Campus Completion Policy Assessment Tools Charting the Course for Student Completion Conference – Ohio Board of Regents Gretchen Schmidt, Jobs for the Future December 15, 2013

What do you think of first when someone says “policy”?

Potential Responses Rules Guidelines Law/legislation Structures Catalog Barriers? Incentives?

FEDERAL POLICY STATE POLICY SYSTEM POLICY INSTITUTIONAL POLICY DEPARTMENT POLICY CLASSROOM POLICY 4 MORE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES INCREASED IMPACT

Policy vs. Business Practices POLICY – Legislation – State Regulation – Board Policy – Policy Manual/Catalog BUSINESS PROCESS – Functions and processes at institution – Often codified by integration into electronic processes – Ownership not always clear – Become ‘de-facto’ policies

Who Owns Institutional Policies? EVERYONE – NOT JUST ADMINISTRATION Faculty – classroom policies, attendance policies, grading policies Academic departments – admissions policies, advising policies, pre-requisite policies, placement policies Student services – advising policies, student success courses and orientation requirements, financial aid policies Business office – billing and payment policies, drop policies

The Role of Institutional Policy in Scaling Reform In order to sustain institutional change, structures, policies and practices need to be revised to support new systems New structures prevent the institution from falling back into ‘old’ way of doing things Provides an opportunity to long-standing practices that do not work in current environment Communication of new policies and practices will help students enter with accurate information and good advice on how to navigate the college

Institutional Policy Audit Tool Developed for Completion by Design community colleges in Ohio Colleges have institutional and state policy as a focus area in their grant Needed a vehicle for doing a comprehensive policy audit at the institutions Report and recommendations based on institution’s reform efforts and best next steps to sustain reforms

Policy Audit Process Different at each college Developed in partnership with colleges – including leadership, faculty and staff Included 1-day session facilitated by JFF staff Report to college leadership with recommendations and priorities for institutional change Strategizing how to use instrument in scaling through OACC

Questions? Gretchen Schmidt Jobs for the Future