kctcs president’s annual initiative 2013-14 momentum meetings/2014/201409/02... · april, 2014 at...

KCTCS PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL INITATIVE2013-14MOMENTUMPRESENTED TO THE KCTCS BOARD OF REGENTSSEPTEMBER 2014

KENTUCKY COMMUNITY & TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

KCTCS PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL INITIATIVE2013-14

• MOMENTUM •

PRESENTED TO THE KCTCS BOARD OF REGENTS

SEPTEMBER 2014

REPORT TO THE KCTCS BOARD OF REGENTS PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL INITIATIVE 2013-14

THEME: MOMENTUM 1. The motion of a body equal to the product of its mass and velocity.

2. The tendency of a person or group to repeat recent success.

GOALMomentum to impact student access, retention, and success will be sustained Systemwide by further implementing the Transformation Business Plan Strategies: Student Services, Transfer, and Financial Aid.

The implementation of these strategies will support the ongoing KCTCS Transformation Business Plan for 2010‐16 and the achievement of the goals, performance measures, and targets outlined in the KCTCS Strategic Plan 2010‐16 and the three KCTCS mission areas of:

• Workforce Education

• Transfer Education

• College and Workforce Readiness

TARGET MEASUREMENTSThe KCTCS President will provide executive leadership, service, and support for the following Transformation Business Plan Strategies:

STUDENT SERVICESImplement an early alert software system that monitors student‐related data to identify academically at‐risk students and manage outreach efforts to them utilizing communication tools such as phone calls, emails, and instant messages.

TRANSFERHost a statewide Transfer Partnership Summit between KCTCS and its four‐year institutional transfer partners (public and private) to build awareness, knowledge, and skills that increase access, retention, and success of KCTCS transfer students.

FINANCIAL AIDBegin implementation of the Financial Aid strategy as outlined in the KCTCS Transformation Business Plan to establish unified financial aid standards at all KCTCS colleges based on industry‐wide best practices.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe KCTCS President selected Momentum projects in the areas of Student Services, Transfer, and Financial Aid that made the necessary strategic changes necessary to achieve transformation as outlined in the KCTCS Business Plan. The President employed his integrated process—known as the KCTCS Way—for managing strategic change. He led the selection and subsequent prioritization of projects related to each Momentum topic, assigned staff to key project roles, approved project plans and budgets, and regularly monitored the progress of the projects to ensure successful completion. As inevitable changes arose, the President made decisions to adjust staffing budgets, project scope, and schedules to ensure that each project met its stated goal.

The deliverables for all three projects were completed on time or ahead of schedule and on or under budget, all the while balancing the need for busy staff to continue their everyday operational duties at high levels of performance. The President’s active and engaged leadership enabled all three projects to meet their objectives and set the stage for continued improvement in the KCTCS Transformation areas of Student Services, Transfer and Financial Aid.

The schematic below shows the steps of the KCTCS Way that were implemented under the President’s leadership.

1 2 3 4 5 61 2 3 4 5 6

Projects formally proposed through President’s Strategic Portfolio process

President selectsand prioritizesMOMENTUM

projects

President assignsproject teams,sponsors, and

project managers

Team plans project (scope,

schedule, budget andhuman resources

Team executesproject planapproved by

President

President monitorsstatus, approves

changes, andexpenditures

MOMENTUM PORTFOLIO AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

TARGET MEASUREMENT 1: STUDENT SERVICESImplement an early alert software system that monitors student‐related data to identify academically at‐risk students and manage outreach efforts to them utilizing communication tools such as phone calls, emails, and instant messages.

BACKGROUNDKCTCS enrolls over 90,000 students annually. Once these students enter our System, we seek to help each one earn a credential or transfer to a four‐year institution. Retaining students until they meet one of these objectives delivers benefits to the student, to KCTCS, and to the Commonwealth as a whole. Students are better educated and experience better career outcomes. KCTCS ensures consistent tuition revenue and strategic goal achievement. Kentucky receives a better‐prepared workforce and a stronger economy with a deeper tax base.

For these reasons, student retention and persistence are included as KCTCS Strategic Plan targets. Our challenge in meeting these targets lies in finding creative and efficient ways to improve student retention in the face of declining public funding and an increasingly complex and diverse student body. This is why the KCTCS Transformation identified Student Services as a key strategic area that can benefit System‐wide approaches to increasing efficiency and service. The Student Services area in turn includes student retention.

To ensure high‐quality services, KCTCS created the Go KCTCS! Student Service Center, an always‐open centralized support center with call‐center staff poised to answer prospective and current student questions via e‐mail, chat, web request, and telephone. After the successful launch of the Service Center, which initially featured support for Financial Aid, student accounts, and Password reset with plans to add Admissions, Records, and Registration. KCTCS recognized the need to expand Service Center offerings by providing faculty and staff with more efficient and comprehensive retention tools, specifically retention software that can alert faculty and staff of potentially at‐risk students.

Retention software helps to identify students at risk of dropping out by monitoring enrollment, learning, and other disparate technology systems for factors like class attendance, enrollment checklist completion, and more. The moment specific combinations of factors are detected, the retention software notifies the student and appropriate KCTCS staff, who can intervene early to discover what challenges the student may be facing and to help connect the student with college or community resources to address any gaps. This high‐tech/high‐touch approach helps automate monitoring of retention challenges, freeing up staff time for more hands‐on, direct student support. Retention software is also used to deliver targeted communications to specific groups of students to help reinforce college service offerings, approaching deadlines, or other useful information.

Thus the President’s Student Services Momentum Project was created to identify, implement, and begin using software designed to provide retention‐specific tools that work within the existing Service Center infrastructure.

THE PROJECTThe project’s objectives were to:

• Identify, procure, and implement software that provided a common system for students, faculty, and staff to enter and measure student service data accurately and consistently

• Provide for standard identification of and communication regarding at‐risk students across multiple employee groups and colleges within the System

• Improve support for learners for providing infrastructure and retention initiatives to proactively identify atrisk students and to enable students, faculty, and advisors to communicate more effectively

• Offer self‐help functions to students for participating in retention initiatives and scheduling appointments with academic advisors

OUTCOMESThe project team identified Starfish retention software as the solution that best met KCTCS’s needs and could best be integrated with the existing KCTCS and Service Center technology infrastructure. With the KCTCS President’s approval, Starfish was purchased and licensed, and implementation began in Fall 2013.

Starfish was installed and integrated with existing KCTCS systems, including PeopleSoft, Blackboard Learn, and Microsoft Exchange. Successful testing was followed by the development of initial retention initiatives to be executed via Starfish upon its launch.

Starfish training was developed by KCTCS staff and delivered to college representatives through regional sessions held in April, 2014 at West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Somerset Community College, Bluegrass Community and Technical College and Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. More than 170 participants attended the trainings.

Starfish was successfully launched in June 2014 as part of Phase II of the Go KCTCS! Student Service Center. For fall 2014, courses have been populated in Starfish for advisors and instructors to utilize. The student folder in Starfish now contains the following information within the “Overview Tab”: Satisfactory Academic Progress, PELL eligible, FAFSA exists, major, enrollment status (fulltime, three‐quarters, half‐time, low, etc.), enrollment holds, current enrollment hours (including Audit courses), student groups and bio/demo information to assist in providing the necessary support to students. Cohorts have also been added to Starfish. The use of cohorts allow students to be grouped by special criteria to help assist students in at‐risk groups, such as Student Support Services, Veteran Affairs, Ready to Work, Accelerating Opportunity, etc.

SAMPLE STUDENT FLIERS PROMOTING STARFISH

KENTUCKY COMMUNITY &TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

1. Make an appointment online2. Get help in a wide range of subjects3. Breathe a sigh of relief

Schedule time today. Log in to Starfish >> Success Network

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Waiting For Your “aha” MoMent?If you’re having trouble in a course, you aren’t alone. Tutors are here for you!

Copyright © 2013 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc.


Free. Help. Now.If you’re having trouble in a course, you aren’t alone. We are here for you!

Schedule time today. Log in to Starfish >> Success Network. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Copyright © 2013 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc

1. Make an appointment online2. Get help in a wide range of subjects3. Get ready to relax



Ever wonder when the light bulb will go on?If you are having trouble in a course, you aren’t alone. We are here for you!

1. Make an appointment online2. Get help in a wide range of subjects3. Say “flip the switch”

Schedule time today. Log in to Starfish >> Success Network

It’s Free. It’s Easy. It’s Your Future. ™

Starfishretention solutions ™

Copyright © 2013 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc.


TARGET MEASUREMENT 2: TRANSFERHost a statewide Transfer Partnership Summit between KCTCS and its four‐year institutional transfer partners (public and private) to build awareness, knowledge, and skills that increase access, retention, and success of KCTCS transfer students.

BACKGROUNDThe Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 charged KCTCS with the unique mission of providing a 2‐Year academic curriculum with credits transferable to 4‐Year colleges and universities. Since then, KCTCS has aggressively addressed our transfer mission and worked closely with CPE and the state’s public and private 4‐Year institutions to increase the number of KCTCS transfer students pursuing baccalaureate degrees. To achieve CPE’s goal of doubling the number of Kentuckians with a baccalaureate degree by the year 2020, KCTCS will need to significantly increase the number of transfer students entering the state’s public universities.

Transfer action planning and research using the Foundations of Excellence process has provided a clear roadmap for internal KCTCS Transfer strategies as required by the KCTCS Transformation. The KCTCS Business Plan also laid out a strategy for increased collaboration and comprehensive planning with our external partners. Although collaboration among KCTCS, CPE, and Kentucky’s four‐year institutions has been strong since our founding, it has most often taken the form of university‐specific transfer agreements with KCTCS rather than as part of a more holistic approach to developing partnerships.

For this reason, the KCTCS President’s Transfer Momentum Project was created to establish a statewide Transfer Summit with representatives from KCTCS, CPE, and over 50 other institutions and agencies.


• Define and develop the structure and required resources to support a Transfer Summit

• Plan the inaugural Summit and lay the groundwork for future successful collaboration with higher education partners

• Host a successful Transfer Summit which would result in increased visibility, improved collaboration, and stronger institutional relationships

OUTCOMES

2014 TRANSFER SUMMITOn April 3, 2014, KCTCS hosted a Transfer Summit in Lexington for postsecondary education leaders across the state. This first‐of‐its‐kind event was unique and important because it brought together KCTCS college leadership with their four‐year colleagues from across the state, both public and private, for collaboration and partnership building. The ground‐breaking Summit provided opportunity for presidents to offer high‐level support of transfer at their institutions, allowed provosts the chance to join forces on transfer agreement processes, and facilitated connections and collaboration between transfer professionals.

More than 200 higher education professionals representing 54 institutions and overseeing agencies participated in the Summit. John N. Gardner of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education was one of the featured speakers. Stephen Handel, the Chief Undergraduate Admissions Officer for the University of California System, delivered the keynote address on the history of transfer in our country, as context for how we are addressing transfer as the primary delivery route for baccalaureate degree attainment in the US.

During the Summit, President McCall convened the presidents of public and private two- and four-year colleges and universities in one room for two and a half hours to focus on action steps for subsequent increased collaboration and problem solving to advance transfer. A parallel session of chief academic officers facilitated by Dr. Gardner and KCTCS Chancellor Dr. Jay Box also met with an identical focus.

Leading national research and models were presented to participants as well, as well as doctoral dissertation level research conducted by KCTCS faculty and staff comparing high impact and low impact two‐year colleges in terms of their impact on transfer bound students.

Results of the Summit included clear desires for continued biennial Transfer Summits; increased collaboration and standardization; a more comprehensive and holistic statewide approach to transfer; and most importantly, deeper and more meaningful institutional relationships and commitments among all participants.

TARGET MEASUREMENT 3: FINANCIAL AIDBegin implementation of the Financial Aid strategy as outlined in the KCTCS Transformation Business Plan to establish unified financial aid standards at all KCTCS colleges based on industry‐wide best practices.

BACKGROUNDDespite KCTCS’s extremely affordable tuition rates and the tremendous value of a KCTCS education, college can still be a financial challenge for many of our students. KCTCS financial aid helps students achieve their educational potential by providing appropriate financial resources and removing financial barriers. Nearly 85% of KCTCS students receive federal and state financial aid that can help bridge the gulf between a life of limited opportunity and one of endless possibilities unlocked by a KCTCS education.

In 2013‐14, KCTCS awarded over $418 million in federal and state financial aid. We have learned though that financial aid processes can often be cumbersome, time consuming, and hard to understand. To avoid any potentially negative impacts on our students, it is essential that we evaluate our current practices and work to streamline and standardize financial aid processes and improve student financial aid support.

For these reasons, the KCTCS President’s Financial Aid Momentum Project was created to identify and standardize specific operating processes within Financial Aid departments throughout KCTCS, and to implement new technology enabling digitization of student Financial Aid records along with improved records management.


• Increase efficiency of Financial Aid departments by standardizing key operational process in accordance with best practices

• Enhance the student customer service experience by increasing the speed and accuracy of Financial Aid activities

• Increase student awareness of the Financial Aid process by improving the tools available to students for interacting with Financial Aid staff and processes

OUTCOMES

UNIFIED FINANCIAL AID STANDARDSThe 16 KCTCS College Financial Aid Directors have identified and implemented ten business process improvements that will now be standardized throughout KCTCS for the 2014‐2015 financial aid year. Highlights include:

• An online “Standards of Progress Appeal,” which allows students to quickly and easily appeal the federally mandated suspension of federal financial aid. This occurs when students fail to make Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) as defined by the U.S. Department of Education. Many KCTCS students face life challenges that can make the SAP standards and the appeals process significant barriers. The new KCTCS online appeal application simplifies and streamlines this process, helping to reduce those barriers and ensure students have every chance to succeed.

• An online direct loan request for funds, which automates and streamlines the process for students to receive sup-plemental financial aid in the form of loans. The online request speeds up the request process, improves tracking and records management, and reduces cumbersome paperwork. This benefits students through reduced processing time and clear status information.

FINANCIAL AID RECORDS IMAGINGMoving from paper documentation and manual processes to digital documents and electronic processes is a proven way to improve efficiency and accuracy in areas like Financial Aid where so many records must be processed and retained each semester. To increase the speed, accuracy, and effectiveness of our Financial Aid processes, KCTCS has moved paper‐based Financial Aid records management and workflows to the OnBase software platform, which has already proven effective for the management of KCTCS’s Human Resources records. OnBase is a comprehensive tool that incorporates document scanning, organization, processing, and storage for large‐scale operations.

During the fall and winter of 2013‐14, Financial Aid processes were standardized by all 16 colleges, scanners and security processes were implemented, and extensive training was delivered to Financial Aid staff across the System before the new system went live on March 28, 2014. This electronic imaging and records platform is now making KCTCS Financial Aid records management more efficient than ever.

KENTUCKY COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM300 North Main Street

Versailles, KY 40383(859) 256-3100 • kctcs.edu

The Kentucky Community and Technical College System is an equal educational and employment opportunity institution and does not discriminate on the basis of; race, religion, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, family medical history,

or genetic information. Further, we vigilantly prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation, parental status, marital status, political affiliation, military service, or any other non-merit based factor.

kctcs president’s annual initiative 2013-14 momentum meetings/2014/201409/02... · april, 2014 at...

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