Institutional Effectiveness

Rollins College demonstrates institutional effectiveness through ongoing, integrated, and institution-wide research-based planning and evaluation processes. These recursive processes have developed over several decades and include broadly-based institutional planning aligned to the College’s mission, a systematic annual review of academic programs and administrative units, and ongoing assessment of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and benchmarks.

These processes result in a coherent and integrated system of continuous improvement, demonstrating that the College is accomplishing its mission to educate students for global citizenship and responsible leadership, empowering graduates to pursue meaningful lives and productive careers.

Accreditation and Effectiveness
In addition to regional accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), a number of Rollins programs hold additional national accreditation or curriculum approvals that contribute to the College's institutional effectiveness profile. Click here to learn more about these programs and their accreditations/approvals on the College's Accreditation website.

External Accreditation and Program Approval Report Review Policy
All regional and program accreditation or approval applications, reports, and reaffirmation self-study documents, other than routine data submissions, must be reviewed by the appropriate Dean, Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness|SACSCOC Liaison, the Vice President for Academic Affairs|Provost, and, if appropriate, the President. Program faculty and department chairs preparing reports should contact the Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness|SACSCOC Liaison for assistance well in advance of due dates to allow adequate time for revisions, reviews, and approvals.

As an institution regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), Rollins College is obligated to disclose to students, constituents, and the public statements of “goals for student achievement and the success of students in achieving those goals.” According to SACSCOC, information on student achievement “may include reliable information in retention, graduation, course completion, licensure examinations, and job placement rates and other measures of student success appropriate to institutional mission.”

Each administrative, academic support and student support unit/department at Rollins College is required to set goals and assessment methods, track progress toward achieving its goals, report assessment results, and make continued improvements based on those results.

Specifically, each unit/department is required to participate in the Rollins College Administrative Effectiveness System (AES) by completing annual assessment plans and reports that identify the unit/department’s mission, a minimum of three measurable goals, assessment methods for each goal, assessment results, and use of results for improvement.

The AES reporting process and archived reports, maintained in the College's XitracsTM assessment and accreditation software system, is overseen and audited for completeness and quality by staff in the Office of the Provost.

Demonstration of learning at Rollins is guided by the essential questions of the learner-centered college: Are our students learning?, How do we know they are learning?, and How does what we know allow us to improve learning? (O'Banion, 1997). Demonstration of learning is an ongoing process at Rollins, one that is inquiry-based, outcomes-oriented, and focused on the interpretation of results to improve teaching and learning.

Demonstration of Learning (DoL) is a faculty-driven effort at Rollins, one designed to ensure that discipline-based values and teaching practices are aligned with the College’s mission of empowering graduates to pursue meaningful lives and productive careers. A faculty-led Demonstration of Learning Team (DLT) advises and provides support to the learning outcomes review process at the College.

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness maintains resources, reporting templates, and archived DoL data in the College's XitracsTM assessment and accreditation software system to assist academic departments and programs in developing and documenting their demonstration of student learning outcomes plans and assessment reports. All DoL plans and reports for academic programs of the College are reviewed for completeness and quality each year by the College’s Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and SACSCOC Liaison, appropriate Deans, and, when required or related to resource allocations, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

A short video orientation to the demonstration of learning efforts at Rollins is available. Watch Video

Questions? Please contact Dr. Toni Holbrook, Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness and SACSCOC Liaison, or at ext. 2128.

O’Banion, T. (1997). A learning college for the 21st century. Phoenix, AZ: American Council on Education and Oryx Press.

Program review in the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) at Rollins is a developmental process that evaluates the status, effectiveness, and progress of academic programs and helps identify the future direction, needs, and priorities of those programs. As such, it is closely connected to strategic planning, resource allocation, assessment of student learning, and other decision-making at the program, department, and College levels. The goal of a program review should be the articulation of agreed-upon action plans for further development of the academic program.