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Section II: SACS Core Requirement

II-5.  The institution engages in ongoing, integrated, and institution-wide planning and evaluation processes that incorporate systematic review of programs and services that (a) results in continuing improvement and (b) demonstrates that the institution is effectively accomplishing its mission.

JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

Yes, East Tennessee State University is able to provide a portfolio of evidence supporting compliance.

STATEMENT OF RATIONALE FOR JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

East Tennessee State University engages in institution-wide planning and evaluation processes that are integrated, continuous, and feature many common elements in all academic and service units (ETSU Comprehensive Assessment Program). The ETSU Mission is the foundation for all goals, objectives, and strategic planning for all activities at every level of the university.  The ETSU Strategic Plan (2000-2005) places goals, objectives, and desired levels of achievement into a five-year planning cycle.  In addition, the comprehensive program fuses external and internal assessments in a cyclic and ongoing process, ensuring that unit-level assessments are tied to broad university performance indicators, and thus making assessment toward improvement an institution-wide philosophy.  The university's planning and assessment processes have generated improvements in programs and services.  Documentation for improvements ranges from public accountability reports to internal systematic use of performance data.  Evidence of continuing improvements is available for every academic and service unit within the university (University Profile System). 

The use of a hierarchical system for goal development has a long and evolving history at ETSU.  One example was the use of action plans by departments and units to communicate planned objectives and the methods for achieving those objectives to the university administration and budget process.  However, the uses of outcomes-based and investigative approaches have undergone significant and positive evolution at ETSU in the past ten years.  In 1994, the institution made a commitment to the continuous quality improvement concept.  The president at the time, along with all members of the president's council, were educated in continuous quality management practices and the application of Baldrige criteria by ongoing consultation and facilitation from a leading corporate executive (Eastman Chemical Company).  Vice presidents and appropriate directors define and describe continuous improvementinitiatives and report progress yearly at the ETSU President's Council Retreat.  In 1996, ETSU was awarded a Tennessee Quality Award for commitment to continuous improvement.  Further commitment to the process has included training of eight ETSU faculty and staff as Tennessee Quality Award examiners.  The university has benefited from the recommendations of numerous continuous improvement projects in both academic and service areas (ETSU Continuous Improvement Inventory and Reports; University Profile System).  Our evolution has led to the predominance of a student-oriented philosophy in goal development.  For example, as faculty, we used to present course objectives to our students, but now present student learning outcomes for our courses

Currently, ETSU's planning and evaluation processes are undergoing yetanother positive evolutionary step that further integrates development, implementation, and reporting across the entire university.  The ETSU Comprehensive Assessment Program is based on a broad and diverse definition of outcomes-based objectives and improvements.  Under this broad definition, data for improvement opportunities are recognized from designed assessment instruments and protocols, environmental scans, and problems identified at the university level by integration of unit-based information.  The comprehensive assessment program is student-oriented, systematic, continuous, decentralized, and focused on the use of multiple measures of assessment.  In support of this plan, the university has provided all units access to a software system (TracDat^“) to be used as a tool for standardized reporting of goals, data, and improvements.  The university-wide, web-based profile system provides units the opportunity to present public summaries of their missions, goals, and improvements (University Profile System).  The two systems are complementary, enhance accessibility to and sharing of data, methods, and goals, and promote accountability at every level of the university.  Although, current use is challenging and uneven among units, these systems are evolving and provide evidence of a well-conceived and maturing process vital to the success in ETSU.  The ETSU Strategic Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Committee provides oversight of the comprehensive assessment program, and the ETSU Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning provides unit-level assistance with implementation.

The steps in the ETSU Comprehensive Assessment Program begin with the review and update of the university's mission and strategic plan, which sets in motion the planning cycle of each unit level and ensures that all plans are directly linked to the institution's core commitments.  The institutional strategic plan includes specific objectives, benchmarks, and assessment methods for each university goal.  Individual units then review and update their specific goals and improvement objectives based on their own previous plans and linked to the university strategic plan.  Each unit also determines and identifies the specific assessments required to measure achievements toward their goals and objectives.  Annually, data are analyzed and used to summarize progress and/or provide the basis for new improvement strategies.  When appropriate, the use of national and peer comparison data to set standards for the analysis of achievement or improvement is the accepted practice at ETSU.  Unit goals, assessment plans and results, and improvement reports are considered in the annual budget process at ETSU (e.g., ETSU Academic Affairs Budget Guidelines).  It is the goal of the university to connect intimately budget requests to data-driven results.  Unfortunately, the recent history of higher education funding in the state of Tennessee has failed to provide sufficient resources to address priorities and the calendar desired for some initiatives identified through assessment and improvement plans(SACS Standard V-1).  Therefore, the university fully recognizes that allimprovements need not be dependent on funding, and has been extraordinarily successful in prioritizing and completing major improvements that have enhanced efficiency of services and the quality of many educational programs.

Although these evolutionary steps have provided demonstrable positive achievements and have lead to our current planning activities,the ETSU Comprehensive Assessment Program formalizes the process across units, provides a method for integration of objectives, and synchronizes the process with other external and internal reviews and reporting processes.  The institution's strategic plan is derived from the university's mission, which reflects priorities of the institution, the State Master Plan for Higher Education (Tennessee State Master Plan), the Tennessee Board of Regents' System Strategic Plan (TBR Strategic Plan), and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Performance Funding Program (THEC Performance Funding Program).  In addition, the specific needs of degree programs for cyclic reviews and accreditations are coordinated in the same calendar.  Thus, our assessment program fully incorporates externally mandated and internally motivated assessments and timetables (ETSU Comprehensive Assessment Program Implementation Schedule) and equips individual departments and units with the ability to use assessment data and outcomes in a systematic manner for program improvements (SACS Standard II-10, III-13, IV-1, IV-11, IV-15, IV-32, VI-1).

Because ETSU's planning and assessment processes are firmly anchored in the institutional mission at all levels and steps, unit and university-wide priorities are solidly linked, and accountability for the university's mission is a natural and visibleproduct of the same process that provides for continuous improvement.  Because ETSU's strategic plan institutionalizes externally mandated improvement initiatives (e.g., Tennessee State Master Plan goals, TBR Strategic Plan, THEC Performance Funding standards), our accountability for these goals also is a natural outcome of the process.  The ETSU Annual Strategic Plan Report is the primary public document by which the institution reports its success in reaching annual benchmarks for improvement objectives.  At the end of the five-year cycle (2005), ETSU will report the effectiveness of planning toward enhanced quality and efficiency in a five-year summary.  Two additional annual public accountability reports on ETSU's performance are provided by the TBR Report Card, a comparison of quality indicators for all TBR institutions, and the THEC Performance Funding Report, a report of Tennessee's institutional and peer performance on common standards. 

An additional responsibility of ETSU is accountability for the quality of its degree programs.  The institution has conducted reviews of accreditation-eligible and peer-reviewed academic degree programs for over 15 years, under the guidelines of the THEC Performance Funding Program.  These assessments include external professional accreditation reviews, peer reviews of degree programs not subject to accreditation, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the general education program (ETSU Office of Outcomes Assessment; TBR Report Card for ETSU; SACS Standard IV-1, IV-11, IV-15).  In comparison with peer institutions (College and University Personnel Association), ETSU supports a greater diversity and number of accredited programs, which represents the extraordinary strong commitment of the institution to program review and improvement.  Department faculty, deans, and the appropriate vice president analyze outcomes of each accreditation or program reviewas part of the institutional assessment cycle and include recommendations for the upcoming budget process.  Program improvement actions based on results of program reviews are integrated into planning and budgeting cycles, and reviewed for effectiveness on an on-going basis.

The ETSU planning and evaluation processes incorporate external assessment initiatives into internal planning and improvement processes while staying grounded in the institutional mission.  We feel this comprehensive and unified assessment approach minimizes duplication, maximizes effort, promotes effective resource allocation, enhances the quality of our educational programs and services, and supports the accountability of the institution in accomplishing its mission and strategic goals.  The evolution of our processes over a long period has produced positive results, and is an exceptional example of the university's commitment to continuing improvement.

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