SLIDE 1 – FRONT PAGE
Maricopa County Community College District
Phase I:  Summary Report 
Presented to MCCCD Governing Board
September 30, 2009
Alvarez and Marsal

SLIDE 2 – CONTENTS
I.   Project Overview
II.   Voice of the Student
III.   Interim Findings
IV.   Best Practices: Student Perspective
V.   Best Practices: College Perspective
VI.    Driving Best Practice Implementation
VII.   Recap
VIII.   Appendix

SLIDE 3 – PROJECT OVERVIEW
PHASE 1 – 09.30.09
Capture the “voice of the student”
? Map out current state of student recruitment, retention and achievement.
? Document major supporting functions and activities.
? Engage student focus groups to review and obtain feedback.
Objectives: 
? Present a potential new vision and framework for redesigning MCCCD around these core processes from the perspective of students and how to serve them more efficiently and effectively.
? Obtain feedback and consensus.  
? Adjust, recalibrate and commit to framework for Phase II work.
PHASE 2 – 11.24.09
Commence review of key administrative support functions in each college
? Engage providers and recipients of administrative, financial and operational functions.
? Identify functions that should more closely align to the emerging vision of a student-centered MCCCD.
? Review best practices at selected college systems facing similar challenges.
? Arrange for faculty forum(s) to discuss Phase II efficiency improvement areas.
Objectives:
? Review Phase II findings with stakeholders and obtain feedback on revised administrative, financial and operational functions.
PHASE 3 – 12.08.09
Complete re-designed blueprint of 21st century Maricopa
? Complete student focus groups to gain feedback on near final drafts of revised MCCCD.
? Calibrate revised student-centric processes with revised administrative, financial and operational processes.
? Estimate high-level costs and level of effort for implementing new blueprint. 
Objectives: 
? Present recommendations to the Board for approval.
? Present final report to the Board.
? Present findings to the community as the Board directs.

SLIDE 4 – I. Project Overview: Phase I Process
Quick Facts
? Colleges visited: 10
? People interviewed: ~300
? Student focus groups: 9
? Emails received : 35+
? Employee groups: 16
? Student responses: 3,800+

STEP 1 
Design approach to 
gather information 

) Perspective of the student 
experience led to three 
focus areas: 
– Recruitment 
– Retention 
– Achievement 
) Scheduled interviews with 
stakeholders at each 
college who contribute to 
success in any of these 
three areas 
) Set up A&M email site to 
receive feedback from 
community 

STEP 2 
Conduct 
administrator 
interviews and 
request data 

) Interviewed ~300 
administrators at 10 
Colleges and one Skill 
Center 
) Interviewed members of 
16 employee and 
constituency groups 
) Submitted data requests 
to District and to 
individual colleges 
October 

STEP 3 
Convene student 
focus groups and 
survey Maricopa 
students 


) Conducted nine student 
focus groups with tenth 
college focus group 
scheduled in early 
) Deployed survey via 
student email accounts 
– Received 3,800+ 
student responses 


STEP 4 
Analyze data to 
prepare 
preliminary 
observations, 
conclusions and 
metric dashboard 

) Summarize student 
survey and focus group 
feedback 
) Compare practices across 
MCCCD colleges and 
benchmark relative to 
national survey data and 
other high-performing 
community colleges* 
*NCCBP, CCSSE, Noel-Levitz (national survey 
data) and Miami-Dade, CUNY, Pima (Community 
Colleges)
) Recommend 
implementation of best 
practices that are 
observable, 
demonstrable, student focused, 
outcome-driven 
and replicable 
) Design metric dashboard 
to focus on relevant 
measures of student 
success

SLIDE 5 - II. Voice of the Student: Current State
82% of the students aim to be completers*, but only 11%** reach their goal within three years.
* “Completers“ are defined as learners who transfer and /or attain a degree or certificate
** See Appendix for detailed calculation
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 6 -  II. Voice of the Student: Student Survey Results
GRAPHS GO HERE

SLIDE 7 -  II. Voice of the Student: Survey and Focus Group Results
GRAPHS GO HERE
83% of the Students are Mostly Satisfied with Their Experience
…And, Place Importance on Convenience and Cost 
…But, There are Other Important Aspects
? Top five most important aspects of college experience: Financial Aid, Academic Advising, Faculty, Admission/ Registration/ Records and Curriculum
? Two most dissatisfied aspects of college experience: 57% did not have a positive experience with Financial Aid and 48% of students did not have a positive experience with Academic Advising 
? Majority (82%) associate themselves with their individual college over the District as a whole
…That Are Not Being Met
Financial Aid & Advising are highly valued by the students but are not meeting their expectations.

SLIDE 8 -  II. Voice of the Student: Ideal State
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 9 – III. Interim Findings
? The three student processes (Recruitment, Retention and Achievement) reviewed are very high-touch, labor intensive services that target a local population who attend the respective MCCCD Colleges largely due to convenience (location and price).
? These processes do not lend themselves to centralization from an efficiency (cost-savings) or effectiveness (capacity) standpoint. 
? However, the primary weakness of the current decentralized, autonomous, ten college system is that the Colleges fail to leverage the substantial footprint of the Maricopa system.  
With the implementation of structural changes across Maricopa,  myriad opportunities exist to drive better resource allocation and consistency in the areas of Recruitment, Retention and Achievement

SLIDE 10 -  IV. Best Practices: Student Perspective
? Focus groups and survey information were used to create three hypothetical, but representative student profiles.  Narratives for each student were created to describe the ideal experience.
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 11 -  IV. Best Practices: Student Perspective
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 12 -  IV. Best Practices: Student Perspective
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 13 -  IV. Best Practices: Student Perspective
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 14 -  IV. Best Practices: Student Perspective
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 15 - V. Best Practices: College Perspective
? Enabling students to experience best practices in recruitment, retention  and achievement will require Colleges’ to follow best practices that meet the following criteria:
Characteristic 
Measure 
Observable 
? Defined by events and procedures that positively affect student satisfaction. 
Demonstrable 
? Identified practices that follow specific paths and procedures.
Student-Focused 
? Practice is designed to directly affect a student’s academic life. 
Outcome-Driven 
? Focus towards specific goals and targets for potential and current students. 
Replicable 
? Practices that can be standardized and integrated across the college systems with the same consistent, desired outcome. SLIDE 16 – V. Best Practices: College Perspective
Goal  One:
Proactively recruit and retain learners who become completers*.
? Implement targeted recruitment strategies.
? Apply standardized remediation strategies for student retention.
? Enhance existing services and resources for student achievement.


Goal Two: 
Mandate the replication of observed best practices across the colleges.
? Create a “One-Door” enrollment process.
? Create One-Stop Enrollment Student Service Centers.
? Enhance academic advising and counseling services.
? Refine financial aid processes.
? Employ enhanced tools.


Goal Three:
Drive accountability for best practice implementation with the use of data.
? Create an accountability plan.
? Leverage relationships with local employers to maximize Service Learning opportunities.
? Seek continuous feedback from, and collaborate with “customers” and “stakeholders.”

GRAPHS GO HERE

SLIDE 17 – VI. Driving Best Practice Implementation: Recruitment
? 93% of all MCCCD students take classes exclusively at one college location that is within a six to nine mile radius of their residence.  Each college’s recruitment strategy should focus on the local population within their six to nine mile radius.
? Each college’s recruitment strategy should focus on attracting a student population that is demographically representative (age and ethnicity) of its local population using census data.
? Each college should track recruitment performance and the demographic characteristics of their student body against the local market.  Opportunities to increase market penetration of underrepresented groups should be pursued to ensure that the college best reflects the local community and its needs. 
SLIDE 18 – VI. Driving Best Practice Implementation: Recruitment
VISUAL GOES HERE

SLIDE 19 - VI. Driving Best Practice Implementation: Retention
VISUAL GOES HERE
? Icons -  RED (Underperforming the NCCBP median).
? Data from National Community College Benchmarking Project Reports, 2008 includes 188 community colleges; 2007 includes 178 community colleges.
? NCCBP calculation formulas are not as applicable to their model Reporting Year - 2008 (Fall '06 - Spring '07); 2007 (Fall '05 - Spring '06).
? Withdrawal Rate (Dropout Rate) - number of Withdrawal (W) grades given at the end of the semester divided by the total number of grades (A,B,C,P,D,F,W) given at the end of the semester.
? Retention Rate (Completion) - number of (A,B,C,P,D,F) grades given at the end of the semester divided by the total number of grades given at the end of the semester.
? Fall to Spring Persistence Rate (Semester) - Continuing students in the Spring semester divided by the total number of Fall students, less graduating fall students.
? Fall to Fall Persistence Rate (Year) - Continuing students in the recent Fall semester divided by the total number of previous Fall students, less graduating students. 

SLIDE 20 - VI. Driving Best Practice Implementation: Achievement
VISUALS GO HERE
? Data from National Community College Benchmarking Project Reports. 
? NCCBP 2008 Report includes 188 community colleges. 
? Completed students are identified by those who received degrees or certificates, including those also transferring.
? Transferred students are identified by those who transferred, but did not receive degrees or certificates.
? Reporting Year - 2008 (Enrollment Fall 2004)
? Icons - Green (Outperforming 75th percentile), Yellow (Outperforming 50th percentile), Red (Underperforming 50th percentile) 

SLIDE 21 - VI. Driving Best Practice Implementation: Retention and Achievement
VISUALS GO HERE
? Icon - Green (Outperforming 75th percentile), Yellow (Outperforming 50th percentile), Red (Underperforming 50th percentile)
? Percentile - Data from the National Community College Benchmarking Project Reports
? Year - Reflects year of data submission, year of NCCBP reports 

SLIDE 22 – Recap
Goal One:  Proactively recruit and retain learners who become completers.*
? 82% of our students aim to be completers, but only 11% of them actually reach their goal within three years. 
Goal Two:  Mandate the replication of observed best practices across the colleges. 
? 89% of best practices identified are not implemented at the individual Colleges.
Goal Three:  Drive accountability for best practice implementation with the use of data.
? The three broad goals above can be broken down into 92 individual best practices.   Implementing these 92 best practices across all ten Colleges through a single data dashboard will drive substantial improvement in student recruitment, retention and achievement.

SLIDE 23 - VII. Appendix: Three Year 11% Completion Calculation
VISUAL GOES HERE