GEORGIAMILITARYCOLLEGE

STRATEGIC PLAN

FY 2005 - FY 2009

October 2003

(Plan will be effective in Fall 2004)

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CONTENTS

Page No
Vision Statement, Mission and Purpose ...... / 3
Improve Enrollment
College ......
High School/Middle School ...... / 5
6
Improve Student Learning
College ......
High School/Middle School ...... / 7
9
Improve Character Education
College ......
High School/Middle School...... / 10
10
Strategic Planning Calendar 2003- 2004...... . / 11

Note: The Institutional Effectiveness Manual and VP/Director level Institutional Effectiveness Plans are incorporated by reference.

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VISION STATEMENT

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will be an institution that is recognized by the citizens of Georgia as a model of educational excellence and student success. Its renown will arise from the character, intellectual skills, and performance of its graduates. The students will respect the faculty for their caring attitude and ability to help them grow in all human dimensions and for their mentoring in a community of learners. The institution will be respected for its caring and highly-qualified faculty and staff who are focused on student learning and student success. It will possess facilities that support the institution’s mission and purpose. The students and graduates will be proud to claim GeorgiaMilitaryCollege as their alma mater and will be known and sought after as men and women destined to be leaders of their generation(Modified Fall 2004).

MISSION

The mission of Georgia Military College is to produce educated, contributing citizens by providing its high school and middle school students an inclusive college preparatory curriculum and its college students a liberal arts based two-year undergraduate curriculum in an environment conducive to the holistic development of the intellect and character of its students(Modified Fall 2004)..

PURPOSE

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will be successful in the educational development of citizens through integration of two dimensions of education: development of the intellect and elevation of character. Possession of these two dimensions, which includes the capacity to act upon one’s knowledge, provides an individual the ability to function as a responsible citizen within a republic. GeorgiaMilitaryCollege graduates shall have an appreciation for the centrality of education as a lifelong pursuit.

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will produce citizens who serve as role models by actively involving themselves in their communities and in the democratic process. This will be accomplished by creating and continually refining formal ethics programs, providing time for reflection, and training students in right behaviors. The institution will encourage all members of the educational community - students, faculty, and staff - to work in partnership with the communities in which they live.

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege graduates will understand the importance of and the need to respect the dignity and humanity of others. They will be sensitive to persons of diverse backgrounds with different values and ways of communicating.

Concomitant with the accelerating growth of information and derived knowledge, the focus at GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will be to teach students how to learn so as to increase their adaptability to changing conditions. Students will be taught to think critically and to have confidence in their abilities to act within a global environment.

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will strive to assist every student in identifying and achieving their educational goal. Students will be assisted by faculty advisors and staff through early identification and intensive intervention programs beginning at their first point of contact with the college.

GeorgiaMilitaryCollege will employ quality faculty and staff and developfacilities focused on the successful achievement of both dimensions of education. The primary focus of the faculty will be on excellence in teaching and the expansion of their knowledge and skills as teachers. The institutional staff will be student-oriented and professionally competent. Facilities will reflect state of the art capabilities and will contribute directly to the creation and maintenance of the desired learning environment.

GEORGIAMILITARYCOLLEGE

GOALS and OBJECTIVES

I. STRATEGIC GOAL: Improve Enrollment

College

Strategic Objective 1: Achieve an annual growth in headcount and credit hour production of 5% during FY 05 and FY06.

Strategic Objective 2: Improve retention by obtaining a one-year retention rate that equals or exceeds 60% for the Fall 2003 and Fall 2004 cohort classes of first-time, recent high school graduate freshmen.

Strategic Objective 3: Improve student satisfaction by addressing customer service and staff training deficiencies.

Strategies:

  1. Implement the Recruitment Plan
  2. Improve Student Satisfaction by implementing the Retention Plan.

Measure of Effectiveness:

  1. New Recruitment Plan was implemented.
  2. FY05 and FY06 headcount and credit hours objectives were met.
  3. Compare retention rates by location to previous year and exceed the stated strategic objective (Fall 2004-Fall 2005 and Fall 2005-Fall 2006).
  4. FY05 and FY06 Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction results exceed southern norms.
  5. FY05 and FY06 focus group discussions confirm measure #4.
High School/Middle School

Strategic Objective 1: Enrollments for Fall 2004 will increase by 5% and maintained at that level in subsequent years.

Strategic Objective 2: Obtain a retention rate of 90% or higher for grades 6-11.

Strategies:

  1. Implement the Recruitment Plan.
  2. Implement the Retention Plan.

Measures of Effectiveness

  1. Enrollments for Fall 2004 increased by 5% or more.
  2. Retention rate of 90% or higher for grades 6-11 was achieved.

II. STRATEGIC GOAL: Improve Student Learning

College

Strategic Objective 1: GeorgiaMilitaryCollege students develop and demonstrate the GMC core intellectual proficiencies.

These include the proficiencies of:

  • Critical and ethical thinking
  • Effective analytical reading and writing
  • Effective oral communication
  • Effective mathematical and analytical reasoning
  • Effective use of technology and an understanding of the role of technology in society
  • An understanding of historical, political, social and economic development

Strategies:

  1. Syllabus review of the college courses every four years will ensure proficiencies are in the appropriate course offerings.
  2. Evaluate student performance in the curriculum.

Measures of Effectiveness:

  1. Syllabus review will show that the courses of the degree programs include the appropriate GeorgiaMilitaryCollege core proficiencies.
  2. Divisional assessment will substantiate the attainment of the student learning objectives for the courses and the attainment of the expected proficiencies.
  3. Eighty five percent of graduates who respond to the Graduating Student Survey will respond agree or strongly agree with the following statements in the survey:
  4. GMC helped me develop the intellectual proficiencies meet my educational goals.
  5. GMC helped me develop my ability to think critically and independently.
  6. GMC helped me learn to function in a professional setting and to act with ethical awareness.

Strategic Objective 2: Improve Academic Advisement of Students

Strategy:

Redress specific areas of significant weakness identified by the ACT advising survey of 2003.

Measures of Effectiveness:

1. The 2005 ACT survey of academic advising results will show that the level of student

satisfaction is greater than the national norms.

Strategic Objective 3: Improve the degree of academic success of Learning Support Services students.

Strategies:

1. Develop student learning centered teaching methodology in LSS classes through faculty development.

2. Refine LSS student placement and strengthen academic achievement.

3. Provide LSS students with appropriate in-class learning opportunities to foster improved course work completion.

4. Refine and improve regular assessment of student learning objectives as well as program assessment.

Measures of Effectiveness:

  1. All of GMC faculty in the LSS Division will participate in regular workshops where experts in developmental education discuss techniques for improving student learning in English, reading, and math. After the conference based workshops or the GMC Faculty Workshops, as appropriate, the LSS faculty will discuss and document new teaching techniques implemented and evaluate their effectiveness.
  2. Inappropriate student placement in LSS classes results in:

A. Capable students being placed in classes below their skill level.

These students earn 100% on all assignments with no study.

B. In-experienced students being placed in classes above their skill level.

These students earn failing grades on all assignments with lots of study time.

LSS classes will contain less than 10% of students being placed in inappropriate courses, indicating that students are working at correct level and have opportunities to improve their learning in English, reading, and math.

  1. A handbook will be compiled to help advisors working with LSS students. All GMC faculty will be trained to advise LSS students.
  2. LSS classes will be reduced in size by enrollment caps to average 20 or by 10% of current average to facilitate more independent instruction time for the student s.
  3. An LSS Assessment Review Team composed of administrators, faculty, and LSS students will be organized. This LSS Review Team will meet once a year to review assessment, address problems and suggest solutions.

Strategic Objective 4: Faculty demonstrate proficiency in instruction of the learning based curriculum.

Strategies:

1. Develop in-service training workshops on effective implementation of learner based

teaching modalities.

2. Provide training for faculty in the use of technology in support of the learning centered

instruction.

Measures of Effectiveness:

1. In-service workshops were developed.

2. Faculty training was provided.

3. Faculty course end evaluations will reflect use of technology in the learner based

classroom setting.

High School/Middle School

Strategic Objective: Student learning will include a greater emphasis on critical thinking and writing skills.

Strategies:

1. Conduct Faculty development programs that address effective teaching of critical

thinking and writing skills.

2. Implement appropriate student deductive reasoning and creative and analytical writing activities.

3. Implement essay examinations across the curriculum.

Measures of Effectiveness:

1. Average SAT composite of graduates attending University System of Georgia schools will exceed the state and national SAT averages.

2. Percent of graduates required to take remedial classes in English during first year of college will be less than the state average.

  1. Georgia Eight Grade Writing Exam results will be better than the state average.

III. STRATEGIC GOAL: Improve Character Education

College and High School/Middle School

Strategic Objective 1: Promote Academic Integrity

Strategies: Using the CAI Academic Integrity Survey and feedback from focus groups:

1. Evaluate the attitude of student and faculty toward academic integrity.

2. Assess the level of academic honesty among GMC students.

3. Develop and implement policies, procedures and programs to improve the level of student academic honesty.

Measures of Effectiveness:

1. Attitudes toward academic integrity will exceed national norms established in the CAI 2005 survey.

2. Correlation between student and faculty attitudes will exceed national

norms established in the CAI 2005 survey.

  1. Level of academic honesty that will exceed the national norms

established in the CAI 2005 survey.

4. Implement revised policies, procedures and programs that address problems identified through comparison of 2004 and 2005 CAI survey results.

Strategic Objective 2: Promote respect and concern for others.

Strategies:

1. Improve the quality of respect and cooperation practiced by GMC employees by

implementing a first-line employee teambuilding program.

2. Maintain a classroom environment in which students practice “civil” discourse in

the presence of differing views and thereby learn to speak civilly to each other, work through disagreements and treat each other with respect.

3. Add a “Civility Project” page to the GMC Character Development web page that provides access to teacher’s guides, and other resources on the subject of civility.

4. Through community service projects, develop sensitivity in our students to the suffering of others and an inclination to help those in need.

Measures of Effectiveness:

1. Noel-Levitz survey results will show that student believe that people on all GMC campuses are respectful and supportive of each other to a degree greater than southern norms.

2. Noel-Levitz survey results will show that students believe that college emphasis on ethical behavior and academic integrity fosters mutual respect among students and faculty to a degree greater than the previous year.

3. Feedback from staff and faculty and student focus groups will confirm the previous two measures.

4. Graduating student surveys will show that the majority of graduating students intend to continue some form of community service after graduation.

5. Feedback from the High School/Middle School Faculty, Staff and Students focus groups will confirm that people on campus are respectful and supportive of each other, and that ethical behavior and academic integrity fosters mutual respect among students and faculty.

STRATEGIC PLANNING CALENDAR 2003-2004

DateActivity

19-20 August 2003Strategic Planning Conference

September 2003Publish Strategic Plan

12 December 2003IE Plans Due

January 2004Budget Submission (FY 03-04)

April 20042003-2004 Budget Approval

30 July 2004IE Reports

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 Institutional Research and Planning

 Institutional Research and Planning