About Institutional Effectiveness And Research

Institutional Effectiveness at Rowan-Cabarrus supports the College’s mission to improve lives and build community through public higher education and workforce development. Institutional effectiveness identifies and responds to trends affecting the college and the broader higher education landscape while promoting the vision of building sustainable futures through the power of learning.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s Strategic Plan reflects our commitment to broad-based, comprehensive planning in support of our mission. The current strategic plan has eighteen objectives under six thematic goals. Progress toward these objectives is monitored using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and evaluated at the departmental level through annual effectiveness reviews. Together, these processes create an ongoing, research-based system of planning and evaluation integrated throughout all the functional areas of the college.

The College’s KPIs are grounded in nationally recognized measures of community college performance, including data reported to the U.S. Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) Annual Performance Measures. KPI updates are reviewed annually by the President’s Cabinet to ensure continued progress toward our strategic plan goals.

Planning and assessment of departmental effectiveness is primarily conducted through the college’s Academic Program Reviews for instructional units and Administrative & Service Unit Reviews for non-instructional areas. These annual reviews focus on improving service delivery through the analysis of performance data and setting short-term goals for each department.

The College’s Institutional Effectiveness & Research Department (IE) serves as the College’s official source for institutional data and performance reporting. Its mission is to deliver accurate and accessible data, analysis and compliance support that promote accountability, excellence and data-informed decision making. IE partners with departments across the college to provide data through internal dashboards, reporting systems, surveys, and a wide variety of custom reports and analyses. IE also coordinates the College’s annual effectiveness review process, ensures compliance with federal and state reporting requirements, and supports efficient and effective operations throughout the college.

The college is pleased to share our current reported data for IPEDS and the NCCCS Performance Measures. To view this data, please visit our Student Achievement Data and Outcomes page.

Publicly accessible, interactive data on Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s enrollment, completion, transfer, peer comparisons and many more topics can be found on the North Carolina Community College System Office’s Data Dashboards page.

Rowan-Cabarrus welcomes data and research requests from researchers, organizations, and others interested in our college’s operations and outcomes. For more information on submitting an External Data & Research Request, please see the Institutional Review Board (IRB) page.