Harbor's Assessment-based Planning System (HAPS)
The Harbor Assessment-based Planning System (HAPS) is an integral part of the College's Planning Model. To strengthen the evaluation of its mission, the College implemented the Harbor Assessment-based Planning System (HAPS) in fall 2015. In the Harbor's Assessment-based Planning System, the Strategic Educational Master Plan (SEMP) and Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs) are aligned with the College's mission. Accomplishment of the College mission, therefore, can be evaluated based on measuring progress towards the SEMP goals and Institutional Learning Outcomes.
In the Harbor Assessment-based Planning Model (HAPS), the College’s program review was purposely designed to align with the College’s mission and the goals and objectives in the strategic educational master plan (SEMP) and is directly tied to resource allocation. This alignment connects what is happening at the course and service level to the planning that occurs at the institution level. It allows academic departments and service areas to identify strengths, areas of improvement, and to establish goals for student success based on institution-set standards and targets and student learning outcome assessment results, thereby providing a means for evaluating how well the College is accomplishing its mission and meeting strategic goals and targets.
In the Harbor Assessment-based Planning System (HAPS), student learning and area outcomes, program learning outcomes, institutional student learning outcomes, and the College mission are aligned. Given this roll-up model, assessment of course level student learning outcomes and service area outcomes, allow for one means of measuring progress towards the College mission.
Outcomes data collected from the course and service level area, including: student learning data, student achievement data, and service area data, is evaluated at the program level through the program review process. The College’s program review was purposely designed to align with the College’s mission and the goals and objectives in the Strategic Educational Master Plan (SEMP). This alignment among the processes at the course level (collection of outcomes data), program level (evaluation of outcomes data), and institutional level evaluation (evaluation of achievement of SEMP objective and measures), provides another means of assessing achievement of the College’s mission.
The alignment of the course, program, and institutional outcomes connects what is happening at the course level to the planning that occurs at the institution level. It allows academic departments and student service areas to identify strengths, areas of improvement, and to establish goals for student success based on an evaluation of achievement of learning and area outcomes, the College’s Institution-Set Standards (College’s 3-year averages on Student Achievement/Success Metrics) and Institution-Set Targets (SEMP measures and outcomes) aligned with the College’s mission. Further, the actionable improvement plans resulting from the program review process serve as the foundation for the resource allocation process shown in the College-wide planning model. The integration of HAPS into the College-wide planning model demonstrates the connection between the College’s mission, outcomes assessment, the program review process, resource request, and College-wide planning.