Measurements and Metrics
Phase 1: Report Analysis
Final Project
Lynette Markey
November 17, 2020
The objective of this paper is to do a report analysis for Sunshine State University in Florida. Based on the report given data was collected in reference to institutional enrollment, enrollment by racial and ethnic categories, the number of degrees awarded, graduation rates, applications and or admission numbers, the admission requirements and instructional faculty and class size. The strategic plan as well as mission and vision of the school has a few gaps that should be reviewed. Looking at the five simple implementation steps of conduct an information inventory or audit the school has done some work but not enough. The second step of standardizing the data management is lacking since there is no clear chain of who is responsible for what action. The analysis if the data is what will be reviewed within this paper which will help the school improve and therefor can communicate the results to help meet the goals of the University. (Sagebrush Corp 2004).
One major issues or problems that have been identified include the acceptance rate of only 51%. The general information stated that they are neither highly selective nor open to everyone, but the numbers say that the University is being highly selective. If the admissions requirement is dependent on extracurricular activities and volunteer work there is no data collected for this, only a box stating it is considered. The same holds true for strong writing skills which are usually found within the SAT data that is also not listed. A secondary issue that is noted by the numbers seems to be lacking in the area of full-time women which has a difference of 818 students from that of the male full time. This area needs to be addressed further with statistical numbers as to why there is such a gap. The applications show that women who applied for acceptance are higher than men however the acceptance rate was much lower and in each application category and for first time first year freshman women numbers were less than men by 4% but first year freshman women numbers that actually enrolled were less than men by 6.6%. This is one area that needs to be analyzed for diversity issues.
Another area to be addressed is in reference to the general statement of Sunshine State University being the top research universities but the requirements for acceptance is only two sciences and two labs with no computer science being required at all. This area should be reevaluated more carefully since it is noted under high school units recommended which leads directly to meeting one of the goals for opportunities for undergraduate research. The last area for identification of a problem may be within the Study abroad program, undergraduate research or internship opportunities. The data collected seems to be missing when it comes to Alumni that has stepped up to mentor in any of these areas. If the goal of connections and leadership is to be met as well as service learning there should be some exit information gathered to see how many graduates would be willing to take students into the field with them or be available for mentoring during classes.
In order to transform the student experience and making a connection with curricular and non-curricular experience it may be necessary to accept a more well-rounded group of students into the programs. One problem in the case is clear within the strategic plan and that is technology. The report from the high school units does not have any recommendation for computer sciences or technology which needs to be addressed. This is one area that is missing from the strategic plan of the university.
When evaluating the strategic plan, its mission, and vision it may be necessary to discuss which phase of the Cynefin Framework the school is currently in (Snow & Boone, 2007). If the success defined section of the strategic plan is broken down into goals and evaluated, then there can be an order placed on importance. For example, if Technology is what is lacking from admissions due to it not being required or recommended from high school then this piece of the analysis should be addressed first University leaders can sense, categorize, and respond (Snow & Boone, 2007). This is a simple context within the domain of the framework and can be easily rectified to help the student succeed.
The data collected within this report is somewhat important to the goals set and the strategies to achieve the goals. Beginning with the global engagement there seems to be little data in reference to international students. In order to increase the numbers graduating in this area it may be necessary to increase the foreign language data to include current enrollment classes. Undergraduate success for opportunities in research and career internships relates to earlier information related to alumnae participation which would also help to achieve another goal in place of mentoring. More data is required to see upon questionnaires to graduates if there would be a willing participation to mentor and participate in collaborative methods to help students achieve the school goals. This idea also complies with the goal of hands on community engagement. Several of the goals, in my opinion, have the same analysis required. How many graduating are willing offer their time and knowledge to seniors within the university? To quote stiggins “All citizens become lifelong learners” (Stiggins, 2006, pg 7). Alumni can share their knowledge.
The current situation of the University according to the data provided seems to be lacking when it comes to certifications, associate degrees, Post-bachelor’s certificates, post-Master’s certificates and other doctoral degrees. The question will be if the degrees are available why is the data missing? If the degrees are not available, then why list them? The graduation rate for a six-year degree is at 97% according to the analysis which puts the University in good standings but without the numbers of the other programs it is difficult to compare how well the institution is doing as a whole.
The current state of the organization seems to be well staffed according to the fall of 2015 with the student faculty ration of 10 to 1 however there needs to be some type of assessment of achievement numbers within the report. If there is going to be metrics put in place to meet the strategic goal, then there should be Assessments with the goals to be met as well. Admission numbers and graduation rates need to be accompanied with data that make up where the students are currently to learn how to support the goal of future strategies. For example, according to Stiggins there are assessments needed in the classroom, program, and institutional levels (Stiggins, 2008) but the only examples the analysis gives is pre- or post-graduation of students. If the goal of the study is to transform the student experience, then there needs to be data to find out where the current school population is now, what should come next in the learning and whether standards are being met this could increase the graduation rate.
The current state of the University seems to be lacking in the certificate and associate degree areas since the number issued is zero. There may need to have a team created as to why. There is also a need to update high school requirements since currently there is no data for computer sciences which goes with technologies. The main question to be answered according to Stiggins is under the standards of admission “Are the current level of students learning showing that a student has met grade-level standards?” (Stiggins, 2006, page 7) are enough students meeting the requirements to gain entry or are they just earning the credits. If not does the admission criteria need to be changed to encourage the goal to increase international students as well as leadership development?
Currently the University seems to be in a Data focused quadrant and to try to connect the facts of the analysis to their goals seem far apart. The goals in place seem to be in reference to a connection to the community after graduation such as alumnae connections and leadership development but there is not an exit number analysis created to see how many would be willing to return to become a mentor to achieve the goal of connection with existing students. This analysis would also help with the leadership plan for students and has the possibility to encourage community engagement. To summarize, reference Marrs 10 steps for any business and especially number 10 which incorporates the learning into the business and turns the data into action. (Marr, 2016) this is the direction the university should take. There is a need to create a different state of analysis to answer the goals that are listed.
The school has not worked toward the goals that they stated and many goals that should be in place, like technology and diversity, are not included in their strategic plan. Both of these areas are a way of the future and should be addressed. This is an area that I have noticed that many schools have not addressed even thou they are saying they are. Another is getting mentors. It states that in their plan, but many schools say they want to get their alumni involved for this but many times it does not work out. My company looks to the employees to try and get these mentorships in place with the schools that they graduated from. The university that I graduated from with my undergraduate really has not reached out to the alumni until this past year.
References
Marr, B. (2016, Jun 14). Data-driven decision making: 10 simple steps for any business. Forbes.
Sagebrush Corporation (2004). Data-driven decision-making: A powerful tool for school improvement. Sagebrush Corporation, 1, 1-15.
Snowden, D. J. & Boone, M. E. (2007). A leader’s framework for decision-making. Harvard Business Review.
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, May 30). Balanced assessment systems: Redefining excellence in assessment. Educational Testing Services, 1-10. Stiggins, R. J. (2008, Apr). A call for the development of balanced assessment systems: Assessment Manifesto. Portland, OR: ETS Assessment Training Institute
Phase 2: Strategic Plan Analysis
Final Project
Lynette Markey
December 5, 2020
The objective for this paper is to select two issues for analysis from the Sunshine State University in Florida which was based on a common data set given from 2015-2016. The paper will concentrate on the analysis and critique from the mission, vision and strategic plan from the school. After analyzing all the data sets, it can be determined that the two issues that are most important to be addressed through data will be in the areas of community connections and alumni relationships.
Identification of Specific Issues
Within the goals of the university there is a clear mention of collaboration between the students and the connections that should be made globally as well as within the community settings. This area for analysis does not get measured by SAT scores or standardized scores but it could be reflected within the essay or a questionnaire that could be submitted with the application. There has been a lack of data collection in the area of volunteerism, but under the strategic plan it is clearly mentioned that a connection between the students and the community should be established.
The second issue is in reference to alumni relationships. This area can be addressed in the same way as the volunteer problem. There has been no data created in reference to graduating students and a further connection with them to help place future students with them as mentors. Upon graduation there could be a way to create a registry from a questionnaire for future use. The data collected could be a future connection put in place to allow students to connect with Alumni in the future which would allow for not only mentoring but leadership training through guidance of someone who has already been through the university and obtained their degree and is currently working in the field of study that the student looks forward to going into.
Reasons for Significance of Issues
The significance of reasoning for the issue’s in the lack of data in reference to volunteerism and alumni relations. There is no currently collected data that associates with these goals or strategies of the University. Within the section of relative importance for first year freshman seeking admission the area of volunteer work is listed as important and it is again mentioned under the strategic plan under the goals of the school. There is clearly a need for information. The Alumni connection does not even get a mention until the goals and opportunities are listed for the future of the school, However, under the strategic plan there is an internship opportunity mentioned under success defined but there is also no mention of how it was measured to be a success.
In reference to the volunteer aspect within the community, once all of the applications for admission have been accepted, and if surveys were included and tallied, it is possible to measure the mode, median and mean when it comes to how many hours or type of areas perspective students have volunteered their time to work with the community (Ravid, 2015). If the university is to have this area as a goal as well as part of the strategies, then there should be students that are familiar with working within the community and a way to track the number of service hours performed. It would be up to the university to decide on what percentage they believe would be acceptable in order to add to the consideration for acceptance to the school and with the data collected it would be easy to create the proper analysis to give the University an accurate view of incoming freshman.
The same would hold true for the Alumni connections needed to create their goal of mentoring programs. By sending out a questionnaire to collect data and then decide what answers the university would be trying to collect. Once received it is possible to graph by majors or degree areas. The data is collected and plotted on a clear visible graph to see where the largest area of interest falls (Ravid, 2015). Once the students have been matched to the corresponding mentors then it is possible for the University teams to develop the experience that is needed for the students as well as future mentors to stay connected to each other for an easy transition from university to the work force.
The most important of these two issues is alumni mentoring. There are four major benefits to having alumni mentoring. The first is that mentoring students can improve future job placement, second mentors improve the rate students remain in school since they have someone to ask questions if needed. Third is that by including alumni in the process it will keep them connected to the school which could be a benefit financially. The last area is mentors can enrich the college experience which can also keep students in contact with the community which is also one of the future goals the university has listed. (O’Brian, n.d.). Bill and Melinda Gates, through their foundations and the Gates Millennium Scholarship Programs, have found that mentoring students has helped retain about 97% of the first-year students in their programs (Gates Millennium Scholars, 2013).
Missing Data
In order to correct the volunteerism issue, it may be best to collect data using the response format, an additional survey or questionnaire that can be added to the freshman acceptance process as well as the graduating students. With data collected it would help with meeting the strategic goals listed within the study. Since a response format may be too vague it would be best to create structured formats so it would use either a fill in the blank or yes or no questions such as if available would you participate in a mentor program and or graduating students such as would you be willing to be a mentor for current students. In order to create even more accurate data, it is possible to have numbered responses for graphing purposes later which could include further questions for career advancement (Sincero, 2012).
When it come to alumni mentoring, which is the most important issue, you first need to determine who the alumni are that you have to help with the mentoring and which students are interested in or need the mentoring. The best way to do this is to send out a questionnaire to the current alumni, current students, graduating students along with new incoming students. This way you can capture all that may need, or want to be part of, the mentoring program.
The next step would be once all data is collected then a line graph can be used to compare the two groups on one graph and where the data intersects is where the best alumni/student match can occur. By using this method, it would be easy to communicate visually what is needed to move towards the goal of alumnae connections through mentoring programs.
When considering the data collection and implementation it may be helpful to have a brainstorming session with all groups and create a SWOT analysis. The SWOT analysis will show the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of imposing a questionnaire (Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas, 2016). Some of the concerns may be financial costs to the school, future trends in economy, future obstacles and the fear of reduction in applicants. Once the analysis is completed then there could be a clear direction to determine if a questionnaire would benefit the University or not.
The last part of the plan would need to be in reference of who will be in charge of implementation of the project. In order to meet the goal, there needs to be a person put in charge of the execution. The case study mentioned in the strategy area that the faculty advising, career planning and development office, undergraduate deans office and the alumnae affairs office are to work together to develop a plan however when the data is created then there will be a need to select a swot analysis in reference to the best path to take in determining how to refine the strategic plan and the vision of the school to incorporate the questionnaires.
References
Gates Millennium Scholars (n.d.). Gates Millennium Scholars Program Website. https://gmsp.org/
O’Brian, S. (n.d.). Why university mentoring? Four benefits of a university mentoring program. https://chronus.com/blog/university-mentoring-four-benefits-university-mentoring-program
Ravid, R. (2015). Practical statistics for educators (5th ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.
Sincero, S. M. (2012, Jul 9). Survey response formats explorable.
Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2016). SWOT analysis: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/main
Final Project Phase 3: Implementing a Strategic Plan
Lynette Markey
Post University
EDU515: Measurements and Metrics
Amy Carroll
December 18, 2020
The purpose of this paper is to analyze two issues from the Sunshine State University of Florida based on a common data set given from 2015-2016 and implement a strategic plan. The two issues that were determined that needed work are volunteerism and alumni relations with the school. The paper will be broken down into four different categories, addressing significant issues, who are the stakeholders involved in the action plan, how the stakeholders will be involved in the process, and how data will be collected and analyzed to determine what changes will be necessary to fulfill the University goals.
Addressing Significant Issues
In order to understand the issues presented it is necessary to break down one at a time beginning with the area of volunteerism. Within the general information of the study there is a mention that the University is looking for students with volunteer experience and also considers this area important for first-time, first year freshmen yet there is no current data collected on if the criteria is being met. Furthermore, within the goals and strategies it is mentioned again (Southern State University, nd). In order to address this problem, there is a need to add to the application process how many volunteer hours an applicant has performed within their high school career and add it to the application for data collection which can help measure the mode and mean of the hours to see how much the students are involved in this area and determine how much they might need to complete while at the university (Ravid, 2015).
The second area to be addressed is the alumni relations with the school. The data set states that it is important to the first- time, first year freshmen to be admitted and defines the student success to have enrichment through alumnae connections but again there is nothing to support how to obtain this critical goal (Southern State University, n.d.). Within the goals and strategies this is mentioned again to create a bond early without a way to achieve this. Connecting this bond through mentorships help the students work within the community in fields that they are interested entering into in the future (O’Brian, n.d.). In order to create a relationship with the alumni a committee should be created to enlist email address of graduating seniors and current alumni to send out questionnaires to see if there is an interest to help current students by becoming mentors. Once the data has been collected then send out a similar questionnaire to current students for proper pairing.
Stakeholders Involved in the Action Plan
In order to implement collecting information for the volunteer issue there needs to be a plan created as to how many hours the University will be looking for to be considered as acceptable for admittance which would be handled by the head of the university. Once the number is generated the admissions department needs to update the application. An action step is an excellent way to have some brainstorming activities so the university can take a look at the admission application forms both online and in writing (Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas, n.d.). At the same time it is necessary to involve the IT department to review the website to make sure there is a clear mention that the University is looking for students with volunteering experience. The method of an action step will provide a clear way to reach the goal in mind. In order to get more ideas about what the school will be looking for in the future there should be some input from student affairs as well as reaching out to the local community organizations to see where students are needed in the future.
Alumni involvement would need to be more specific to the departments of career planning and undergraduate offices. This area should create a VMOSA which would be to address the vision, mission, objective, strategies, and action plan to make alumni connections a success. (Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas, 2016)
Since there is no data so far in reference to alumni this area should be considered as something new. The vision could be something such as mentoring from people who have already been in your shoes with the mission to transition from student to employee seamlessly with the objective of keeping a connection with the school. Strategies need to be discussed as to how to connect alumni with current students by the undergraduate office so there is a positive developmental opportunity for each student interested and an action plan should be created to address on who will handle what area and by when.
Plan for Stakeholder Involvement
Volunteerism, step one, should be to draft a clear expectation to incoming freshmen about the amount of volunteer hours that is acceptable to be considered for admittance. Suggestion would be to have three different choices and then submit this to the board of directors for discussion and selection. Once the number is agreed upon then it would be necessary for the admission department and the web designer to update the application to include the number required for consideration, there needs to be set a clear deadline as to when this should be completed. In order for an accurate piece of the admission process a data base design should be created so a log of hours can be submitted with the application there may be a need to propose an outside company to design and collect the data from this information so cost and staffing may need to be considered.
Alumni, step one, needs to begin with a group meeting to discuss a questionnaire to be created by several departments. By creating a SMART goal which is a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound plan the Alumni connection will have a clear start and end date with what is expected. Since the whole school will benefit it will be necessary to involve a few people from each department, so no one is left out of the mentoring possibility. Once the specific questions are agreed upon it may be necessary to use a multiple-choice question such as would you be willing to mentor, how many hours can you volunteer your time, and is your does your company allow a shadow program. A graph can then be created to see where the largest area of possible alumni mentors are available (Ravid, 2015). The last step is who will decide on what mentor is paired with which student. My suggestion would be to hire a mentoring coordinator to specifically run this area. Not only will it pair the mentors to the students, but it will also facilitate the implementation of a seamless transition from student to employment opportunities within companies.
Another key tool that will be needed to cover both categories will be to create a SWOT Analysis for brainstorming purposes to determine if this will be an asset to the school or an expensive plan without merit. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that is a great way to determine if inside factors within the university and or outside factors will determine if the plan will work or not (Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas, 2016a). A possible SWOT Analysis chart for this part of the evaluation would look something like this:
| Strengths Alumni connection to school Student connections to alumni Character building through volunteering Recruiting tool | Weaknesses Cost for questionnaire implementation People sign up and do not follow through Integration, who will handle |
| Opportunities Connections between students and community Future Job placement Social media bringing attention to school | Threats Economic No one to oversee position |
Plan Effectiveness and Types of Data Collection
The data collection for the volunteerism category is extremely important when it comes to admission. If a perspective freshman has very few service hours, it may be detrimental to the success of the goal listed in the plan for hands on community engagement. Data will show how many hours are integrated within a person’s daily activities which means the need to organize time will not need to be managed since it is already learned. There is no current data available to analyses this information but with the new plan in place admissions should be able to plot out on a graph to see if a person can handle the university course load as well as expected community engagement which will be a combination for success.
Alumni data collection will be beneficial when it comes to pairing the right student to the right mentor for any situation. Once the questionnaires are created and collected then it is possible to send out the same information to current students. By creating a line graph both data plots can be created on the same graph to see where similarities intersect. If this is successful, then the undergraduate department can step in to contact alumni directly which would allow student affairs to contact current students. Once paired all that is needed is to determine if the university wants direct contact with each person or there needs to be a liaison between.
In conclusion, this entire project, all three phases, have analyzed the data set of Sunshine State University to look at possible lapses in their strategic plan (Sunshine State University, n.d.). It was determined what two areas were the most important and then suggested a plan to address these areas including who would be involved and how it would be determined if the changes worked.
References
O’Brian, S. (n.d.). Why university mentoring? Four benefits of a university mentoring program. https://chronus.com/blog/university-mentoring-four-benefits-university-mentoring-program
Ravid, R. (2015). Practical statistics for educators (5th ed.) Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.
Sunshine State University. (n.d.). Common data set 2015-2016. [EDU 515 course notes]
Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas (n.d.). Identifying action steps to bring about community and system change. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/identify-action-steps/main
Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas (2016). An overview of strategic planning or “VMOSA” (Vision, Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Action Plans). https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/vmosa/main
Work Group for Community Health and Development, University of Kansas. (2016a). SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/main
Lynette's Educational Journey 