Our Program Review Process
Program Review is a process used by Cañada College to determine how effective its programs and services are at helping to achieve the college's mission, vision, and goals. The program review process also determines how resources will be allocated in order to affect positive change related to student learning outcomes and student success. Once complete, each program and their corresponding Planning Council work to achieve their program goals and meet the College’s objective of continuous improvement.
The Process
The Cycle
The College’s instructional, student services and administrative programs go through a comprehensive program review process every three years. If a program would like to request resources or make modifications during an "off-cycle" year, the program submits an Annual Update to address any changes or updates since their previous comprehensive program review.
Step 1: Data Review and Program Evaluation
By the end of June of every year, all programs have access to updated, longitudinal information related to student outcomes in their programs through the prior academic year. Between August and October, programs conducting a full program review evaluate various disaggregated metrics of performance including student achievement data, learning outcomes assessments and other data provided by the Office of Planning, Research & Institutional Effectiveness, to identify areas of strength, areas in need of strategic improvement, as well as areas of inquiry to which research resources might be applied.
Step 2: Planning
After reviewing their program’s past performance, programs consider the opportunities (and possible threats) to their programs and create a new, three-year plan with goals and objectives that align with and support the College and District mission, goals, and strategic objectives which, in turn, align with and support those of the State Chancellor’s Office.
Step 3: Personnel and Resource Requests
Requests for physical, financial, personnel, professional development and other resources needed to meet a program’s objectives are also submitted through the program review process. Requests for personnel follow a process led by the Planning & Budgeting Council, which hosts personnel request presentations during which the campus community can ask questions of those who are requesting personnel, as well as the Academic and Classified Senates. All requests are evaluated in the context of the most recent Program Review or Annual Update for alignment with the appropriate college and district goals, support of student learning outcomes, and support of the college’s mission. By integrating resource requests with program review, the College is able to make informed, strategic investments to achieve its goals through the achievement of program objectives, and ultimately, to improve its ability to meet students’ academic needs. By using data, research, and program review information, the Instructional and Student Services Planning Councils are able to manage institutional quality, maintain effectiveness, and encourage continuous improvement of its academic programs, student and learning support services, and administrative services. The process for prioritizing non-personnel resource requests are described on the PBC Resource Prioritization web page. Each resource request is identified as either a one-time request for the next fiscal year, or a recurring request beginning in the next fiscal year.
Step 4: Dean, Vice President, or President Review and Feedback
Each program receives feedback from their Division Dean, Vice President, or the President on their program review which they must incorporate into their final program review submission. Each Division Dean, Vice President and the President also evaluate all resources requested and follow PBC guideliness for working collaboratively with their Divisions to prioritize them. Each administrator works with the Vice President of Administration to try to meet any requests for resources with currently available budgets.
Step 5: Peer Review and Feedback
The Instructional, Administrative and Student Services Planning Councils review their respective programs’ program review submissions and provide feedback on the content of their program review submissions.
The Academic Senate meets separately to review and prioritize all faculty personnel requests. Academic Senate prioritizations are forwarded to the President. Classified Senate similarly prioritizes requests for classified personnel and forwards their recommendations to the President.
In addition to the peer review feedback process which result in completed peer review forms sent back to each program for incorporation into their next review, the Instructional Planning Council hosts instructional program review presentations on a 6-year cycle. All faculty, staff and administrators are welcome and encouraged to attend. The Student Services Planning Council hosts program peview presentations on a 3-year cycle.
Step 6: Resource Prioritization
Following prioritization at the Division or Department level and at Academic Senate, the Planning & Budgeting Council (PBC) certifies that the prioritization processes have been conducted according to its guidelines. PBC sends its recommendations to the President who ultimately decides how to allocate resources and which personnel requests will move forward contingent on funding. The Vice President of Administration is responsible for consulting with PBC in allocation the budget received from the District and communicating in a timely manner to administrators, staff and faculty which resource requests have been approved.
Step 7: Continued Improvement of the Program Review Process
In the spring of 2021, the Planning & Budgeting Council approved the creation of a Program Review Work Group which later became a more permanent PBC Subcommittee. The Program Review PBC Sub-Committee is a cross-functional operational sub-committee of the Cañada College Planning & Budgeting Council (PBC). Its purpose is to help coordinate and support an effective program review process each year across instructional, administrative, and student services programs. The College Standard Operating Procedures for Program Review are here.