Action Projects

AQIP: Academic Quality Improvement Program

Assessment of Student Academic Achievement

Systems Portfolio — Introduction

The Systems Portfolio is a comprehensive snapshot of how effective Moraine Valley is in helping students succeed. The premise of the project is to examine processes in nine categories to determine if they produce results for student success and whether the college uses the results to make improvements. The Systems Portfolio is one piece of Moraine Valley’s reaccreditation through the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP).

Completing the Systems Portfolio required 47 appointed faculty and staff from all areas of the college to collaborate on teams that examined each of the nine categories: Helping Students Learn, Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives, Understanding Students’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs, Valuing People, Leading and Communicating, Supporting Institutional Operations, Measuring Effectiveness, Planning Continuous Improvement, and Building Collaborative Relationships.

“Assembling well-balanced teams was the key to successfully completing the Systems Portfolio,” said Dr. Vernon O. Crawley, college president. “We wanted broad representation across the college, and I think we achieved that. These faculty and staff members worked hard to make Moraine Valley a better place for our students, and they are to be commended for that.”

Dr. Sylvia Jenkins, dean of Academic Development and Learning Resources, and Dr. Tom Dow, assistant professor of Communications/ English and department chair of Communications/Literature/Languages, co-chaired the Systems Portfolio project. They oversaw the nine teams that completed the research and led a smaller team that edited the document. That team also included John Sullivan, retired department chair of Communications/Literature/Languages, who helped ensure the document was written with a unified voice, Dr. Margaret Lehner, vice president for Institutional Advancement and executive assistant to the president, and Dr. Sharon Katterman, director of Resource Development and Institutional Effectiveness and the AQIP liaison, who read the final draft for accuracy.

Moraine Valley began working on the Systems Portfolio in fall 2006. As this was the college’s first time completing such a document, Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Dow needed training on the breadth of what would go into it. They, in turn, trained the co-chairs of each category, who then met with their teams to begin extensive campus research on their topics. Each team submitted a report to Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Dow, who compiled them into one document. The Systems Portfolio was completed in March 2008.

“The Systems Portfolio was not designed to be a marketing document or to put our best foot forward,” said Dr. Jenkins. “The purpose was to see our strengths and areas where we have opportunities to improve. We have to be self-reflective on how successful we are in helping students learn.”

Included in the Systems Portfolio is an index that references the location of evidence proving that Moraine Valley meets the criteria for reaccreditation and a self-evaluation of strengths and weaknesses. The nine teams were asked to review their section to determine if they felt their process was a strength or an opportunity for improvement.

“Our overall experience has been positive, and we’re proud of what we have learned about ourselves,” said Dr. Dow. “The self-evaluation gave us a better picture of where we need to focus, and the whole document will help us prioritize.”

The Systems Portfolio has been submitted to the Higher Learning Commission who has assigned outside readers to review the document and send a report with its findings to the college. Based on that feedback and the self-evaluation, Moraine Valley will identify areas for improvement that will be included in its next round of AQIP projects.