Unit Plans and Program Review
Unit Plans
Administrative units at the College annually prepare Unit Plans. Unit Plans are used to guide the activities of each unit throughout an academic year and are aligned directly to the College’s Strategic Plan. As a part of the unit planning process, each unit develops goals, states reasons for the goals, assigns persons to accomplish the goals, aligns goals to the College’s Strategic Plan, determines assessment means for the goals as well as the success criteria used to determine if the goals are met, collects and examines assessment results, and documents how results are used for continuous improvement. The Gaston College unit planning process follows a standardized format to provide consistency and uniformity among all identified units.
Program Review
Program review is intended to measure the efficacy of programs. Therefore, the College has developed and implemented procedures to evaluate the extent to which the Institution’s educational goals are being achieved and how it uses results of these evaluations to try to improve educational programs, services, and operations. Quantitative data, such as student performance on appropriate standardized test(s), program completion rates, job placement rates, results of licensing examinations, and program costs versus FTE generation, is provided to program faculty and administration from Institutional Effectiveness staff. Qualitative information, such as student learning outcomes attainment, facilities and equipment needs, market trends, and advisory committee feedback is provided by program faculty. Other measurements unique to specific programs may also be included. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Gaston College coordinates the program review process.