Academic Programs
Academic program review Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC) is an ongoing, cyclical process where program leads submit annual program assessment reports. The program assessment is an annual, college-wide review of student learning at the program level, with the goal of improving student learning.
Academic program expectations to ensure quality and effectiveness:
- consistent with the college's mission;
- clearly defined student outcomes it intends to produce;
- provides learning experiences to help each student achieve these outcomes;
- an assessment process that shows achievement of outcomes; and
- uses the finding of the assessment to improve program effectiveness.
In addition, full-time program faculty submit a program review every three years. The program review is a three-year holistic review of the program--graduation and retention data specific to the program, employment outlook for graduates of the program, cost of program, number of FT and PT positions, summary of advisory council recommendations, program needs, as well as a three-year review of SLOs (taken from their annual program assessments). This review allows faculty to see how they are improving student learning over a three-year period.
The purpose of SVCC’s Program Evaluation is to:
- support strategic planning and decision-making related to all three divisional programs, including Career and Occupational Technology (COT), Humanities, Social Sciences, and Business (HSB), and Nursing, Allied Health, and Natural Sciences (NAN)
- determine needs from academic support services
- demonstrate thorough 3-year review of program outcomes, as well as evidence of program improvement; and
- demonstrate accountability of SVCC in maintaining locally responsive, cost-effective programs, high-quality programs.
SVCC's Institutional Effectiveness, Assessment, and Program Evaluation Handbook (updated November 2019)