. The cycle begins with the original development and annual review and revision to the campus strategic planning as approved by the University of Hawaii, Board of Regents. The University of Hawaii System wide strategic plan was updated with feedback of all constituencies in the Fall of 2007.  The proposed new UH System Strategic Outcomes and Performance Measures may be found at http://www.hawaii.edu/ovppp/uhplan/SOPM_web.html.  It interfaces with the Community College System Strategic Plan, an outline of which is available at http://www.hawaii.edu/vpaa/system_aa/strategic%20plan/Strategic_Plan_Outline.pdf.  The WCC Annual Assessment and Program Review Schedule is available on the WCC website at http://windward.hawaii.edu/Assessment/Program_Review_Timeline.pdf.

The following are identified as programs and support units that must submit Annual Assessments and Program Reviews

The Academic Subject Certificate Programs and Certificate of Completion programs are now reviewed as part of the academic department to which they belong.  Furthermore, programs or activities that receive special funding through grants are excluded from this policy.  Title IV: Students Toward Academic Achievement and Retention; Windward Talent Search; Upward Bound; and the USDA-CSREES grant are examples of these programs. These programs are unique in that they have different reporting and evaluation timetables, reporting format requirements, and mandated outcomes methods. The assessment processes for these programs are mandated by the granting agencies, and while not identical in format, provide essential data for decision-making.

C. Program Evaluation and Review in the Strategic Planning Cycle

The program review process is an on-going, year-round assessment of the academic programs and support units of the College.  The cycle begins in April when the Office of Institutional Research generates the reports and gives the data to the departments.  At this time, the Director of Strategic Planning notifies the campus that the Strategic Planning Process is beginning.   The Department Chairs work with the Director of Strategic Planning and Director of Institutional Research to submit their Annual Assessments, Program Reviews, Departmental Progress Reports and Departmental Plans to the Associate Dean of Instruction or the Director of Vocational and Community Education by the end of May.  These must include Action Strategies for the department that might need to be added, modified, or deleted from the current Strategic Plan. 

It is the responsibility of the Interim Assistant Deans of Instruction and the Director of Vocational and Community Education to review these documents and to make recommendations to the Departments about which Action Strategy additions, modifications or deletions they believe should be considered for the Strategic Plan before the final November 1 submission date.  The documents are then forwarded to the Director of Strategic Planning by November 15.  The Director of Strategic Planning then compiles all the information into the new revised Strategic Plan and holds a campus-wide forum.  Suggestions from the forum are then incorporated into the revised Strategic Plan, which is, then, presented to the Strategic Planning Committee on December 1.

The Strategic Planning Committee then reviews the Revised Strategic Plan Action Strategies and in January forwards its recommendations to the Budget Committee for those items that require inclusion in the WCC Biennium Budget on or before February 1.  The Budget Committee then makes its recommendation to the Chancellor by March 1.  Administrative Review occurs in March, with recommendations forwarded to the Budget Committee in April.  The Budget Committee then finalizes the budget request for submission to the Chancellor in May.  The Budget is reviewed by the College as a whole between May and September and revisions are made before the Chancellor presents the budget to the Office of the Vice President of Community Colleges.   This is the budget that is presented to the BOR and the legislature.

Comments So Far

Comment 1. Check on chart regarding Programs and Units that need to do Annual Assessment and/or Program Review.

Comment 2. Under #1: Program evaluation-----Jeff has been giving the instructional depts. their data in April. The depts. submit to the ASSISTANT Dean of Instruction.

Comment 3. When looking at the list of annual assessments required and then going to actual assessments posted on the website there appear to be some missing. Has their been a change in the annual nature of the assessments, have some offices or units been removed from the list, or have the reports just not been done?

Comment 4. The planning process as of the moment still seems to be very top-down. All of our strategic goals go in lock-step with what we have received from the system. How do new ideas work their way into the planning process, particularly if they don't match the system's strategic goals. Also, where is ETC in the Strategic Plan. They are about half of the campus in terms of staff and budget, shouldn't their goals be reflected in the Strategic Plan?

Comment 5. When was the last time the Strategic Planning Committee met? According to the minutes it was last February. What role did they play in drafting the current Strategic Plan? Did they discuss and approve it?