Traci and Theodora,
I agree and both of you have valid points. Unfortunately in our business/world of education, we become very specialized in our fields and of course that translates over to accountability. Theoretically, the whole management team is held accountable but only the ones who have had previous auditing experience are given the direct responsibility for coordinating the appropriate responses. While this might seem to be a little awkward or biased, it proves to be more effective than the alternatives. The down side is that this effectiveness is a corrective action in itself.
I believe in order to make this a living, breathing document, schools should have a check list that must be completed for every student under all circumstances. This will ensure that all requirements are met and will lead to the discovery of any internal and or external problems
I agree with you. When a plan is put together, departments should start adhering to them immediately. This way policies will become second nature to the department.
This is so true. There are reasons for practice and procedure so we need to remember that when changes are made it is important that they are followed.
A plan must be put in place and used with all duties to work. The plan must be used by all departments daily.
Internal procedures should be a paet of every day operations to be sure you are in compliance
We are in a similar situation. Although the school has been around for a little longer we've added additional programs and have had a great increase in the number of students all at the same time. I think the IAIP is an ever changing process based on the schools size and needs.
I agree. This identifies rights, wrongs, improvements. We should always strive to do more than the bare minimum.
I can't remember which businessman promotes this, but he mentioned PDCA.
PDCA stands for: Plan, Do, Check, Action.
My school does PDCA often, so that we can find small errors and correct them, as well as target the larger issues and resolve them.
The businessman who utilized PDCA ran a very successful company (contrary to my not recalling either at the moment).
When you do PDCA, the Plan document does become real. You always need to go back to your original plan, do it for daily business running, check the results of the action, and then re-evaluate the plan to see where it needs to improve and what is strong.
Through this, we were able to stop a few problems before they became serious issues.
Kristen,
Thanks for sharing this useful guidance!
Traci Lee
I don't know who said that, but, "Rome wasn't built in a day". The fact that you ARE doing it is important, not that it has taken you 5 years. Congratulations!
I agree with you totally. It is so important to have the entire faculty and staff of your campus to assist in creating, updating, and carrying out the goals in the IAIP.
Our campus Institutional Effectiveness Plan (IEP) is reviewed annually by the committee of our ED, Deans and Department Directors. The department directors take a summary of the report back to department meetings. Instructors do like to know they are part of a team and that other employees (in admissions or student services) are doing things that support their students. This is a holistic approach for students. The instructors here also come up with some great questions and ideas for me to take back to the ED or next directors meeting. The instructors are sometimes the ones that help us keep it real. Reports on the IEP can be used to thank staff for being part of our successes and alerting them to challenges that we are having as a team. I think we really have seen improved effort in retention in past two years when more staff understood the reports and what the numbers meant.
denise,
That's great to hear! I think it is so important for institutions to "walk the talk" on their IEP and your holistic approach and faculty involvement reflect the true intent of these plans.
Traci Lee
Yes, this is a living document and all procedures and policies should line up with the college standards of practice.
I do agree that the IEP needs to be a living document. Updates are integral components of the IEP and are best when provided within a well-defined reporting timeframe that supports transparency and understanding of progress toward goals.
I agree with this, but it is hard, at times, to have all employees follow the same guidelines.
