Texas Tech University is in compliance with Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1.

Texas Tech University instituted a self-assessment program at the department and college levels in 1996 in response to recommendations from the 1994 SACS accreditation campus visitation.  

The academic and student support departments prepared annual assessment reports using specific benchmarks. Based on the results of the assessment reports, the departments revised departmental plans. The assessment reports and plans were submitted to the Office of Institutional Research. These documents are available in the Office of Institutional Research in room 344, Administration Building. 

Subsequently, in 2000-2001 the university implemented an institution-wide strategic planning process that incorporated goal setting, planning, performance assessment, and accountability. The latter category implicitly includes the idea of using assessment as a means to identify areas for improvement. The Strategic Planning Steering Committee developed the university strategic plan, which laid out nine general, institution-wide goals and identified critical success factors that would indicate the degree of success over a five year period.  All units of the university were required to develop a strategic plan and to submit it through the administrative hierarchy for approval. (In strategic plan terminology, administrative divisions at the vice-presidential, provost, or college level are areas; those lower on the administrative hierarchy are referred to as units.) In total, over 160 strategic plans were created.  At the end of the Spring Semester 2004, two rounds of annual assessment had been completed.  

In the spring semester 2002, the Office of Strategic Planning was organized as a unit within the President’s Office. In fall 2002 workshops were held for area and unit administrators on preparing the assessment reports, and in the summers of 2003 and 2004 workshops were conducted on outcomes assessment of student learning outcomes. The workshops were well attended and helped to clarify many questions regarding the assessment process. As a result, the Office of Strategic Planning and the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center will continue to sponsor workshops on outcomes assessment each summer as long as demand exists. 

The first assessment reports (the 2002 Assessment Reports) from the strategic planning process were submitted in spring 2003. Those reports for the area (college and vice-presidential) levels are available on the Strategic Planning web site at (http://techdata.irs.ttu.edu/stratreport/). The reports for 2003 have been evaluated and are posted along with strategic plans and department home pages at the following site: http://www.irim.ttu.edu/SACS/UnitWebLinks.htm 

For 2003, reports for the administrative units (departments, programs, research centers, etc.) have been posted along with those for areas. Reports will continue to be collected from the unit level in the future. With two years of area assessment reports available on line, limited longitudinal comparisons are possible. Deans had access to unit reports in 2002, which made it possible for them to compare department performance in 2003 with the previous year. Anecdotal reports from deans are that for the first time they have reports that allow them to compare department performance on similar parameters over time.  

In the strategic planning process assessment reports at the unit level are evaluated by area administrators. That is, departments, programs, research centers and other units are evaluated by the responsible dean, and college/library reports are evaluated by the Provost. Non-academic units report to their respective vice-president, whose reports, in turn, are reviewed at the president level. This process provides oversight and ensures that all units are setting goals, measuring progress toward meeting those goals, assessing results, and responding to the assessments as necessary. Strategic plans for the university and all areas and units are revised and updated as appropriate each year. The entire process of planning and assessment is overseen by the Strategic Planning Council, which sets strategic planning guidelines and also reviews results. The strategic planning process is administered by the Director of Strategic Planning, Dr. Gilmour Reeve. 

Because strategic planning is relatively new to Texas Tech University, it will take more time to fully institutionalize the process at all levels and in all units. Therefore, some areas and units may have difficulty at this early stage in demonstrating that they have used outcomes assessment to institute program change. Also, a number of institutes and centers have failed to submit strategic plans and/or assessment reports. The Director of Strategic Planning and the Office of Research Services are working to get institutes and centers to comply with strategic planning requirements. As a result, some center and institute directors have decided to terminate operations and others are preparing a strategic plan that will form the basis for later assessment reports. A list of institutes and centers and their compliance status is available at http://www.irim.ttu.edu/SACS/TTUCentersAndInstitutesReviewSchedule.pdf.  

The strategic planning process at the university level identified nine different goals (see the university strategic plan at http://www.ttu.edu/stratplan/universitystratplan.php).  Of these goals, one, Academic Excellence, relates specifically to educational program outcomes.   

Despite these problems, the strategic planning process seems to be off to a good start, initial results seem promising, and all units should achieve full compliance within another year or two. This will represent a major transition for an institution that, in the past, has not exhibited a strong commitment to goal setting, assessment, and assessment-based improvement. President Whitmore is working to integrate the strategic planning and assessment process with institutional budgeting. He has also changed the appointment of the director of strategic planning from part-time to a full-time position. 

All areas have submitted separate responses to Comprehensive Standard 3.3.1. The area reports cite unit reports, and all have implemented some form of outcomes assessment. This reflects the university’s progress toward successfully implementing institution-wide planning and assessment.