Unlocking Opportunity Strategy Assessment Tool

The items in the following assessment tool reflect statements of strong institutional practice at colleges that achieve high, improving and equitable levels of success for students while in college and after graduation. Organized into seven domains of practice, the assessment tool asks you to rate your perception of the current status of several items in each area at your institution. Once complete, your institution’s president will receive summaries of scores across each area, providing a summary picture of areas where your institution may need to invest additional strategic effort, in addition to identifying strengths. The president will not have access to which response was provided by you or others who complete the assessment.

In this assessment tool, the term “student success” has the following meaning:

  • Success in college: Students (1) learn and (2) complete credentials.
  • Success after college: Students (1) get good jobs and/or (2) transfer and attain a bachelor’s degree.
  • Equitable outcomes and access: For Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and low-income students, the college ensures high absolute rates and minimizes gaps in (1) learning and completion outcomes for students in college, (2) transfer and workforce outcomes for students after college, and (3) enrollment of different demographic groups relative to the college’s service area.

Directions: Assess the extent to which your college engages each of the following practices, according to the scoring rubric.

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Domain 1

Prioritized Strategy & Reform Agenda
The president and senior team have adopted no more than five specific priority reform strategies to increase student success.
College leaders have adopted a limited set of priority leading and lagging indicators to monitor that are associated with quantitative goals to advance student success.
College leaders regularly monitor changes in leading and lagging indicators to assess progress towards student success goals and the effectiveness of reform strategies.
College leaders routinely disaggregate data by student race, ethnicity, age, gender, and income level and consistently communicate to those developing and presenting data that such disaggregation is expected.
College leaders have implemented a strategy for communicating to internal stakeholders why priority reforms matter and what will be used to assess progress.
College leaders have implemented a strategy for communicating to external partners why priority reforms matter.
The board has a clear, shared understanding of the college’s priority reforms.
The board has adopted a limited set of priority leading and lagging indicators to monitor that are associated with quantitative goals to advance student success.
The board regularly monitors a consistent set of data to assess progress.
Annual assessment of the college president and senior leaders are substantially aligned to accomplishment of institutional reform strategies and improving student outcomes.

Domain 2

Programs of Value
The college has developed (and periodically updates) a specific definition of the baseline living wage for graduates in its service area, which it uses to assess the success of graduates and programs.
The president and cabinet annually review and refine the mix of programs offered—credit and noncredit, CTE and transfer-oriented—and enrollment within those programs to maximize students’ chances for good jobs and bachelor’s attainment.
The president and cabinet meet annually to consider equity in program enrollment and outcomes, considering which students—by race, ethnicity, income level, age, and gender—enroll in and graduate from programs that result in the strongest labor market and transfer outcomes, versus those that result in earnings below a living wage and poor transfer prospects/outcomes.
The college has systems in place that are used to regularly strengthen, redesign, or close programs that demonstrate poor employment or earnings outcomes.
Proposed programs are approved only if they demonstrate the potential for strong labor market outcomes or seamless transfer (and not just enrollment).
The program-approval process requires that design and delivery strategies address the needs of diverse students.
The college has a system in pace to ensure that courses required for each program of study are scheduled at times and in formats that help students make timely progress toward completion.
Each program of study has a clear program map that includes course sequences, learning goals, and co-curricular activities designed to prepare students for the program’s intended outcomes, including transfer to a four-year institution and bachelor’s attainment or entry into a job with sustaining wages and benefits.
Programs include specific work-based learning requirements (such as internships, co-ops, clinicals, and apprenticeships) developed collaboratively with employers. The design considers whether employers can provide needed supervision and mentorship as well as the resources and equipment the college needs to offer high-quality experiences.

Domain 3

Programs of Value - Transfer
The college president and other senior leaders emphasize in their senior meetings, trustee meetings, and communications across the college that improving student outcomes in transfer and bachelor’s attainment are important.
Transfer student success is reflected as a core priority in the college’s strategic documents (e.g., strategic plan, accreditation self-study, student success planning documents, fundraising plans, etc.).
The college president and other senior leaders meet at least annually to review where students transfer and whether they attain bachelor's degrees, paying attention to which institutions, programs of study, and students see the greatest and least amount of success.
Programs of study for transfer students are clearly mapped with information about recommended courses, progress milestones, and applied learning/career opportunities.
Coursework in transfer programs and extra-curricular activities provide students with rigorous preparation aligned to expectations for their junior and senior years.
Alternatives to 2+2 transfer pathways have been developed for circumstances where those are not the best routes to a bachelor’s degree.
The president and other college leaders have trusting relationships with colleagues at partner four-year colleges and regularly communicate with them about transfer student goals, outcomes, and advising/supports.
At the program level, program leaders and faculty meet at least annually to discuss, troubleshoot, and devise reforms based on student outcomes data (disaggregated, including rates of transfer to four-year colleges/universities and bachelor's attainment rates).
At least annually, the community college and partner four-year institutions share data on transfer student outcomes, discuss areas for improvements, and follow through to implement changes.
The two institutions jointly invest in shared support services and strategic initiatives to benefit transfer students.
The college has, with university partners, provided courses or other educational experiences on a four-year campus (or from four-year faculty on the community college campuses) for prospective transfer students.
Substantial resources are dedicated to the transfer function, with a focus on building and maintaining strong transfer pathways and ensuring transfer-specific student advising.

Domain 4

Programs of Value - Workforce
The program approval process considers whether a proposed credential is tailored to specific technical and professional skills required for targeted jobs. Considerations include program length, whether it should be credit-bearing, and whether it should end in certification, a technical associate degree, or an associate degree that leads to transfer to a four-year college or university.
Programs define and assess the professional, or “soft,” skills graduates will need, have plans to embed those skills in every student’s experience, and use assessments to ensure programs are effectively teaching those skills.
Program review is conducted annually, includes reliable and actionable data on completion and employment/earnings outcomes (disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, age, and income), and consistently leads to improvement of program quality and student outcomes.
CTE program review includes active participation by all stakeholders, including faculty, program heads, students, advisors, graduates, and employers.
Advisory board meetings focus on problem-solving, rather than updates, and result in concrete next steps to improve program quality and equitable student participation and success.
Between advisory board meetings, program heads and faculty proactively solicit feedback from employers, particularly frontline managers—through faculty site visits, employer classroom observations, monthly check-ins, and more.
The college collects feedback about the satisfaction of alumni and employers and proactively uses that information to improve program quality and inform employers’ ability to onboard new graduates.
To understand employers’ perspectives, the college president, cabinet, and program heads serve on industry advisory boards, regional workforce organizations, trade and industry associations, or other workforce entities.
The college equips program leaders to approach employers and respond to their requests by providing them training in how to collect data on job growth, turnover, and wages; engage employers with questions about their perspectives and incentives; make the business case for partnership; and understand the kinds of information available from different personnel in a company.
The college has a strong capacity for employer outreach and relationship maintenance, both in number of employees and their skill sets (such as being able to negotiate and communicate effectively).
Across multiple programs, the college has set goals with employers for specific numbers of graduates who will be hired into specific jobs, and receives substantial investments from employers (e.g., equipment, scholarships, internships, facility) to accomplish those goals.
College and program leaders periodically discuss with employers data and perspectives on the regional labor market, exchanging insights on topics such as trends in skills gaps, demographic changes, and wage levels offered by different jobs and sectors.
College and program leaders periodically discuss with employers data and perspectives on the regional labor market, exchanging insights on topics such as trends in skills gaps, demographic changes, and wage levels offered by different jobs and sectors.
The college convenes other education providers (K-12 and four-year colleges/universities) to solve workforce challenges the community college cannot solve alone.
The college has proactively strengthened or expanded healthcare programs so that all pre-health students have a pathway to a credential tied to a good job (either directly or after bachelor's attainment), and the college tracks whether all students achieve that goal.

Domain 5

Advising & Recruitment Structures
The college has in place clear maps for all of its programs that include recommended courses and learning outcomes, which are used to ensure that every student has full program educational plans and aligned advising.
By the end of their first term, all students (including dual enrollment, adult, non-credit, and returning students) are helped to explore their academic and career interests, learn about college programs, and select a program.
By the end of their first term (or year), all students (including dual enrollment, adult, noncredit, and returning students) are helped to create an full-program educational plan leading to a credential clearly aligned with a good job or transfer in a major.
Students’ progress in fulfilling requirements for their intended program and/or transfer destination institution is monitored and support is provided to any students at risk of falling off-plan.
College leaders have structured advising in ways that mandate (or otherwise make inescapable) a consistent set of advising touchpoints to help students get on and stay on a path to graduation.
Financial aid advisors (or others) provide counseling that helps students do financial planning for their entire undergraduate education—including completion of both sub-baccalaureate credentials and a bachelor’s degree.
Staff responsible for supporting students in educational planning have a manageable caseload, have access to helpful technology, are provided adequate training, and have a clear understanding of the student outcomes they are expected to achieve.
The college designs programs to support students of color and low-income students (e.g., minority male programs, TRIO, Upward Bound, emergency financial aid) to ensure those programs meet the needs of all students in those populations.
The college uses assessments and provides instructions and academic support to ensure students complete the college-level program specific math, English composition, and other program foundation courses in their first year.
College leaders work with the district and high school partners to define purpose, set equity goals for dual enrollment, and form agreements that promote equity. (Note: “dual enrollment” is used in this assessment to mean dual enrollment, early college high school, and other ways high school students take community college courses).
College leaders work with local school districts to design pathways for students within the dual enrollment framework that connect students with and accelerate them toward completion of a college credential.
The college provides or trains high school advisors to provide all dual enrollment students with strong advising designed to help explore academic and career options.
The college staff train high school counselors on supporting partnership goals for excellence and equity in student outcomes including how to ensure students meet the community college system’s academic requirements.
The college has scaled strategies to move students from noncredit programs, such as GED and English as a second language, into credit-bearing programs, including workforce and CTE programs.
The college partners with community-based and other workforce organizations to provide adults with information on programs aligned to good jobs and creates clear processes for adults to easily connect to the appropriate contact at the college and enroll.
Advisors are trained to understand which programs have the strongest labor market and transfer outcomes, as well as gaps in participation by race, ethnicity, and gender.
The college plays an active role in connecting all CTE students to job opportunities.
Students in workforce programs receive regular coaching and mentoring from people within the industry sectors or organizations where they aim to work.

Domain 6

Teaching & Learning
The president and senior team consistently communicate the importance of improving teaching and learning to others at the college (including deans, department chairs, division leaders, faculty, and advising staff).
The college and its faculty have adopted a clear definition of excellence in teaching practice that informs faculty hiring, onboarding, professional development, and incentive structures (e.g., promotions, raises, tenure).
Faculty onboarding and induction processes are well structured and centered on advancing an understanding of excellence in teaching and learning, developing teaching skills, utilizing systems for assessing student learning, and accessing effective professional development.
The president, CAO, and instructional leaders regularly monitor faculty teaching and student learning, identify student learning gaps and areas for teaching improvement, and devise professional development strategies accordingly.
The college’s systems provide and hold all faculty (including adjuncts) accountable for participating in regular professional development that directly supports the college’s teaching and learning goals.
Faculty hiring committees include representatives from other disciplines and senior leadership, are diverse, and include individuals deeply committed to high and equitable student outcomes.
The college has a strategy for ensuring diversity in its instructional faculty, including in programs most likely to lead to strong post-graduate outcomes (e.g., STEM programs).
The college’s systems provide all faculty (including adjuncts) ready access to actionable, disaggregated student learning metrics as well as professional development needed to improve areas of weakness.
The college has adopted practices for awarding tenure and promotion centered on teaching and learning objectives (rather than only time on the job, student evaluations, and other traditional factors).
The college supports transparent incentive structures to engage and reward faculty who meet and exceed teaching and learning objectives and engage in practices designed to advance teaching and learning.