Institution-Wide Participation

Public

Discussion:

Myhisha,

If I am hearing correctly, it sounds like although some student services staff have been designated to "help" in career services, the reality is that this is not working. With a truly one-person shop handling 6 campuses, this is not sustainable and will produce an extremely limited result unless you have adequate staffing to achieve the goals that have been identified by the institution. If staff in different functional areas have been designated to "help," the "help" they provide must be clearly defined and goals must be established for them just as any staff member in Career Services would have goals aligned with benchmarks.

For example, if you are measuring an identified cohort of graduates and are trying to achieve a 70% employment rate per program, you would identify how many graduates you are expected to have in that reporting cohort per program. Based on the expected number of graduates, you'd identify how many need to be employed by the end of reporting period to achieve the 70% benchmark for each program. You can then take the number needed to meet the 70% benchmark for each program and divide that number by the weeks you have until the end of reporting period to identify weekly "run rates" for each program. This establishes some specific numbers trying to be reached from which goals can be identified for anyone who is "helping" the institution achieve its benchmark. Student services staff would then know that "help" specifically means they have goals to assist and document "X" number of graduates in "Y" program as employed in their field to achieve the institution's established benchmark. Forgive me if this is stating the obvious but I wanted to simply break this down in case there may be others who take this course who do not know how to establish run rates or why they are important when starting to establish goals.

Because you are regionally accredited, you do not have to report employment rates the same way nationally accredited institutions do - meaning, your accrediting body doesn't actually have a benchmark they have established that you must meet to remain in "good standing." Additionally, regionally accredited institutions have greater freedom for how they define and track "placement" if they decide to track this metric.

For example, say a regionally-accredited institution states they have a 90% placement rate. This may not necessarily mean that of all their graduates within a given reporting period, 90% of them were employed in their field. This may mean that they define their cohort of graduates who are included in their reporting methodology by identifying which are "actively seeking." They may "waiver" graduates who are "not-actively seeking," are continuing education elsewhere, are not eligible to work in the U.S., have a medical condition that prevents them from working, are incarcerated, etc. to "eliminate" these individuals from being counted in their reporting cohort since they are not "eligible" for employment. This, essentially, lowers the denominator when calculating employment rates. So, from the resulting number of "eligible" actively-seeking graduates, 90% of those graduates were "placed." To put this in numbers, it may look like this:

Total number of graduates in reporting period: 500
Total "Placed" graduates: 200

200/500 = 40% rate HOWEVER....

Total "actively-seeking" graduates after adjusting for those in "waiver" status: 222
Total "placed" graduates: 200
New Placement Rate: 200/222 = 90%

I break this down because as a newly formed department, I have no idea if your institution has already gone through the process of first establishing policies, definitions, and benchmarks from which to determine goals and measure success. As this is also a new role for you, I am not sure what background, previous training, or other help you have received to get you started. You had asked for advice on how one person can manage 6 campuses in a region and I think the most critical thing is first establishing how you are defining "placement," how you are measuring it, reporting it, etc. so that you can set goals and have clear reporting criteria on how to achieve it. This will also give you a clear sense of what will be needed such as staffing levels.

I hope this is helpful. If you have further questions, please continue asking. Additionally, I do make myself available for phone calls with course participants if they feel a conversation is needed.

Take care!

An investment in online self-service resources for students is also a must, particularly for online schools and this will at least help you so that you can refer students to resources they can use.

Robert Starks Jr.

Myhisha, If I am hearing correctly, it sounds like although some student services staff have been designated to "help" in career services, the reality is that this is not working. With a truly one-person shop handling 6 campuses, this is not sustainable and will produce an extremely limited result unless you have adequate staffing to achieve the goals that have been identified by the institution. If staff in different functional areas have been designated to "help," the "help" they provide must be clearly defined and goals must be established for them just as any staff member in Career Services would have goals aligned with benchmarks. For example, if you are measuring an identified cohort of graduates and are trying to achieve a 70% employment rate per program, you would identify how many graduates you are expected to have in that reporting cohort per program. Based on the expected number of graduates, you'd identify how many need to be employed by the end of reporting period to achieve the 70% benchmark for each program. You can then take the number needed to meet the 70% benchmark for each program and divide that number by the weeks you have until the end of reporting period to identify weekly "run rates" for each program. This establishes some specific numbers trying to be reached from which goals can be identified for anyone who is "helping" the institution achieve its benchmark. Student services staff would then know that "help" specifically means they have goals to assist and document "X" number of graduates in "Y" program as employed in their field to achieve the institution's established benchmark. Forgive me if this is stating the obvious but I wanted to simply break this down in case there may be others who take this course who do not know how to establish run rates or why they are important when starting to establish goals. Because you are regionally accredited, you do not have to report employment rates the same way nationally accredited institutions do - meaning, your accrediting body doesn't actually have a benchmark they have established that you must meet to remain in "good standing." Additionally, regionally accredited institutions have greater freedom for how they define and track "placement" if they decide to track this metric. For example, say a regionally-accredited institution states they have a 90% placement rate. This may not necessarily mean that of all their graduates within a given reporting period, 90% of them were employed in their field. This may mean that they define their cohort of graduates who are included in their reporting methodology by identifying which are "actively seeking." They may "waiver" graduates who are "not-actively seeking," are continuing education elsewhere, are not eligible to work in the U.S., have a medical condition that prevents them from working, are incarcerated, etc. to "eliminate" these individuals from being counted in their reporting cohort since they are not "eligible" for employment. This, essentially, lowers the denominator when calculating employment rates. So, from the resulting number of "eligible" actively-seeking graduates, 90% of those graduates were "placed." To put this in numbers, it may look like this: Total number of graduates in reporting period: 500 Total "Placed" graduates: 200 200/500 = 40% rate HOWEVER.... Total "actively-seeking" graduates after adjusting for those in "waiver" status: 222 Total "placed" graduates: 200 New Placement Rate: 200/222 = 90% I break this down because as a newly formed department, I have no idea if your institution has already gone through the process of first establishing policies, definitions, and benchmarks from which to determine goals and measure success. As this is also a new role for you, I am not sure what background, previous training, or other help you have received to get you started. You had asked for advice on how one person can manage 6 campuses in a region and I think the most critical thing is first establishing how you are defining "placement," how you are measuring it, reporting it, etc. so that you can set goals and have clear reporting criteria on how to achieve it. This will also give you a clear sense of what will be needed such as staffing levels. I hope this is helpful. If you have further questions, please continue asking. Additionally, I do make myself available for phone calls with course participants if they feel a conversation is needed. Take care! An investment in online self-service resources for students is also a must, particularly for online schools and this will at least help you so that you can refer students to resources they can use. Robert Starks Jr.