Program Review
What is Program Review?
Program Review is a quality assurance and improvement process proscribed by ICCB. From their website:
The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) is mandated by the Illinois Public Community College Act to coordinate a statewide program review system (see P.A. 78- 669). Various program areas and services, including instructional programs, are required to be reviewed once every five years by their respective community college and submitted to the ICCB, but more frequent and continuous reviews (e.g. annual) are encouraged.
The purpose of Statewide Program Review is to:
Support strategic campus-level planning and decision-making related to instructional programming and academic support services, including but not limited to program revisions, program closures, and revisions to services;
Address inequities to support program improvement; and
Support the delivery of locally responsive, cost-effective, high quality programs and services across Illinois’ community college system.
This purpose aligns with the ICCB goals focused on reducing inequities, strengthening programming, and contributing to the economic development of the state.
The Statewide Program Review process is designed to complement college-level planning and decision making, and reflect on the integration of various programs and services, in addition to providing information that will assist the ICCB in fulfilling its statutory responsibilities. Program review can be a critical tool for continuous improvement and evaluation of programs and services offered by the college. Prepared with adequate data, program review can be instrumental in identifying inequities, including racial equity gaps, and can serve as a process to engage stakeholders purposefully in advancing equity. Program review should be aligned and integrated with other continuous quality improvement processes. These processes may include but are not limited to strategic planning of instructional programming, development of the annual calendar, data submission and reporting, and accreditation review.
Program Review Expectations
In general, college program review processes should:
At a minimum, systematically examine the need; cost; and quality of individual programs and services, ensuring that programs continue to be responsive to local needs, cost-efficient, and integrate quality components into programming;
Involve faculty and appropriate administrators who are directly responsible for the areas being reviewed as well as faculty, academic support professionals, and administrators from across the campus as appropriate;
Employ relevant information such as assessment results appropriate to the unit, as well as comparative data on enrollments, completions, and costs using the most recent audited state-level data;
Be responsive to identified areas of weakness by developing and implementing feasible and measurable action steps;
Include the use of disaggregated data to uncover and address equity gaps in programming, performance, or service;
Assure that the process is well documented and use the results to inform campus planning initiatives, quality improvement efforts, and budget allocation decisions;
Report results and actions resulting from reviews to local boards, advisory committees, and other stakeholders as appropriate;
Adhere to a minimum review cycle of once every five years for all programs listed in the Program Review Schedule.
How does Program Review work at ECC?
WHO?
Process coordination and report production is facilitated by the Manager of Outcomes Assessment.
At the program/discipline/service level, Instructional Coordinators and Program Directors (or other administrative leaders for student support areas) are responsible for coordinating and leading reviews within their departments in collaboration with fellow faculty or staff.
Program reviews are conducted under oversight of the Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Student Development each year and submitted no later than the communicated due date, currently September 1st each year.
HOW
A library of documents and other electronic resources is maintained in a Google Drive. Work completed by faculty and directors is reviewed and signed-off on by a delegated senior administrator, typically a Dean or Associate Dean.
To facilitate activities important to ensuring quality teaching and learning, the college incorporates additional exercises into the program review process, such as curriculum review and outcomes mapping, in addition to the standard ICCB topics of Need, Cost and Quality.
Significant data resources and support are provided by Institutional Research, particularly with data disaggregation to ensure the review is done with an Equity lens. Each participating program is assigned a specific IR Liaison to assist with data needs and analysis for the review. Such data typically includes enrollment, course success, and degree/certificate completion. Where relevant, programs will also report on licensure, certification and/or employment metrics.
WHEN
The work of the self-study is conducted during the academic year of the review, fall and spring. Tasks are separated into approximately eight topical sections with staggered due dates throughout the year.
Report drafting and editing is done late spring and early summer.
Narrative provided by the programs on the self-study topics is compiled into the final ICCB report template by the Manager of Outcomes Assessment.
Chapter drafts are shared back with programs for a final review and edit, and then shared internally with both the Assistant Vice President and Vice President of Teaching, Learning and Student Development.
The full report is packaged for submission to the ICCB as well as the President’s Cabinet and the ECC Board of Trustees. Reports are published on the college’s intranet, Google drive, and on the college’s external website.
Where can I find Program Review reports and resources?
Where can I find my self-study materials?
When is my next program review?
FINAL.5-year ICCB Schedule for ECC programs-FY22-26.xlsx