Necessary hardware, software and staffing must be budgeted to support the annual planning and assessment cycle. A central office must maintain coordination, commitment, training, communication, and continuity of planning. The TVCC Board of Education has initiated the steps necessary to support institutional planning. The annual planning was implemented successfully for the 1998-99 academic year. The planning process is accessible on the TVCC homepage as an interactive website.
Resources are available for maintaining the planning process as an annual institutional function.
Key to the successful completion of the assessment component is the development of a reliable institutional research function that can establish baseline data and a historical context for analysis. The administration has initiated an evaluation by external consultants to assist in assessment, planning and implementation of an appropriate institutional research model within the current academic year. The TVCC Strategic Planning Committee established a standard computerized process for measuring student persistence. This method provides a means for the College to objectively determine the persistence rate of entering freshmen through each quarter and annually. The College may now examine trend data over time and observe the impact of student retention interventions.