Program review at Cosumnes River College is the essential process of evaluating student learning outcomes; reflecting upon how students are served; reviewing data, previous strategies, and resources; acknowledging accomplishments, internal and external factors; and planning for the future. At CRC, the formal program review process is supported and organized within the College Integrated Planning System (CIPS).
The goal of the program review process at the college is to:
- Use disaggregated enrollment, success, and award data to inform programmatic changes
- Improve the quality of the student learning experience while at CRC
- Increase equitable student achievement
- Improve program and institutional effectiveness
- Be an important component of the implementation of the outcomes assessment loop
- Inform the development of unit plans
- Inform college resource allocation processes
- Align with the college’s Strategic Plan and Mission, Vision, and Values
As of Fall 2020, program review is conducted on a six-year staggered cycle. Each semester, a group of programs completes program review with the assistance of the SLO coordinator and members of the Research & Equity Office. This change was made with the hopes of improving the program review process by providing individualized support. With this support, programs can analyze data, reflect, and document the review of their program with less confusion about the process.
Program reviews can be accessed and updated at any time during the cycle to support the programs’ ability to update strategies and resource needs in a timely manner to participate in the separate, but connected, resource allocation processes. This freedom acknowledges that many programs conduct reviews more regularly than the formal schedule requires. For these programs, CIPS provides a means of documenting their findings and plans as they strive for improvement.
Programs completing program review in a given term receive training and ongoing support so that the following completion timeline is met:
- Editors Complete by 4 weeks before end of term
- Manager Feedback by 2 weeks before end of term
- Final Changes by end of term
- Publish by start of next term
For help/assistance with program review, contact: CRC-Research@crc.losrios.edu.
On January 31, 2020 - The Institutional Effectiveness (IE) Committee randomly drew Career and Academic Communities (CACs) and Non-instructional programs in order of program review schedule. It was decided to modify the cycle, recommending that the English Language Studies CAC be moved to the first program in the cycle. This puts a smaller CAC in the first staggered cycle. Additionally, all student services are now together, even the ones with a curriculum component that were originally separated out. This means they will be on a fall-spring 25-26 schedule. This modified recommendation received anonymous approval at the Senate and was approved by the Participatory Governance Council on March 24, 2020.
| Term | CAC/Area Conducting Program Review |
|---|---|
| Fall 2020 | English and Language Studies |
| Spring 2021 | Business and Computer Science |
| Fall 2021 | Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources |
| Spring 2022 | Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources |
| Fall 2022 | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Spring 2023 | Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| Fall 2023 | Health and Human Services |
| Spring 2024 | Health and Human Services |
| Fall 2024 | Science, Math, and Engineering |
| Spring 2025 | Arts, Media, and Entertainment |
| Fall 2025 | Administrative Units, Counseling, and Student Services |
| Spring 2026 | Administrative Units, Counseling, and Student Services |
Training videos coming soon!
For a given program, the review process should be conducted collaboratively. As such, everyone has the ability to view all programs’ past and current program reviews. The department chair for instructional programs and managers overseeing administrative and student service programs typically facilitate the completion of program review.