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New Self Study Available to Former FoE Participants

New to the Foundations of Excellence process? Click here for information regarding the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus self study for NEW institutions. 
Foundations of Excellence® Transfer Focus

Overview
Based on the success of the original Foundations of Excellence® self study focusing on the first year of college as well as requests from former participants, the John N. Gardner Institute has adapted the self study and action planning process to focus on the transfer experience. This will be a more time and cost efficient process than the original Foundations self study because:

  • travel to the national Launch Meeting is optional;
  • the use of surveys is optional, which provides further cost reduction and flexibility;
  • your institution's familiarity with FoE will enable you to get your study of transfer students up and running more expeditiously. You would also be able to immediately build on your prior work in the Foundations self study.

New to the Foundations of Excellence process? Click here for information regarding the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus self study for NEW institutions.

Transfer Focus ♦ Self-Sudy Components ♦ Availablity/Start date ♦ Surveys ♦ Cost ♦ Apply

Expansion of Foundations of Excellence to Include Collegiate Transfer

This year the Gardner Institute is announcing an expansion of the Foundations of Excellence self-study and action-planning process that will address collegiate transfer. We are offering this addition because of significant demand from present and prospective institutional participants. The transfer component of Foundations of Excellence is designed to help institutions evaluate the ways they facilitate the experience of transfers. During the pilot year (2009-2010), this expanded process is optional for all new and former four-year participating institutions. The pilot Transfer Focus self study will be available to the two-year sector in August 2010.

For the purposes of this process, transfer students are defined as all degree-seeking students at an institution with credit from another higher education institution. This includes two-year to four-year transfers and four-year to four-year transfers. This definition means that transfer students might be enrolled full-time or part-time, classified as first-year, sophomore, junior, or senior transfers, and enrolled in day, evening, weekend, or distance education courses. This definition excludes high school students who are taking college course (dual enrollment students) and transient students (students who are seeking a degree at another institution and are taking courses, such as a summer course, at a second institution).

The Foundations of Excellence Transfer Process includes the following:

  • Foundational Dimensions® related to collegiate transfer. The nine Foundational Dimensions, originally designed as principles for first-year excellence, have been adapted to include a focus on transfers. These Dimensions are in the public domain.  
  • The Current Practices Inventory (CPI), an audit process for data collection and analysis of information regarding transfer structures and policies as well as data on transfer students.  
  • Surveys of faculty/staff and transfer students to determine their perceptions of institutional service to transfers  
  • Specific performance indicators (scaled questions) that break down the nine aspirational Dimensions into manageable components for easier evaluation. The performance indicators are targeted to various elements of the transfer experience, such as learning in the major, support for transition, academic advising, and communication between sending and receiving institutions.  
  • FoEtec®, the electronic platform that enables recording and analysis of all data as well as preparation and sharing of intermediate and final reports with other members of the campus community and project partners in the Institute
  • Advisory support and written feedback from an Institute Advisor, assigned to each participating campus, on all aspects of the self study and action plan
  • On demand technical support for the software platform FoEtec
  • Training in use of all process components, complimentary webinars  
  • Optional winter meeting to gather with teams from other institutions engaging in both the first-year and transfer student self study  
  • Connection to reaccreditation: opportunity to integrate a self study and improvement efforts for transfer student success with regional accreditor procedures for reaffirmation of accreditation

Availability/start date

Former four-year FoE Institutions may start this process as a member of the 2009-2010 pilot cohort (with a discounted comprehensive fee) any time up to March 1, 2010. A new cohort will commence in August 2010.

Surveys

The original FoE surveys have been updated to include transfer-specifc questions that provide valuable data about the perceived quality of the transfer student expereince. However, in contrast to the Foundations of Excellence first-year self study in which the use of the FoE surveys is mandatory, use of surveys is recommended in the transfer self study, but optional. The fees collected for survey use are transmitted immediately and fully to the company that provides the surveys, Educational Benchmarking, Inc.

Costs

2009-2010 Pilot Cohort

Option 1: Comprehensive fee for self-study process and support, without surveys: $15,000

Option 2: Comprehensive fee for self-study process and support, with surveys: $20,000

How to Apply

Visit www.fyfoundations.org to set up an account or login to your existing "MyFoundations" account. Click on "Foundations of Excellence Transfer Focus to enroll." Forget your password? Enter your email address and click "Forgot Password." An automated reminder will be sent to your email address.

For further information contact John N. Gardner, gardner@fyfoundations.org or 828-966-5309. A conversation with Institute staff before applying  is welcomed but not required.