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Tyler 2021: Blazing Trails to SuccessSTRATEGIC PLAN 2015-2021

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

This is an exciting time to be part of a community college. Our institutions are being recognized nationally as hubs for workforce development, as engines for economic growth. Here in the Commonwealth, our community college system is recognized as an important contributor to the Governor’s plan for a New Virginia Economy – a plan that calls for diversifying the state’s economy, nurturing entrepreneurship, and strengthening workforce training. Our Chancellor has

put forth a bold new six-year strategic goal – to triple the number of credentials awarded by 2021. And, we are preparing to move to a performance-based funding model that will add student success to our funding equation.

Much is expected of us, and there is a lot to be done now and in the coming years, as we work to ensure our students enjoy positive outcomes that improve their lives and as we support the ever-evolving workforce needs of the communities we serve. That is why strategic plans are so important. They build the foundations that allow us to be forward-thinking in our planning. They give us direction, and they keep us focused.

John Tyler Community College’s 2015-2021 strategic plan, Tyler 2021: Blazing Trails to Success, does just that. It identifies our three areas of strategic focus: expanding our culture of excellence, making education attainable, and increasing student success. It also offers an overarching look at how we aim to achieve them. As you read through the plan, you will notice familiar themes, including student success, effectiveness, retention, persistence, engagement, opportunities, completion and collaboration. These are our roots, and we want to grow, nurture and strengthen them.

This plan is the place from where we all start - where our dedicated faculty, staff and community partners come together to build on our commitment to excellence, student success and community vitality; where we bring forth our best ideas; and where we explore opportunities to update and expand our educational and workforce training offerings. Together, we can change lives.

Dr. Edward “Ted” RaspillerPresident

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COLLEGE MISSIONJohn Tyler Community College provides quality educational opportunities that inspire student success and community vitality.

COLLEGE VISIONA success story for every student.

COLLEGE GOALS• To enhance and promote excellence in teaching and learning.

• To provide access to educational opportunities for persons from all segments of society.

• To provide a comprehensive program of student development services.

• To develop and foster mutually beneficial relationships with external constituencies to meet the educational and economic needs of the region.

• To provide excellent administrative services, fostering accountability and efficiency.

• To administer integrated and transformative institutional assessment and planning processes.

• To maximize external funding to support the mission of the College.

• To strengthen a positive image of the College and effectively promote services and programs to the community.

• To encourage a positive organization, which attracts and retains a diverse and highly competent workforce.

CODE OF ETHICS• We are committed to learning

environments that foster academic integrity.

• We will be good stewards of our resources and make effective and efficient use of them, thereby ensuring accountability to the Commonwealth of Virginia and to the communities we serve.

• We will maintain the confidentiality and security of information entrusted to us and share information only when authorized or required by law to do so.

• We will not accept any gift, favor, loan, service, business or professional opportunity from anyone knowing (or when it should be known) that it is offered in order to improperly influence the performance of our public duties. We will avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

• We will offer good faith and fair dealings to all those we serve and to each other. Our communications will be civil and professional.

• We will offer employment opportunities in accordance with state, federal and system policies supporting the rights and recognizing the needs of all citizens regardless of gender, age, race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or political affiliation.

• We encourage and expect all members of the community to act in good faith and bring to the attention of the appropriate official any violation or potential violation of these principles.

JTCC’S HISTORY AND PROFILEJohn Tyler Community College opened its doors in 1967 as part of a newly established statewide community college system designed to make affordable, higher educational opportunities available to citizens throughout the Commonwealth. Over the years, Tyler has grown to become the fifth largest of Virginia’s 23 community colleges, serving students with campuses in Chester and Midlothian; off-campus classrooms; and online courses.

The College offers degrees and certificates, as well as non-credit workforce programs, that ready students for the workforce, prepare them for industry certifications and help them advance their careers. Tyler also provides associate degree transfer majors designed to mirror the freshman and sophomore years of a bachelor’s degree, and offers guaranteed admissions agreements that give Tyler graduates the opportunity to seamlessly transfer to more than 35 four-year colleges and universities.

John Tyler Community College primarily serves the residents of the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg, as well as the counties of Amelia, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Surry and Sussex.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARYOur strategic thinking and conversations are critical to serving the needs of our students, our community and our institution. We need to be creative and innovative as we envision the future, while at the same time have a clear and consistent vision of how the College will achieve that future. In Fall 2014, the Strategic Planning Evaluation Assessment Council (SPEAC) was established to develop the College’s 2015-2021 strategic plan in support of the Virginia Community College System’s Vision 2021 plan to triple the number of credentials earned.

To inform its work, SPEAC examined demographic internal and external data about the College and its service area. An environmental scan of the College’s service area examined employment projections and changes in demographics. SPEAC also considered survey data from the presidential search conducted in 2013, students, faculty, and staff, as well as, data from focus groups with various constituents. Then, student performance data with regard to retention and graduation was shared.

Over the course of several months, SPEAC proceeded to develop areas of focus for the College’s strategic plan. These areas were also shared with Administrative Council and their reactions were shared with SPEAC. Three strategic goal areas emerged: culture, access, and success.

Fostering a culture of excellence will serve as the foundation for all our work. We aspire to provide efficient and effective services of the highest quality. Recognizing that high performance/accountability at all levels of the College is the key to achieving our mission of student success, we are committed to creating

a culture of excellence among our various departments and with the communities we serve.

For the second focus area, John Tyler Community College is committed to preserving access and opportunity for all students. The College will maintain its “open door policy” and especially support those students who have higher risk factors due to socio-economic status, race/ethnicity, and/or being first generation in college. While finances are a recognized barrier, there are many other barriers that preclude access to educational pursuits. These other barriers include, but are not limited to, work schedule conflicts, the need for our students to be employed, transportation issues, and childcare.

Our third priority is to keep our students on the pathway to success once they have entered our doors. Student retention is the first step in moving toward completion of credentials. Improving college completion rates is a national call for action. More and more states are moving toward performance funding models based on student outcomes, and jobs of the future are demanding more higher education credentials.

With this strategic plan, the College is building on our strong history and renewing and extending our commitment to execute our mission and ensure a success story for every student. Our ultimate goal is student success through institutional excellence and accountability, enabling students to achieve their goals, and contributing to the social and economic health of our service area.

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OVERVIEW OF PLANNING PROCESS

DEVELOPMENT IMPLEMENTATION

VCCS STRATEGIC

PLAN DEVELOPMENT

SPEAC FORMED TO

DEVELOP JTCC STRATEGIC

PLAN

GOALS DEVELOPED

FOR STRATEGIC

PLAN

INITIAL RESEARCH

AND ANALYSIS

New system-wide goal required redesign of college strategic plans

Strategic Planning Evaluation and Assessment Council

Tasked with aligning JTCC’s strategic vision with that of VCCS system-wide goal

Environmental scan of service area economy and college data

demographic profile

Culture and attitudes through quantitative and qualitative research

Gathered input from SPEAC and Administrative Council and built consensus on strategic vision

Solicited college-wide opinions on SPEAC’s draft strategic plan

SPEAC FINALIZES STRATEGIC PLAN

COLLEGE BOARD APPROVED IN JUNE 2015

IMPLEMENTATION TEAM

COLLEGE-WIDE STRATEGIC

AND ANNUAL PLANNING

DEVELOPMENT

ONGOING STATUS REPORTS

ON IMPLEMENTATION

PLANS

EVALUATION OF

PLANNING PROCESS

ACCOUNTABILITY

Formation of group to monitor planning activities, will report to SPEAC

In July of each year, administrative, academic and student support services units develop plans

Present to SPEAC and College Board

Share with college

SPEAC and Administrative Council evaluate planning process, make recommendations for improvements

2015-2021 STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS ACCESS SUCCESS

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FOCUS 1: CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE

John Tyler Community College will strive for a culture of excellence centered on student success through better coordination of operations, service support, and instruction.

FOCUS 2: COMPREHENSIVE ACCESS

John Tyler Community College will work collaboratively to improve access to high-quality programs and remove barriers which prevent students from pursuing their educational goals.

FOCUS 3: STUDENT SUCCESS AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

John Tyler Community College will increase the number of students successfully completing certificates and degrees, securing workforce credentials, or transferring to four-year universities.

CULTURE

VCCS 2021: TRIPLE CREDENTIALS

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STRATEGIC FOCUS 1: CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE

Guiding Principle: John Tyler Community College will strive for a culture of excellence centered on student success through better coordination of operations, service support, and instruction.

Goal: Ensure academic, student service, and operational excellence.

Strategies:• Conduct an internal campaign that helps define the components of student

success and outlines the role each individual (student, faculty, and staff) will be able to play.

• Develop processes to ensure high quality of instruction, effective student support services, and efficient operations.

• Implement student services and educational delivery methods that increase student success and satisfaction.

• Expand professional development programs to help employees carry out their individual professional development plans which emphasize methods for achieving greater student success.

• Implement the work of the Council on Diversity and Inclusion.

Metrics:

1. By 2021, 100% of all full-time and part-time faculty and staff will be certified in student success, improving outcomes and closing achievement gaps.

2. By 2021, 100% of administrative and student support unit assessments will include culture of excellence measures.

3. By 2021, 100% of full-time faculty will be certified in assessing programmatic and course-level student learning outcomes.

4. By 2021, 100% of part-time faculty will participate in course-level student learning outcomes assessment.

STRATEGIC FOCUS 2: COMPREHENSIVE ACCESS

Guiding Principle: John Tyler Community College will work collaboratively to improve access to high-quality programs and remove barriers which prevent students from pursuing their educational goals.

Goal: Achieve a broader reach into the community that increases access for more students.

Strategies:

• Identify those communities or subpopulations where participation levels are low and target recruitment efforts to these areas appropriately.

• Expand links with business and industry, future employers, K-12, and four-year universities to increase pathways for students.

• Expand scholarship opportunities to assist in making college more affordable for students and to reduce student debt.

Goal: Identify and reduce or eliminate barriers associated with life-work-education balance.

Strategies:

• Explore JTCC’s processes, methods, policies, or other factors that may create barriers, and classify those that are within our capability to effect or may require assistance from other partners.

• Promote the availability of financial aid and assist students with financial aid applications.

• Focus on specific barriers that might be contributing to low participation by selected communities and fine-tune programs and schedules to improve flexibility.

• Identify and work with partners to improve access to campus or provide better wrap-around services that can mitigate identified barriers.

Metrics:

1. By 2021, enrollment will increase 15% to over 16,000 students.

2. By 2021, under-represented population enrollment (based on minority status, financial need as per Pell award recipient, and first-generation status) will increase 15% to over 9,500 students.

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STRATEGIC FOCUS 3: STUDENT SUCCESS AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Guiding Principle: John Tyler Community College will increase the number of students successfully completing certificates and degrees, securing workforce credentials, or transferring to four-year universities.

Goal: Improve retention between semesters and academic years.

Strategies:

• Ensure curricular students have academic plans and are making progress toward them.

• Implement SAILS, an early-alert system, to identify students in need of additional support.

• Increase student involvement in college activities.

Goal: Increase the number of certificates, degrees and industry credentials awarded.

Strategies:

• Identify students who are within 15 credits of completion and intervene to encourage completion.

• Increase credit and non-credit partnerships with business and industry.

• Increase opportunities for students to earn academic credit for prior learning.

• Assist students in obtaining credentials leading to successful transfer or employment.

Metrics:

1. By 2021, fall-to-fall retention will increase to 65%.

2. By 2021, number of degrees and certificates earned will be doubled.

NEXT STEPS

Implementation PlanOnce the College’s goals are established, it is important to set objectives, establish priorities, design activities to accomplish the objectives, divide the action into feasible steps, evaluate progress made, and revise plans as needed. As part of the planning process, linking to the budget is important. Human, fiscal, and physical resources may be needed to support planning efforts.

An internal planning implementation team will meet regularly and provide central leadership and coordination of the planning process. In addition, the team will review data and keep the College community informed of progress on the strategic plan. Formative evaluation reports will be produced annually.

Follow our progress and see success stories at www.jtcc.edu/tyler2021.

STR

ATE

GIC

PLAN OPERATIONA

L PLAN

ACCOUNTABILITY

Set directionWhere are we going?

Coordinate actionWhat gets done?Who does what?

Measure and analyze findingsWhat got accomplished?How can we fine-tune?

www.jtcc.edu/tyler2021