Surviving a Program Review Keith Dickson, Lone Star College James Smith, Lone Star College Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Agenda What to do once notified of a program review How to handle the actual review and research involved Once the data is gathered, what do I do next? Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Notification of Program Review The Department of Education will notify the Chancellor/President and the Executive Director/Director in writing The letter will detail the specific information that the Department of Education will be reviewing Don’t freak out Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Executive Director/Director Will Begin Working with the Team to Determine Who Has What Responsibilities First determine what areas of responsibilities need to be divided Who are the subject matter experts on this topic? Create a broad game plan for moving forward Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

The Department of Education Will Send You a Template of How They Want to Receive the Information Once received, this will let you determine what data is important Convert template into working document for the review process for staff Work with OTS/IT, Business Analysts, and any technical support needed to begin determining how the data will be pulled Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Begin Reviewing the Samples Once the data is retrieved, look at samples to test the data This allows you to determine the number of files to be reviewed This also allows you to check the data for accuracy Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

How Many Staff Should Help with the Review? Once you know the volume of files to be reviewed, this will help determine the number of staff needed in the review process Make sure that they are subject matter experts, or can be trained easily to analyze the data In our case we utilized over 20 staff members, due to the size of the review and being at our institution Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Work with the Department of Education Speak with the program reviewer or reviewers, to let them know what and how you will be processing the files for review Once the what and how are approved by the reviewer, it will be crucial to create a timeline of when the review can be completed. The timeline given by the Department of Education The timeline given by Senior Administration (Yes, this may be different) Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Begin Training Staff This is the most important part of a review They need to know the following: What is being reviewed How it is to be reviewed Where they can find the information What to do when they have questions Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Reviewing Test Data Select a small sample of the review data As a part of training, work with the staff to review these files in a group setting This will show staff the expectation of how they are to review files, and will also help to answer any questions, since many have never been through a program review Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Total Review of Files Keep a list of files for the team small so they can see progress Keep your eye on the timelines Stay aware of the processing by the team - give deadlines and follow up consistently (daily or weekly basis) Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Separate Meetings Schedule weekly meetings with Executive Director/Director to provide progress updates, and notify senior administration of any challenges Schedule weekly conference calls or meetings with the review team, to make sure that deadlines are met, questions are answered, and issues are being addressed On a weekly basis, provide the review team with new student files, and issues to be reviewed so that established timelines can be met Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Once the Data Has Been Reviewed Select a small representative group from the review team Spot check the data for quality control purposes Submit to the Executive Director/Director for a final review Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Once the Final Review of Data is Complete Provide the data to Legal and to Senior Administration, so that a final response can be drafted and sent to the Department of Education Work with Senior Administration on the final response to ensure that the information provided shows an accurate picture of the data found Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Breathe Remember to breathe…. Now is not the time to panic The response from the Department of Education will take time (months) Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Additional items Tracie N. Hunter, Executive Director of Financial Aid, Lone Star College Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Questions Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

Thank you! Keith Dickson - Keith.Dickson@lonestar.edu James R. Smith - James.R.Smith@lonestar.edu