1.10.1 Planning Process

1.10.1 Planning Process

Revised: October 1, 2012; October 1, 2016; October 1, 2018; August 2021

The planning process at Sandhills Community College is based on a continuous cycle of assessment, evaluation, and planning. The cornerstone of this recursive process is the College mission statement: “To provide educational opportunities of the highest quality to all we serve.” Six supporting goals are evaluated first through Campus-Wide Outcomes that measure how well the institution, as a whole, is fulfilling the mission. The assessment results of each Campus-Wide Outcome are reviewed annually. 

Outcomes whose measures fall below the targeted performance threshold are reviewed by the Campus Planning Committee, senior administration, and representatives of the Board of Trustees. Improvement plans are discussed at the annual Institutional Effectiveness meeting and woven into the College Strategic Plan. 

The planning process is also supported not only by the evaluation of the institution through Campus-Wide Outcomes, but also through the assessment and evaluation of each unit or program, both instructional and non-instructional. Individual unit assessments are used to inform program reviews, which are formal evaluations that consider the current status, including strengths and weaknesses of each department. 

Unit assessment results are formally reported each academic year. Program evaluations are also completed at the end of each academic year using assessment data from the previous, completed year, as well as trend data, to provide an historical perspective. 

The results of unit program reviews (evaluations) are used by the various Deans, the Chief Operating Officer, the area Vice Presidents, and the President to draft the College Strategic Plan of Operations (CSP). The CSP is a four-year plan that gets updated annually and is refined, reviewed (with a full Board review in September), and then approved at the October Board of Trustees meeting. 

<< Back to the policy