Timeline:

Planned project kickoff date:
Target completion date:
Actual completion date:

A. Give this Action Project a short title in 10 words or fewer:

Writing/Communicating Across Curriculum.

B. Describe this Action Project's goal in 100 words or fewer:

To improve students' writing and communicating skills by teaching across the curriculum.  Northern faculty (in all curricular areas) will receive professional development on how to teach writing/communicating in their content area(s).  Composition courses prepare students for written communication, but these skills are not always reinforced in other curricular areas; clear and effective writing and other communication modes will be an objective in all courses across the college curricula (including vocational courses).  Faculty will emphasize applied writing skills to students' program of instruction.

C. Identify the single AQIP Category which the Action Project will most affect or impact:

Primary Category: Helping Students Learn

D. Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities:

Faculty and staff input during our AQIP self-assessment process expressed concern with the poor writing and communication skills of our students and how this affects their ability to transfer to a 4-year institution or their employability.  Poor writing/communicating hinders students ability to communicate both in writing and orally.  While the Spanish language and Native American tongues are fast disappearing in younger generations, our students still encounter language barriers because both languages are incorporated into daily family life.  Languages (other than English) are still alive in many homes but there may not be mastery in either language.  As an example:  during our College Foundation's annual Scholarship Endowment application process many student applications are weak in the "personal statement" section that requires a basic narrative on a student's life, goals and challenges.

E. List the organizational areas - -institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project:

Instruction, Testing within our Developmental Studies Department, Advisement, Job Placement, and Financial Aid.

F. Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:

Writing/communicating across curriculum will develop a process for common student learning and specific program learning objectives.  This process will communicate to students the learning expectations, knowledge and skills required of a higher learning institution.  Other processes include professional development for faculty on how to tie it in to classroom instruction.

G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion):

Development of the Council to include faculty from each department (including Developmental Studies) and the Dean of Instruction whose charge it will be to monitor and report to the Council the progress toward goal completion.

H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:

College-wide systematic improvement of writing across the curriculum, communication of the learning objectives, an improved process for assessing our students learning and change (hoped for improvement) in pass rate/retention of students in core English courses.

I. Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals:

Qualitative measures will include:  evaluation of students writing from pre-to-post test.  Students will create a portfolio for evaluation that will be available for them to utilize.

J. Other information (e.g., publicity, sponsor or champion, etc.):

1.  Fifty (50%) of full-time faculty and twenty-five percent (25%) of part-time faculty will participate in “writing across curriculum” training.
2.  Pre-and-post test will be designed and field tested in 50% of courses.
3.  Faculty will design a portfolio assessment process to be used by all full-time faculty.
4.  Criteria to measure improvement in this area will be identified.1.  Balance of full-time faculty will have participated in “writing across curriculum” training and twenty-five percent (25%) new part-time faculty.
2.  Pre-and-post test will be designed and field-tested in balance of courses.
3.  Portfolio assessment process will be implemented by all full-time faculty.
4.  Data gathering to measure improvement will commence.1.  All courses will require a pre-and-post writing skills test specific to each course.
2.  All graduating students will have a portfolio of writing samples.
3.  Data will be reported to Administrative Council regarding improvement goals.

Last Action Project Update:

A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.

The College's Self-Study Committee (a team of six) initially led the charge towards AQIP.  After our institutional team returned from our April Chicago Strategy Forum, Self-Study 'morphed' and expanded into the AQIP Council, now comprised of a membership of twelve (12) staff/faculty of the College.  During summer months the new AQIP Council meet, the old group educated the new members about AQIP.  During our monthly meetings we secured support from the President for a two-day inservice in Fall 2002 on AQIP in order to educate faculty/staff on AQIP and our Action Projects to begin to move our Action Projects towards implementation.

B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.

To date the AQIP Council met throughout summer months (faculty are off during summer) and start of Fall 2002 semester.  AQIP Council hired consultant trainer, Dr. Kathie Gilbert to provide the group with a full-day of training on September 6, 2002 on facilitation skills training and assistance in setting the agenda in preparation for our Fall AQIP Inservice on September 26 & 27, 2002 for college-wide staff/faculty.  Dr. Gilbert is an AQIP Facilitator and leads AQIP on her campus as Western NM University in Silver City, New Mexico.  Dr. Gary Wheeler, will provide consultation support during the September 26 & 27 training specifically on "Writing/Community Across Curriculum".  Dr. Wheeler, is also an AQIP Facilitator and both he and Dr. Gilbert were facilitators duirng our AQIP Strategy Forum in Chicago in April 2002.  Dr. Wheeler is the Dean of Instruction for Miami University Middletown, Ohio and he has successfully implemented a "writing across curriculum" initiative at his college.  AQIP Council has met weekly since our September 6 training with Dr. Gilbert to refine the agenda for our upcoming AQIP Inservice.  We are in contact with Dr. Wheeler regarding his role in the Inservice.  President Sigfredo Maestas is a champion for the Inservice and is requiring attendance of all staff, faculty and part-time faculty attending will be reimbursed a $100 stipend.

C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.

Our upcoming September 26 & 27, 2002 Fall AQIP Inservice will begin to develop an institutional team with this Action Project as its focus.  We have been fortunate in that our current Title V/Hispanic Serving Institutions grant provided additional funding that we designated to support this Action Project.  This funding will enable us to access $50,000 in funding to support the development of a \"Writing laboratory\" with staff support and training for faculty in this subject area.  The team that develops from our Inservice will begin to design the use of this support to improve student writing/communication skills and attempt to create a connection \"across disciplines\".  Dr. Wheeler has implemented such an initiative at his college and he will provide consultation support to this team.

D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action Project.

By hiring a consultant with this area of expertise we believe it will allow us to move the project faster and learn from their experiences.  Additional funding for our priority initiative obviously helps to excite faculty/staff involved and propel the project forward.

E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?

We anticipate that it will be a challenge to translate this Action Project into the vocational area and get buy-in from faculty because they do not always understand how it can be incorporated into their disciplines.  We hope that group wisdom will find a way to integrate all disciplines to "buy-in" to the need for this Action Project.

F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when?

Timeline:

Planned project kickoff date:
Target completion date:
Actual completion date:

A. Give this Action Project a short title in 10 words or fewer:

Effective Resource Management.

B. Describe this Action Project's goal in 100 words or fewer:

NNMCC will implement effective management of resources and will accomplish this through use of participative management processes through quality-improvement-committee-councils representative of the entire college community.  Improved management of resources will produce better salaries and resources for implementation of instructional programs, student support services, and academic support.

C. Identify the single AQIP Category which the Action Project will most affect or impact:

Primary Category: Supporting Institutional Operations

D. Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities:

Our financial health and effective utilization of resources is important to our ability to attract and maintain quality faculty and staff and offer needed student support services.  Our lack of a tax base and lack of taxing authority challenges our rural college to provide and attract quality faculty and staff and provided needed services to students (i.e. tutoring, internships, service learning, etc.).

E. List the organizational areas - -institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project:

Business Office, Instruction, Human Resources, and Student Services.

F. Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:

Critical processes include:  allocation of budgetary resources, recruitment, design of workforce programs, and development of new and innovative training programs.

G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion):

By building collaborative relationships across departments we are ensuring that our resources are supporting our institutional objectives and our mission, vision and values.

H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:

1.  Implement effective methods of recruitment and retention of students to maintain adequate levels of enrollment and fiscal resources to serve students well.  
2.  Increase the number of outside resource (grants) we are able to acquire to meet student needs.
3.  Track programs that are generating highest FTE and evaluate their effectiveness.
4.  Track programs with low enrollment and eliminate those programs after an effective attempt to improve their enrollment.
5.  Increase in support from the College’s Foundation for special projects.

I. Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals:

Upgrading of faculty/staff salaries, staff turnover reduction, lessened utilization of part-time faculty, increased enrollment, increased class size enrollment, increase in resources, increase in student support services (i.e. increased child care scholarships, increased tutoring, increased scholarships, etc.).

J. Other information (e.g., publicity, sponsor or champion, etc.):

1.  Develop quality improvement councils with college wide membership to plan effective recruitment strategies.
2.  Develop retention improvement council with college wide membership to plan effective strategies.
3.  Expand workforce (contract) training programs to increase enrollment.
4.  Plan for reallocation of resources.
5.  Criteria to measure improvement in this area will be identified.1.  Develop a plan for faculty salary upgrades.
2.  Recruitment improvement and retention improvement councils will report their plans to Administrative Council for implementation.
3.  Implement workforce (contract) training activities.
4.  Implementation of plan for reallocation of resources.
5.  Data gathering to measure improvement will commence.1.  Implement the recruitment and retention council plans.
2.  Hire workforce (contract) training coordinator for implementation of activities.
3.  Implement the faculty salary upgrade plan.
4.  Data will be reported to Administrative Council regarding improvement goals.

Last Action Project Update:

A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.

The College's Self-Study Committee led the way for the acceptance of AQIP as the preferred method of accreditation because of its participatory management premise.  Upon return from our Team's April 2002 Chicago Strategy Forum, Self-Study expanded (doubled) and "morphed" in the AQIP Council.  AQIP Council met monthly during summer months to educate new members and discuss how to implement Action Projects.  AQIP Council decided that a Fall 2002 AQIP inservice be planned.  The date was confirmed with Administration, classes will be closed for September 26 & 27, 2002.  All full-time staff and faculty, as well as, part-time faculty are asked to attend via a formal memo from the President.  Part-time faculty will be provided a $100 honorarium upon participation.

B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.

The real work of ths Action Project and the involvement of college staff/faculty will begin once teams are formed at the Fall 2002 AQIP Inservice (9/26 & 27).  AQIP Council spent the summer months discussing their needs in preparation for their design of the Fall 2002 Inservice.  Two AQIP Strategy Forum facilitators were contracted to assist, Dr. Kathie Gilbert, Special Assistant to the President for Quality Programs at Western New Mexico University in Silver City, New Mexico and Dr. Gary Wheeler, Dean of Instruction at Miami University in Middletown, Ohio.  Both are responsible for implementing AQIP in their respective college's and/or implementation of Action Projects.  Dr. Wheeler provided AQIP Council with a full day of facilitation training and AQIP Inservice Agenda assistance on September 9, 2002.  Dr. Wheeler will participate during the September 26 & 27, 2002 Inservice, sharing his expertise on "writing/communicating across curriculum".

C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.

Teams will be formed at the upcoming September 26 & 27, 2002 session.  The Effective Resource Management Team will be facilitated by AQIP Council members, the College\'s Dean of Finance and Director of Institutional Effectiveness.

D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action Project.

Hiring of consultants with AQIP expertise, particularly those charged with implementation of AQIP in their college's and/or implementation of Action Projects.  Their relevant expertise to AQIP provides wisdom to those just walking the AQIP journey.  The support of the President and faculty is very, very important.  AQIP Council's energy and hopefulness has been an important assett to moving AQIP forward.  It has been a two-year process for Self-Study to develop and then morph into the larger AQIP Council.  Time is an ally if leadership provides support.

E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?

Educating people to move away from an attitude of "malaise" and encouraging the creation of a culture of "effective participation for the good of the whole" that's premise is "support of effective student learning".  Education has taken a big hit in New Mexico in the past few years.  This year there are no raises for any public school personnel (K-12 or higher education yet employee expenses keep rising (health care).  Education personnel are disheartened.  How we cope with these fiscal constraints will be a major challenge.  In addition, our College has no taxing authority by constitution and we reside in an area that is primarily a "public land base".  The lack of a tax base creates the need for us to use our limited dollars as wisely as possible and seek other creative venues for funding.  It is our hope that this Action Project will assist in meeting this challenge.

F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when?

Timeline:

Planned project kickoff date:
Target completion date:
Actual completion date:

A. Give this Action Project a short title in 10 words or fewer:

Student Services.

B. Describe this Action Project's goal in 100 words or fewer:

C. Identify the single AQIP Category which the Action Project will most affect or impact:

Primary Category: Understanding Students' and Other Stakeholders' Needs

D. Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities:

E. List the organizational areas - -institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project:

F. Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:

G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion):

H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:

I. Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals:

J. Other information (e.g., publicity, sponsor or champion, etc.):

Last Action Project Update:

A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.

1.  The College participated in the 2004 Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSE) for the first time in its history.  Eighteen percent (18%) of courses were surveyed (day/evening).  Areas addressed included academic experience, curricular experience, student learning, educational goals and barriers to persistence.  Survey results were provided to the College July 2004 and were presented in summary form to all staff and faculty during August 2004 convocation.  The survey results were very positive.  The CCSSE survey results will be presented in Fall 2004 to the Student Services AQIP Team as well as to the AQIP Council to digest, discuss and utilize as a tool to plan upcoming year goals.
2.  The Student Services AQIP Team had very positive momentum but meetings were scaled back this past year because a great part of the team was involved in training throughout the year related to the College's move to utilize BANNER software as our new internal software systems for all functions.  The training has been handled through a consortium of other community colleges that will also institute the BANNER software system.  The two major initiatives that occurred from this AQIP Team beyond their work involved with the CCSSE survey were:
a) A revision of the Student Planner they developed last year and a re-print and distribution to students this year;
b) And the creation of a "broadcast" email list to improve student communication.  The "broadcast email list of students" is generated by the Student Services Advisement area and the College's Public Information Director updates the broadcast list.  Students have been pleased with this tool as an added form of communication and yet another method to outreach timely information to students.
3.  A "New Way to Fly" Student Club was created at the request of students that were concerned about issues of addiction and the need to support students enrolled at the College to remain focused on a school path.  Student leaders from the New Way to Fly student club assisted in supporting a grant request the College submitted to HUD under their Hispanic Serving Institutions Assisting Communities to create a GED Program at our Rio Arriba County jail to provide inmates GED services while incarcerated to support completion of their high school program and provide the opportunity to pursue credit courses as a method to deter recidivism back to the penal system.  Notification of the grant request is expected in September 2004.  If funded, the grant would provide the opportunity for New Way to Fly students to become involved in service learning projects at the jail, i.e. tutoring, running counseling groups, etc.  A great majority of County inmates are incarcerated because of issues related to drug/alcohol addictions and survey results of inmates disclosed that over 70% do not have a high school diploma or GED.  

B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.

The College's Director of Institutional Effectiveness led the survey process, involving Instructional Chairs, full-time and part-time faculty.  Both full and part-time, day/ evening/weekend students were surveyed.  The process was clearly defined by CCSE and courses were selected at random.

C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.

1.  A summary of the CCSSE survey results were presented to the College staff and faculty during the annual August 2004 convocation.  Further faculty/staff sessions are planned to discuss survey results in 2004 order to institute recommendations that will improve student services.  AQIP Council will hold a session on the CCSSEE survey to discuss how to utilize survey findings to improve processes.

D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action Project.

1.  By giving students a voice we can base our decisions to more effectively meet their needs or recognize 'gaps' in services.  
2.  Two comparison groups are available with CCSSE, i.e. national and statewide aggregate data.  These comparisons offer the College the opportunity to examine student effort, academic challenge, student/faculty interaction and support for learners -- it provides comparative information how our institution is doing in relation to others, nationally and aggregately within the state pool of community colleges involved in the CCSSE survey of fifteen New Mexico community colleges.

E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?

How to best share the data and how to use the data to improve processes.

F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when?

Timeline:

Planned project kickoff date:
Target completion date:
Actual completion date:

A. Give this Action Project a short title in 10 words or fewer:

Create a new professional (4-year) Teacher Education AQIP Committee (PTEAC).

B. Describe this Action Project's goal in 100 words or fewer:

Develop a comprehensive, collaborative planning process for the College's new 4-Year Teacher Education degree program through the creation of the Professional Teacher Education AQIP Committee, affording the PTEAC, AQIP Team status.  The PTEAC will consist of internal faculty and external K-12 school district personnel that will be charged with developing a teacher training program that provides students classroom experiences immediately into their teacher education program with more frequent experiences in classroom management in order to have better prepared/competent teachers upon completion of their degree program, all based on expressed concerns of area superintendents/principals.

C. Identify the single AQIP Category which the Action Project will most affect or impact:

Primary Category: Planning Continuous Improvement

D. Describe briefly your institution's reasons for taking on this Action Project now -- why the project and its goals are high among your current priorities:

The PTEAC was created from a resulting long term collaboration with area superintendents regarding the teacher shortage in our rural northern New Mexico region.  In January 2004 the College worked with our area legislators to gain New Mexico legislative approval to award a 4-year degree in Teacher Education, the first request to do so by a New Mexico community college.  The legislation passed and in March 2004 the Governor of the State of New Mexico signed the legislation into law.  From that approval, the PTEAC was created to help develop and refine the new 4-year Teacher Education curriculum and processes for implementation.

E. List the organizational areas - -institutional departments, programs, divisions, or units -- most affected by or involved in this Action Project:

Instructional Department, Teacher Education Program, Finance (budget), and Student Services (Financial Aid and Advisement).

F. Name and describe briefly the key organizational process(es) that you expect this Action Project to change or improve:

1.  Budget.
2.  Staffing.
3.  Curriculum development.
4.  Student Services (Financial Aid and Advisement).
5.  Community collaboration (legislation/superintendents/principals).
6.  NCATE accreditation.
7.  Higher Learning Commission for accreditation purposes.

G. Explain the rationale for the length of time planned for this Action Project (from kickoff to target completion):

1.  The collaboration with the Northern Network of school superintendens group.
2.  Pursing New Mexico legislative appropriation to support new 4-year Teacher Education programs for purposes of hiring of additional faculty, increasing library holdings, and expanded instructional space.
3.  TEAC Council will meet a minimum of two times/semester to review program progress.
4.  TEAC will report to AQIP Council which in turn reports to President and Administrative Council.

H. Describe how you plan to monitor how successfully your efforts on this Action Project are progressing:

1.  PTEAC will review all assessment data and makes recommendations for improvement to the AQIP Council, President and Board of Regents.
2.  Student enrollment data in 4-Year Teacher Ed Program.
2.  Pass rate of graduates on NM Teacher Assessment Exam.
3.  Director of Institutional Effectiveness will collect longitutinal data on student learning outcomes assessment activities of the Teacher Ed Program.
4.  Students develop a portfolio that encompasses their learning experiences in all Teacher Education courses.  In their final semester, students convert their Portfolio into a dossier required by the New Mexico Professional Education Department for advancement in the three tiered licensure system which ties into teacher salary advancement in New Mexico.
5. Employer satisfaction (principals/superintendents) data is reported to the PTEAC, Teacher Ed staff/faculty for the purpose of continuous quality improvement.

I. Describe the overall "outcome" measures or indicators that will tell you whether this Action Project has been a success or failure in achieving its goals:

1.  Initially, the number of students enrolling in the 4-year Teacher Ed Program.
2.  NM Teacher Assessment pass rate (teacher licensure exam).  (New Mexico chose to do their own teacher assessment and it is utilized to determine teacher competencies for licensure.
2.  Student learning outcomes assessment are being designed and implemented, includes tracking students to see if they are employed.  A teacher education assessment Booklet has been designed to track student competencies/skills/knowledge.
3.  Student portfolios.
4.  Employer satisfaction of teacher graduates.

J. Other information (e.g., publicity, sponsor or champion, etc.):

1.  Implement Elementary Teacher Ed Program by Fall 2004.  Currently enrollment is 111 students.
2.  Develop curriculum for Special Education and Bilingual Education in collaboration with PTEAC.1. Implement Special Education and Bilingual Education Programs.
In Year 2 we will project enrollment of 200 (in all 3 4-year Teacher Ed Programs).
2.  Develop Secondary Teacher Education curricula in Math, Science and Language Arts.1.  Implement Secondary Teacher Education curricula (programs).
Target enrollment in enrollment will be 275.

Last Action Project Update:

A. Describe the past year's accomplishments and the current status of this Action Project.

This action project has just recently been created as of Summer 2004.  All these questions were addressed in the form where we created the Action Project.

B. Describe how the institution involved people in work on this Action Project.

C. Describe your planned next steps for this Action Project.

D. Describe any "effective practice(s)" that resulted from your work on this Action Project.

E. What challenges, if any, are you still facing in regards to this Action Project?

F. If you would like to discuss the possibility of AQIP providing you help to stimulate progress on this action project, explain your need(s) here and tell us who to contact and when?