Annual Assessment Plan

Administrative Departments & Educational Support Services

Department: Registrar Academic Year: 2008-09

Completed by: Gayle Hunter Date: November 5, 2008

1. Mission Statement: To aid in student registration and graduation processes and maintain and safeguard accurate student academic records in compliance with college, state, and federal laws, rules, and procedures.

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Intended Outcomes	Assessment Measures	Performance Criteria/Expected Results	Related Strategic Plan Goal	Evaluation and Planned Actions	Actions Taken (Close the Loop)
Implement initiatives to increase campus awareness of the established due date for graduation applications.	Monitor the number of initiatives.	At least three initiatives will be implemented.	3.3	Format of critical dates schedule was modified. The critical dates schedule is included in the college catalog, schedule of classes, in hard copy and on the college website. Update registrar office web pages to refer students to the critical dates schedule for all deadlines Recommend meeting with an advisor in the term prior to the anticipated graduation term to determine eligibility for graduation and any final graduation requirements.	New format for critical dates clearly shows the deadline for graduation applications. The dates are publicized by means available to students and the campus as a whole. April 2009 Registrar office web pages were modified to direct students to the critical dates for all deadlines. Registrar web pages are being reviewed to include this recommendation. A note will also be added to the critical dates in 2010-2011 to recommend meeting with an advisor in the term prior to anticipated graduation.
Increase the percentage of graduation applications received by the established due date.	Track data on the number of graduation applications received by the established due date and those received after the established due date.	Baseline percentage will be established.	3.3	This data was not tracked in 2008-09. After finalizing the process of clearing all graduates, the graduation processors considered whether this intended outcome is relevant to the mission of aiding in graduation processes.	It was determined by the graduation processors that receiving applications by a specific deadline is not relevant to the process of clearing graduates. They must be received before the graduation clearance process begins. It was also determined that having the due date in the prior term resulted in evaluating graduation applications for students who did not complete the prior term courses or did not register in their final term. This impacted the time within which processing for eligible graduates could be completed. In 2009-2010 the graduation application deadline was changed to the term of graduation in an effort to eliminate applications from students who were not eligible in their final term.
Reduce the length of time to finalize processing of graduation applications.	Track the length of time to finalize processing of graduation applications each semester; compare results to current timeframe of 8 weeks to determine change.	The length of time to process graduation applications at the end of each term will be reduced by 1 week.	3.3	Graduation applications were processed in the following timeframe, based upon the date grades were due (exclusive of a small number of graduation applications that had outstanding issues resolved at a later date): Fall 2008: Processing completed: January 22, 2009 (4 ½ weeks) Spring 2009: Processing completed: June 10, 2010 (5 weeks) Summer A 2009: Processing completed: July 27, 2009 (4 weeks) Summer B/C 2009: Processing completed September 8, 2009 (4 weeks)	The timeframe to process graduation applications was reduced from eight weeks to five weeks or less. This is a reduction of at least three weeks. This timeframe is acceptable. It was determined that one factor contributing to the time to process graduation applications is the number of applications reviewed for students who did not attend or complete their final term or the prior term in which the graduation applications were due. Two actions were taken to address this situation: 1. The graduation deadline was moved to the actual term of anticipated graduation in 2009-2010. 2. The Director, Advising Services, has implemented a process that all academic advisors in that department will review graduation applications of students advised by that department to ensure that they are eligible to graduate. If not, they will pull the graduation application from the Registrar’s Office and notify the student.

NOTE: assessment should focus on effectiveness, efficiency, constituent satisfaction, or impact on functions, services, processes or student learning.