Academic Program Review

ACADEMIC YEAR	2014-2015	Basic Skills Transfer Career Technical Education (CTE)
PROGRAM	SOCIAL SCIENCE
DESCRIPTION/PURPOSE	The Social Science major is presented with course offering in American Indian Studies, Anthropology, Economics, Geography, History, Latino/Latina Studies, Political Science, Sociology, and Religious Studies. It serves as a knowledge base for the social sciences subject areas and provides subject matter preparation for pursuit of the bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution that can lead to the Single Subject Teaching Credential in Social Science.
DIVISION	Health and Sciences
DEPARTMENT	Behavioral and Social Sciences
SUBMITTED BY:	Kevin White, Chair

INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 2	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 3	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL 4
INSTITUTIONAL MISSION AND EFFECTIVENESS – The College will maintain programs and services that focus on the mission of the College supported by data-driven assessments to measure student learning and student success. 1.1 Develop systems and procedures that establish the mission of the college as the central mechanism for planning and decision making. 1.2 Develop an institutional score card to assess student learning that drives integrated planning and resource allocation. 1.3 Develop systems and procedures to ensure that the college maintains a collegial and self-reflective dialogue that improves effectiveness. 1.4 Develop systems that are inclusive, cyclical, and understood by all stakeholders.	STUDENT LEARNING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES – The College will maintain instructional programs and services which support student success and the attainment of student educational goals. 2.1 Ensure that all instructional programs, regardless of location or means of delivery, address and meet the current and future needs of students. 2.2 Review program learning outcomes annually (or biennially) to assure currency, improve teaching and learning strategies, and raise student success rates. 2.3 Ensure that all Student Services programs, regardless of location or means of delivery, address and meet the current and future needs of students. 2.4 Ensure that all Student Services programs engage in a process of sustainable continuous quality improvement by annual review of Service Area Outcomes, and annual Program Review. 2.5 Ensure that the Library meets as closely as possible that “Standards of Practice for California Community College Library Faculty and Programs” of the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. 2.6 Ensure that instructional labs continue to collaborate in sharing financial and human resources, thus maintaining continuous quality improvement.	RESOURCES – The College will develop and manage human, technological, physical, and financial resources to effectively support the College mission and the campus learning environment. 3.1 Develop and implement a resource allocation plan that leads to fiscal stability. 3.2 Implement a robust technological infrastructure and the enterprise software to support the college process. 3.3 Build new facilities and modernize existing ones as prioritized in the facility master plan. 3.4 Design and commit to a long-term professional development plan. 3.5 Raise the health awareness of faculty, staff, and students.	LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE – The Board of Trustees and the Superintendent/President will establish policies that assure the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of student learning programs and services, and the financial stability of the institution. 4.1 Review all Board policies annually to ensure that they are consistent with the College mission statement, that they address the quality, integrity, and effectiveness of student learning programs and services, and that they guard the financial stability of the institution. 4.2 Maintain a clearly defined Code of Ethics that includes appropriate responses to unprofessional behavior. 4.3 Ensure that the Board of Trustees is informed and involved in the accreditation process. 4.4 Ensure that processes for the evaluation of the Board of Trustees and the Superintendent/President are clearly defined, implemented, and publicized. 4.5 Establish a governance structure, processes, and practices that guarantee that the governing board, administration, faculty, staff, and students will be involved in the decision making process.

I. INSTITUTIONAL GOALS

II. PROGRAM GOALS

PAST – EVALUATION OF PREVIOUS CYCLE OBJECTIVES/PROGRAM GOALS (SET IN PREVIOUS YEAR)

List your previous objectives/goals and associated Institutional Goals. All program goals must address at least one of the institutional goals.

1	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Increase the amount of instructors who teach the disciplines (Psychology and Sociology) within the degree program, by replacing full-time tenured faculty losses due to instructors leaving IVC.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: Hired two full-time tenure track faculty in the disciplines of Sociology and Psychology. However, this goal was partial met because after hiring the Psychology instructor our last remaining full-time Psychology professor accepted a position at another college. There was not enough time to conduct a full hiring process, so we hired a full-time temporary instructor to fill in.

2	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #2	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Increase the amount of instructors who teach the disciplines (Sociology and Psychology) within the degree program, by replacing the loss of full-time tenured faculty.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: Hired a full-time tenured track Sociology instructor. This increased program effectiveness by providing a caring, competent, engaging, and resourceful instructor to teach students.

3	PAST PROGRAM GOAL #3	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary goal.)
Identify Program Goal and Budget request, if any, from the Program Review completed in 2013-2014 (Section II C): Expand the Distance Education (online) offerings within the core disciplines that contribute to this degree program	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Met	Partially Met	Not Met
Describe how this program goal increased student achievement and/or program effectiveness in 2014-2015: Our Distance Education Department was restructured and reorganized under new leadership. Some of the instructors who signed up to develop online course were subsequently not approved to teach due to programmatic deficiencies.

PRESENT – DATA ANALYSIS AND PROGRAM HEALTH – ACCREDITATION

Summarize and analyze all disaggregated data by day, evening, gender, ethnicity, and distance education. Narrative only. Submit electronic excel file with graphs or trend data.

Enrollment and Fill Rates

Discuss the trends in enrollment and fill rate for each program by day and evening at the program level.

Enrollment: Day enrollment by sections differed widely from 51 to 62 sections over the six semester period with significant variation from semester to semester. Evening enrollment by sections ranged from 19 to 26, with no clear trend. There were 15 sections of online classes whose sections ranged from 2 to 6 over three semesters. Enrollment and fill-rates for this program involves huge numbers of students and sections that may provide misleading assessments, as the major is composed of many different disciplines.

Fill-Rates: The Day rates ranged from 95 to 105 percent with the average being 99 percent. Evening rates ranged from 79 to 103 percent with the average being 91 percent. Online fill-rates ranged from 90 to 95 percent with the average being 93 percent. All three categories had fill rates above 90 percent which is relatively high given the large numbers involved.

Productivity

What are the trends in productivity?

Productivity ranged from 599 to 685 but the numbers were mixed from semester to semester with no clear trend up or down. All the numbers were well above the State standard of 525. The latest semester under consideration, Spring 2014 posted a productivity number of 641.

Success and Retention

Discuss the success and retention rates by day, evening (extended day), and online classes in each program and identify gaps.

Success: Day success rates ranged from 53 to 64 percent with an average of 58 percent. Evening success rates ranged from 61 to 67 percent with an average of 63 percent. Evening rates were higher than the Day rates. The online success rate for the period was 53 percent.

Retention: Day retention rates ranged from 82 to 90 percent with the average being 86 percent. Evening retention rates ranged from 83 to 87 percent with an average of 85 percent. The online range was 67 to 82 percent with the average being 75 percent. Online was the lowest of all three categories.

Success and Retention by Ethnicity

Discuss the success and retention rates by demographic diversity of students.

Success: The success rate and number of students for each group is as follows: African Americans – 68% (74); Hispanics – 60% (16,813); White – 75% (262); Other – 96% (40); and Unknown – 70% (1,666). As one can see seventy-four for African Americans and 40 for Other are low comparatively, and Unknown is 1,666 which is second only to the massive 16,813 for Hispanic. However, which students are included in the Other categorical is anybody’s guess—which compounds the problem of addressing these students’ needs if they cannot be identified beyond being “other.”

Retention: Retention among all groups was high, in the high 80s and low 90s: 88% for African Americans; 85% for Hispanic; 87% for White; 97% for Other; and 88% for Unknown.

Degrees and Certificates

Discuss the trends in the number of degrees and/or certificates awarded.

The total amount of degrees awarded in the three year period was 173. The break-down is as follows:

2011-12 – 29

2012-13 – 57 and

2013-14 – 87

Each academic year also includes Summer school.

Program Changes

What program changes, if any, do you expect to have a positive effect on students?

Incorporating Program Pathways into the marketing of major will provide student with a flexible plan to achieve a degree in the shortest amount of time.

Summarize revisions, additions, deletions, and alternate delivery methods to courses and/or program based on the last program review.

The new Associate of Arts degree for Transfer (AA-T) and the Associate of Science degree for Transfer (AS-T) should help increase the degrees awarded by IVC and provide students with quicker, leaner degree, saving them both time and money.

Evaluate the program’s viability by addressing program completion, size (FTES), projections (growing/stable/declining), and quality of outcomes.

The program is stable and has potential to grow into a more robust program. The Social Science major continues to be popular among IVC students. It provides a practical foundation and knowledge base for social science subject areas and prepares students for pursuit of the bachelor’s degree at a four-year institution.
C. FUTURE – LIST OF “SMART” (SPECIFIC MEASURABLE ATTAINABLE RELEVANT TIME-LIMITED) PROGRAM OBJECTIVES FOR NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR TO ADDRESS PROGRAM IMPROVEMENT, GROWTH, OR UNMET NEEDS/GOALS. ALL PROGRAM GOALS MUST ADDRESS AT LEAST ONE OF THE INSTITUTIONAL GOALS.

FUTURE PROGRAM GOALS (Describe future program goals. List in order of budget priority.) You are not required to list 3 goals. Only list/identify goals that are viable in one year’s time or can be carried over a number of program cycles.	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S) (Select one primary institutional goal)
1	2015-2016 PROGRAM GOAL #1 Budget Priority #1	INSTITUTIONAL GOAL(S)
Identify Future Global Goal: Provide more alternative delivery modalities of instruction for Social Science students.	1 Mission & Effectiveness 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.4 2 Student Learning Outcomes 2.1 2.4 2.2 2.5 2.3 2.6 3 Resources 3.1 3.4 3.2 3.5 3.3 4 Leadership & Governance 4.1 4.4 4.2 4.5 4.3
Objective: Address different learning styles and content delivery options for the various learning styles of students.
RESOURCE PLAN (Check all that apply.)
Facilities Marketing Technology Professional Development Staffing
Task(s)
Develop Hybrid courses for disciplines within the degree programs.
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$___0_____________
Develop more Short-term courses for disciplines within the degree programs.
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$___0_____________
C. Continue the development of core Online courses for disciplines within the degree programs.
Timeline: December 2015
Expense Type	Funding Type	Budget Request
One-Time Recurring	General District Categorical (Specify)	$____0____________
How will this objective be measured? By the amount of courses developed and by the subsequent assessment of their utilization and impact on student success.
How will the completion of tasks identified improve student/program success? They will provide traditional and non-traditional students with a variety of ways to learn and earn their degrees. This will allow IVC to better compete in the education field with other institutions that offer such programs.
Who are the responsible party(ies) and assigned user(s)? BSS faculty, Distance Education, Academic Services, Curriculum Committee, and BSS Chair.

(WSCH/FTEF) The goal is 525 as per state guidelines. A low number means that we are below target levels for productivity. For example, in a small class that has a mandated cap of 15 students, the fill rate may be 100% but the productivity number (WSCH/FTEF) will be very low. A class with a cap of 40 students with a 100% fill rate will have a productivity number close to or above 525.