Building Up Your Disability Services Toolkit Webinar Series

Running a Small Disability Services Office: Tips and Tricks

March 11, 2015

Running a Small DS Office: Strategic Planning & CAS

Gavin SteigerUniversity of Houston Clear Lake

Overview

• What is a strategic plan and why do you need one?

• Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS)

• Collaboration

Strategic Plan

• It incorporates your colleges and departments vision, mission and value statements.

• It provides a means by which to measure and assess what you are doing.

• It provides a means to assess the impact on identified student learning outcomes on your programs/initiatives.

Why do you need a strategic plan?

• Accountability

• Budget

• Staffing

• Accreditation

• Student Learning Outcomes

CAS: Mission Statement

• The primary mission of Disability Resources and Services (DRS) is to provide leadership and facilitate equal access to all institutional opportunities for disabled students.

• To accomplish its mission, DRS must perform three duties: – provide institution-wide advisement, consultation, and training on

disability-related topics, including legal and regulatory compliance, universal design, and disability scholarship.

– collaborate with partners to identify and remove barriers to foster an all-inclusive campus.

– provide individual services and facilitate accommodations to students with disabilities.

CAS: Assessment and Evaluation

• Disability Resources and Services (DRS) must have a clearly articulated assessment plan to document achievement of stated goals and learning outcomes, demonstrate accountability, provide evidence of improvement, and describe resulting changes in programs and services.

• Use direct and indirect methods

• Use qualitative and quantitative methods

CAS Learning & Developmental Outcomes

• Knowledge acquisition, construction, integration, and application

• Cognitive complexity

• Intrapersonal development

• Humanitarianism and civic engagement

• Practical competence