Core Component: Notre Dame College’s ongoing evaluation and assessment processes provide reliable evidence of institutional effectiveness that clearly informs strategies for continuous improvement.

As the College emerges from its turnaround experience and begins to be confident in its new future, one of the challenges it will confront is the need to link planning with evaluation and assessment in a continuous feedback loop. This will be a critical piece of the Strategic Thinkingand strategic planning process currently beginning at the College. In fact, the last of the four macro goals in the Strategic Thinking document proposes “to create an academic and administrative culture of accountability and assessment.” In academic year 2006 – 2007 the College created an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs position, one of whose chief responsibilities will be institutional research. The information that the office has begun to provide will be critical as the College moves forward in its strategic thinking and planning.

In sum, it can be seen that “Notre Dame College’s allocation of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities.” For the past four years the College has

  • Grown its resources,

  • Prepared and implemented processes for planning and evaluation geared to fiscal survival and its historic mission,

  • Doubled the number of faculty since Summer, 2003,

  • Began new programs and strengthened old programs, and

  • Remained a mission-centered institution.

<< Previous | Next >>