MiraCosta College Implements TracDat to Manage and Document Outcomes In Budgeting And Planning Process
Solution to Serve Key Role In Data-Driven Decision Making

PITTSBURGH, PA, June 10, 2008 – Nuventive, a leading provider of individual and institutional assessment solutions, today announced that MiraCosta College will implement Nuventive TracDat, an enterprise assessment management solution, to manage the process of strategic planning and student learning outcomes assessment throughout the institution.

MiraCosta College, one of California’s comprehensive, public two year community colleges, has served the coastal area of North San Diego County for more than 70 years. Located 35 miles north of San Diego, the college’s three campuses offer a variety of Transfer, Vocational, General, Basic Skills and Community Education programs to nearly 15,000 students.

MiraCosta received a letter from the regional accreditation commission (AACJC/WASC) informing them that they had just two years to complete the development, reporting and use of Student Learning Outcomes in their integrated budgeting and planning process rather than the five years called for in the previous plan. This presented a formidable challenge.

The college, as part of its continuous commitment to quality, had already developed an extensive number of Student Learning Outcomes but needed an institution-wide solution that would document, track and report them and whose methodology could easily integrate into MiraCosta’s existing budgeting and planning process.

The Outcomes Assessment Committee began surveying on-line assessment resources well in advance of the letter from ACCJC. Members had seen presentations and spoken with vendors over the previous two years looking for a solution that would allow them to efficiently manage assessment data. Last semester, two OAC committee members conducted in-depth research on the most widely adopted solutions. Their recommendation was accepted and TracDat was selected. One of the important features weighing in the selection was TracDat’s capability to tailor fields and headings to align with the processes and terminology already adopted and in use at MiraCosta College. The selection team also liked the fact that TracDat could serve as the institutional framework for assessment, strategic planning, accreditation and quality improvement for their three campuses.

MiraCosta will deploy TracDat as part of its integrated budgeting and planning process. Assessment results, as well as the analysis and resulting recommendations, will be recorded in TracDat. The college also plans to use TracDat in the program review process, so all recommendations for improvements will be directly linked to institutional, program and/or departmental mission, goals, and objectives. For the first time, MiraCosta’s administration and faculty will be able to easily tie program and resource requests to the key goals and objectives of the organization and then track the actual result against the plan.

“Now that increasing emphasis is being placed on data-driven decision making and the capability to document continuous improvement based on empirical data, it is imperative that we establish and maintain a ‘culture of evidence’. We anticipate that TracDat will help us to succeed in accomplishing this,” said Bob Edelbrock, Ed.D, Interim Dean of Academic Information Services.

“Progressive institutions such as MiraCosta College realize that institutional achievement requires both commitment and a structured process for planning, managing and measuring progress toward student outcomes and institutional goals”, said Dr. David Raney, Nuventive CEO. “We are very pleased that Nuventive was chosen to assist in MiraCosta’s continuous improvement tradition.”

About MiraCosta College

Located 35 miles north of San Diego in a park-like setting, MiraCosta College offers Associate Degrees in University Studies, Arts, Science (Registered Nursing), as well as Certificates in nearly 50 disciplines. http://www.miracosta.edu

About Nuventive

Nuventive is a leading provider of enterprise outcomes assessment and electronic portfolio applications. Nuventive customers are institutions, faculty, administrators, students and private sector users in over 20 countries. Institutional customers include Western Michigan University, the 14 campus Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Mt. San Antonio College and Providence College.

Nuventive’s headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with distribution in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific regions. For more information, please visit www.nuventive.com or call +1.412.847.0280 or 1.877.366.8700.

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