Ventura College Program Review
Program Review (PR) is conducted every year by instructional programs and service units at Ventura College. It is a self-study process to:
- Recognize and acknowledge program performance
- Assist in program improvement through self-reflection
- Enhance student success by offering initiatives to improve their performance in program and student learning outcomes
- Provide program members the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their programs
Why have a Program Review?
Program review is an opportunity for faculty and staff to reflect on the successes and challenges of their program; to develop a future direction for the program; and to consider how they can improve their program to enhance student learning and success. In addition, program review provides a vital link between student learning in our classrooms and services areas and the allocation of resources through the college planning and budgeting process.
After analyzing a variety of quantitative and qualitative data, including SLO assessment results, faculty and staff develop findings based on those analyses. These findings form the basis for creating initiatives designed to improve student learning and success in the program. These initiatives are sometimes instructional or service-related and can be directly implemented by faculty and staff without additional cost. Other times, the initiatives require institutional support in the means of resources—be they financial, technological, infrastructure-related or the hiring of faculty, classified or management—that are determined by through the college’s integrated planning and budgeting cycle.
Integrating Program Review into Planning and Budget Decisions
In program review, initiatives that incur a cost are carefully prioritized, first at the department level, then at the division level, and finally by campus committees and connected to one or more of the College’s Educational Master Plan Goals. The College Planning Council is charged with ensuring that this process of department to division to campus committee is followed. Upon completion of this cycle, the Executive Team considers the recommendations from each program that require campus resources and finalizes the prioritized list for the college. Where the Executive Team disagrees with a recommendation, written documentation is sent to the campus explaining the nature of the decision reached. For initiatives that require the expending of campus funds, upon finalization of the Executive Team’s list, programs are notified of the time they have to encumber and spend the funds that their programs have been allocated. Programs are expected to explain in a subsequent year’s program review document how they implemented the initiatives they documented and what (if any) further action is needed.