Common Terms in Institutional Effectiveness

This list is a working document of common terms used throughout the manual.  

Last revision: February 2022

Academic or Student support service unit = the offices, departments, or areas of the organization that directly support the mission of the institution through the direct support of student learning and/or student success (genrally, these are areas of the institution that have direct access to and interact with students often).

Administrative support service unit = the offices, departments, or areas of hte organization that directly support the mission of the institution but that indirectly support student success or student learning (generally, these are areas of the institution that do not have much direct interation with students).

Assessment = the systematic and appropriate measurement of indicators related to a goal, an objective or an outcome

Assessment Cycle = a period of time in which the entire PDCA cycle occurs (see detailed definition of this cycle below).

     --Annual = yearly

     --Periodic = a set number of years

---example:  The Strategic Planning process is periodic because it takes place every 5 or 10 years. However, the reporting of progress to strategic plan goals and outcomes is yearly through annual reports, annual goal tracking, and annual updates to key performance indicators (KPIs).

Assessment Plan = the steps through which data collection, assessment and evaluation occur; these steps are planned in the Plan phase, collected in the Do phase and then analyzed and evaluated in the Check phase to inform the Adjust phase of the PDCA cycle (see detailed definition of this cycle below).

Educational or Academic Program = a declared major that encompasses an established sequence and selection of courses in which a student can earn a credential from the institution and as listed on the Academic Program Inventory (API) maintainted and managed by TBR and THEC.

Evaluation = making a judgment of collected assessment data compared to an established target or benchmark for a goal or outcome

Goal or Goal Statement = broad, aspirational statement that, by itself, is not easily measured

Objective = specific, aspirational statement that can be measured discretely using specified aggregated and disaggregated metrics

Outcome = broad term that specifies the intended result of the College's activity; labeled as either Administrative/Operational or Student Learning

Administrative or Operational Outcome (AOO)= goals for a division, department, office, or unit that are related to operational targets regarding quality of a program, service or support and do not encompass discreet student learning outcomes - these types of goals are expected for all units of the College

Student Learning Outcome (SLO) = clear, measurable statement of a student's knowledge, abilities, or skills upon successful completion of a lesson, unit, course, or program - these types of outcomes are expected of all academic programs and units of the College involved in supporting student learning/success  - click here for more information about the institutional SLOs and assessment plan.

Course Student Learning Outcome (CSLO) = student learning outcome aimed at the student's knowledge, abilities, or skills upon successful completion of the course

Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLO) = 

Program Student Learning Outcome (PSLO) = student learning outcome aimed at the student's knowledge, abilities, or skills upon successful completion of the program

Plan, Do, Check, and Adjust (PDCA) Cycle = the model for documenting all aspects of the improvement cycle within annual or multi-year activities. Forms used to collect documentation of the IE Model will generally require documentation of these phases within the improvement cycle.

Plan = the phase in which all information gathered and available informs the purpose, goal(s), stakeholder(s), leader(s), alignment to the strategic themes and/or College objectives, as well as necessary action steps needed to prepare for, and act within the Do phase including methods to Check progress to the goal(s) are established. This phase is intended to occur prior to any implementation or Do actions.

Do = implementation phase in which theaction steps outlined in the Plan phase and the gathering of appropriate Check materials in order to analyze and evaluate progress to established goal(s) are enacted. 

Check = a phase for continuous gathering and analyzing of information gathered during the Do phase and then using this information, evaluating the progress of the work to established goals set in the Plan phase.

Adjust = a subsequent plan phase in which the information from the Check phase informs adjustments to the original plan that can then be implemented in a second cycle of PDCA. This phase can combine with a second Plan phase and be followed by the Do, Check and Adjust phases repeatedly.

Strategic Theme = general category of strategic work that aligns with and organizes the work related to achieving the puporse, values, and mission statements

Cabinet Lead/Co-Lead (strategy theme-related) = members of the President's Cabinet who will coordinate, evaluate, advocate, etc. the work within a particular strategic theme

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