Institutional Planning

KC Assessment Data Reports:

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

The purpose of the KPI report is to illustrate to the campus community and the general public how Kilgore College measures its success in addressing the four key parts of its mission statement:  access, success, completion, and partnerships.  Some items have targets and are highlighted in green if improvement was made from the prior year or the target was met.  Items and targets are determined by KC administrators and the Research and Institutional Effectiveness Committee, comprised of a representative group of faculty, staff, and administrators from across the institution.  Items and targets are reviewed on a yearly basis.  Data is compiled and maintained by the Office of Research and Institutional Effectiveness.

View the KPIs for 2017-18 (pdf)

KC Balanced Scorecards:

The purpose of the Balanced Scorecard is to illustrate to the campus community and the general public how Kilgore College measures its success in meeting its mission.  Items and targets are determined by the Research and Institutional Effectiveness Committee, comprised of a representative group of faculty, staff, and administrators from across the institution.  The scorecard is reviewed annually by this group.  Data is compiled and maintained by the Office of Research and Institutional Effectiveness. The Balanced Scorecard was discontinued after the 2015-2016 year.

• 2015-2016
• 2014-2015
• 2013-2014

Visit the Accreditation webpage.

Research is a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.  Generalizable knowledge typically indicates that the results will be included in a thesis or dissertation, published, or presented at a conference.

Any activity meeting the definition of research above and that uses human subjects (i.e., human beings or data related to human beings) is subject to IRB approval.  This applies to both KC employees and outside entities seeking to use KC data for research purposes.

KC’s IRB will be formed from a subset of members of the Research & Institutional Effectiveness Committee on an ad-hoc basis, with the option of adding KC faculty and staff who may have necessary expertise.  Those seeking IRB approval must complete the IRB Approval Form, available upon request from the Vice President of Institutional Planning.

Activities exempt from IRB approval include the following:

• Projects intended for quality assurance purposes, such as improvement of a program or service and outcomes will not be generalized for other programs, services, or organizations.  This includes research designed to judge the effectiveness of or the comparison of instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management methods.
• Research involving the use of educational tests (cognitive, diagnostic, aptitude, achievement), survey procedures, interview procedures or observation of public behavior.
• Journalism assignments given with the intent to publish a newspaper article.
• Academic assessment data (e.g., grades, coursework, surveys, interviews, etc.) used only to provide feedback to students or improve a course or program.
• Data provided to accrediting agencies in order to present evidence of improvement of student learning.
• Projects intended to meet course requirements with no intention to use the results for other purposes.
• Course-related activities designed to provide opportunities to practice research methods (e.g., interview, observation and survey techniques; data analysis; research design) as long as the activities are limited in scope, present no more than minimal risk to participants, and do not lead to generalizable results.  Students working on such projects should ensure full disclosure about the purpose of the project and obtain consent from participants.
• Research involving the collection or study of existing data, documents, or records if these sources are publicly available or if the information is recorded by the researcher in such a manner that subjects cannot be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects.

While the above activities may be exempt from IRB approval, those conducting such activities should exhibit every effort to minimize risk to students, including considering how students may feel when asked about certain issues and the potential for emotional distress or psychological disturbance.  It is recommended that classroom surveys include the option for students to choose “no response” or “does not apply”.  Further, survey responses should be anonymous.  It is also recommended that students be allowed to opt out of the activities that may cause emotional distress or psychological disturbance.  

Sources:  45 CFR Part 46; Cornell University; Evergreen State College