II.A.16. The institution regularly evaluates and improves the quality and currency of all instructional programs offered in the name of the institution, including collegiate, pre-collegiate, career-technical, and continuing and community education courses and programs, regardless of delivery mode or location.  The institution systematically strives to improve programs and courses to enhance learning outcomes and achievement for students. 

The College evaluates the effectiveness of its courses and programs through ongoing review and assessment of student learning outcomes at the course and program levels on a semester basis. All courses and programs are regularly reviewed for currency and to ensure program quality through the biennial review of the catalog and the annual academic program review of its program/department.  The catalog review by the curriculum committee requires all academic departments/programs, including pre-collegiate, career technical and community education courses, to thoroughly review its curriculum for program quality assurance. All proposed changes must be initiated by the department/programs and referred to the Curriculum Committee and Assessment Planning Committee for review. Proposed changes to course or program outcomes must include evidence to support changes, including retention, remediation, and completion.  The academic division's SOPs on catalog proposed changes provide respective departments/programs with the process in proposing changes.¹

All ASCC courses, programs, general education, certificates and degrees have student learning outcomes. Assessment instruments and rubrics are identified to assess learning outcomes of courses, programs, general education offerings, degrees and certificates.  Certificate and degree competencies are categorized according to Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) embedded in courses that are aligned to either/or General Education Outcomes (GEO), Program Learning Outcomes (PLO), and the impact of these courses have towards students achieving ASCC’s Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILO).

ASCC’s Program Review ensures that processes are ongoing, systematic and used to assess and improve institutional effectiveness. The results of Program Reviews are used to continually refine and improve practices resulting in appropriate improvements in student achievement and learning. Divisional Assessment- Program Review assesses the quality of ASCC’s instructional and non-instructional programs/departments to determine ways to improve the quality of education, scholarship, and services. The purpose of Divisional Assessment- Program Review is to assure that the College provides high quality programs for students and to identify opportunities for improvement for each academic or service program/department.²

Instructional Divisional Assessment- Program Reviews are conducted annually with an emphasis on how Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) are achieved through competencies defined in the General Education Program, Core Foundational Areas (content enrichment competencies), and Co-Foundational Areas (specialized competencies).³

Divisional Assessment- Program Review instruments are reviewed by programs/departments annually to assure that areas pertaining to services offered are included and results are used by programs/departments for planning and resource allocation.⁴
Institutional Program Review provides access to institutional data, provides assistance in the analysis of data for decision-making, and improves ASCC’s operations through strategic planning. ⁵Data collected from Institutional Program Review is analyzed by the IPECC, including but not limited to annual Divisional Assessment-Program Review data to monitor the ASCC Institutional Strategic Plan and provide updates on the achievement of institution’s stated goals and objectives.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) compiles program review summaries based on survey input, either per program/department or institutionally, depending on the type of program review being conducted and on the relevant cycle, and disseminates the summaries accordingly.  IE also provides data on enrollment trends and student achievement standard statistics including but not limited to the Instructional Divisional Assessment- Program Review analysis for institutional planning and resource allocation. ⁶

The outcomes of the Divisional Assessment- Program Review and Instructional Program Review improve planning and decision making on resource allocation in supporting student success and achievement of student learning outcomes at all levels.⁷. 
The following is a list of all changes/improvements that have occurred as a result of program evaluation.

• Implementation of College Accelerated Program (CAPP). CAPP, through two sessions of six weeks accelerated courses per semester, is provided to prepare new incoming students for college level courses. Students may declare majors in various degree and certificate programs to enhance personal or professional development. ⁸
• Identification and implementation of General Education Domain & Requirements regardless of AA/AS degrees.
• Setting of Institutional Student Achievement Set Standards and Institutional Learning outcomes.⁹
• Assessment 101 workshops on campus co-presented by the Associate Dean and the Director of IE to allow new and adjunct faculty to become familiar with assessment of Student Learning Outcomes at all levels.  These workshops are conducted at the beginning of the semester mainly for the new adjunct and part-time faculty. ¹⁰
• Through recommendations and support from the institution in allocating resources, full time, part-time, and adjunct faculty were able to participate in a three-day Assessment Workshop conducted by a renowned expert in assessment and accreditation, Dr. Mary J. Allen.  The emphasis of the workshops was on rubrics, calibration, authentic assessment, closing the loop, and inter & intra-rater reliability. 
• Relocation of faculty offices due to limited space as noted on Academic Program Review
• Expansion of tutorial and counseling services available to students for improvement and achievement of student learning outcomes.

1 - Academic Affairs Division Standard Operating Procedures Manual, SOP #005-AA & 006-AA, Catalog Review/Course Review for Course/Program Approval
2 - Participatory Governance Structural Manual, p. 21
3 - Academic Affairs 2015 Divisional Assessment Program Review Survey
4 - 2015 IE Analysis, Planning and Resource Allocation
5 - Participatory Governance Structural Manual, p. 20
6 - 2015 IE Academic Affairs Program Review Summary, pgs. 1-30
7 - Participatory Governance Structure Manual, pg. 20-22
8 - 2012-2014 Catalog
9 - Participatory Governance Manual, p.25-26
10 - Spring 2015 Assessment Exit Report p.3