Milestone 3

HEA 560 Milestone Three Guidelines and Rubric Because the clear majority of higher education institutions are not self-sustaining enterprises, many are dependent upon state and federal forms of financial assistance, whether those funds are indirectly obtained through students’ federal or state financial aid awards, directly obtained through state appropriations, or whether the funds support other aspects of the enterprise, including research and development. Given the expense of higher education to state and federal government, students, families, or other donors, these important stakeholders increasingly hold higher education institutions accountable for student outcomes. In order to retain state and federal funding, higher education institutions must achieve accreditation, which is most often granted by regional accrediting agencies. Each of the six regional accrediting bodies in the United States has its own set of standards by which institutions are judged in three dimensions: assessment of student learning outcomes, assessment of overall institutional effectiveness, and ongoing strategic planning activities. The wide variety of stakeholders in higher education have demanded greater transparency in terms of institutional accountability. Therefore, programs like the Voluntary System of Accountability provide formal means for institutions to share data regarding their undergraduate profiles, undergraduate success and graduation rates, financial aid awards to students, admissions profiles, classroom environments (e.g., class sizes, student-to-faculty ratios), and percentages of full-time faculty. With these data elements more readily available to the public than they were in the past, stakeholders—including students, parents, and legislators—are better able to discern whether institutional investments are paying off and judge whether institutions are performing as well as they should. While external stakeholders, including governmental officials, are increasingly holding institutions responsible for achieving student success outcomes, it is important not to neglect the internal stakeholders who are often responsible for implementing policies. For instance, an admission policy seeking to increase students’ enrollment may mean that existing admission staff need to review more admission applications, lead more students on tours, or respond to more inquiries. Increased headcounts affect the number of courses offered by departments and programs, potentially impacting faculty teaching workloads. Internal stakeholders advocating for enrollment of students from diverse backgrounds may point toward the lack of multicultural student services as a potential problem in recruiting new students. The capacity of internal stakeholders to support—or stymie—the recommendations of policies should be carefully considered at this stage of policy development. In Module Five, you will create a stakeholder map providing a visual representation of the internal and external stakeholders and narrative statements discussing these stakeholder perspectives in more detail. Additionally, you will consider the impact on internal stakeholders—those who work in areas of institutional operations—and develop an action plan for how you would work in concert with these stakeholders to enact your proposed policy. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Internal and External Stakeholders a. Recommend internal and external stakeholders to participate in the crafting of the policy and what their roles will be in the crafting of the

policy. You might also consider the possible impacts of the policy: Which internal and external stakeholders should be invited to attend? What are the roles of the internal and external stakeholders?

b. Integrate the perspective of a higher education professional as discussed in your one-to-one interview with a professional regarding the state, federal, and institutional policies believed to have the greatest impact on students’ access and success.

c. Create a stakeholder map using a power interest grid of internal and external stakeholders. Describe these stakeholder populations in more detail and rank those that you believe will have the most influence on the decision to enact the policy, will be most negatively affected by the policy’s implementation, and will have the most to gain from the policy’s implementation.

d. This critical element will require a minimum of one to two pages following APA format.

II. Action Plan and Additional Resources a. Design an action plan that will result in necessary responses from internal and external stakeholders to the implementation of the policy. Based

on possible consequences of the implementation of policy, you might consider predicting potential responses from stakeholders. In preparation for these responses, what are some proactive strategies that could impact future decision making regarding the implementation of policy?

b. Describe additional resources, for and from internal and external stakeholders, that the institution will need to provide and identify based on implementation of the policy. Consider comparing and contrasting the original policy, as depicted within the mission and vision, and the new policy. What are some of the justifications for the additional resources?

c. Describe how you might work with internal and external stakeholders to implement the policy most effectively. Develop specific steps that you will take, including proactive strategies you may take to work with stakeholders. Create an outline for a communications plan to meet the needs of these stakeholders.

d. This critical element will require a minimum of one to two pages following APA format.

III. Institutional Impacts a. Analyze the impact of institutional operations for increasing enrollment, retention, and completion through implementation of this policy. b. Describe how institutional operations may need to adjust to meet the policy requirements. Provide a minimum of three examples of areas of

institutional operation that may be affected. Predict how your proposed policy will impact internal institutional stakeholders and consider how these stakeholders will respond to the policy given their roles in policy implementation. Compose two to three responses that you may consider using when discussing the policy outcomes with those stakeholders.

c. This critical element will require a minimum of one to two pages following APA format.

Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a four- to five-page (plus a cover sheet and reference page) Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format (following the APA Manual 6th Edition). Ensure that the cover sheet and reference page as also in APA format.

Rubric Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (75%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Internal and External Stakeholders

Develops a visual representation of stakeholders using a power interest grid. Describes the internal and external stakeholders who should participate in the crafting of the policy and what their roles will be in crafting the policy

Develops a visual representation of stakeholders but key stakeholders are missing. Describes the internal and external stakeholders who should participate in the policy but lacks detail regarding their roles in policy development

Does not develop a stakeholder analysis using a power interest grid and does not describe stakeholders and their roles in crafting an admission policy

25

Higher Education Professional Perspective

Integrates the full perspective of a higher education professional. Adequately describes the state, federal, and institutional policies that the professional believes have most positively impacted students’ access and success

Integrates partial perspective of a higher education professional. Describes only one or two state, federal, or institutional policies, but does not describe at least one policy in each of those categorical areas (state, federal, and institutional). Describes how policies have impacted students’ access or success, but not both

Does not integrate the professional’s perspective regarding the state, federal, or institutional policies and how those policies have impacted both students’ access to higher education and their success in higher education

5

Action Plan

Designs an action plan that will result in necessary responses from internal and external stakeholders

Designs an action plan that will result in necessary responses from internal and external stakeholders but details are cursory and overgeneralized

Does not design an action plan that will result in necessary responses from internal and external stakeholders

20

Additional Resources

Describes additional resources for and from internal and external stakeholders that the institution will need to provide based on the implementation of policy, providing justification

Describes additional resources for and from internal and external stakeholders but lacks justification

Does not describe additional resources for and from internal and external stakeholders

20

Institutional Impacts Analyzes the impact of institutional operations from increasing enrollment, retention, and completion through implementation

Analyzes the impact of institutional operations from increasing enrollment, retention, and completion through implementation but details lack relevance

Does not analyze the impact of institutional operations from increasing enrollment, retention, and completion through implementation

20

Articulation of Response

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

10

Earned Total 100%