What Foundations of Excellence^® Participants Receive 

A Comprehensive Package of Services and Products

Twelve months of intensive advisory support by a team of highly experienced professionals led by John N. Gardner of the Policy Center. This advisory support team consists of core staff members in addition to knowledgeable experts drawn from former Foundations of Excellence (FoE) participating institutions. These services are tailored to the unique needs of each campus and include

• support from a primary FoE advisor, a senior Policy Center team member who will provide both solicited and unsolicited assistance throughout the project.

• regular telephone and e-mail communication from the FoE advisor and others on the Policy Center team.

• comprehensive written feedback on eleven distinct steps in the self study process.

• technical support for the FoE technology platform, FoEtec^®.

• assistance with FoE surveys: administering, understanding their applications, and interpreting data.

• periodic national cohort conference calls/webinars that will enable your team to interact with Policy Center staff members and colleagues at other FoE participating campuses.

Foundational Dimensions^®. The Foundational Dimensions are nine principles underpinning first-year excellence designed as both aspirational and measurement standards for the first year. These nine Dimensions, in both four-year and two-year versions, are the central intellectual assumptions of this work.

Performance Indicators. Each Foundational Dimension is accompanied by a set of performance indicators (P.I.'s) that break down the broad constructs into measurable components.

Current Practices Inventory. This inventory is both a process and template for conducting a comprehensive, institution-wide inventory of all policies, practices, and programs, both curricular and extracurricular, affecting first-year students. Information collected on the Current Practices Inventory serves as a factual knowledge basis for the ensuing assessment activities.

Strategic Action Plan for first-year improvement. Foundations of Excellence includes a process and template for producing the ultimate outcome of the process, the strategic action plan for first-year improvement.

FoEtec^® - an advanced technology platform. FoEtec is available to all participants and serves as a sophisticated, but user-friendly, electronic platform for recording data, internal and external communication, as well as reporting findings. Participating campuses will have a two-year license to use the FoEtec electronic platform.

Foundations of Excellence Faculty/Staff and Student Surveys. As part of participation in the Foundations of Excellence process, campuses will participate in surveys of both faculty/staff and first-year students. The faculty/staff survey is administered electronically; the student survey is available in both web and paper formats. The surveys, owned and administered by Educational Benchmarking, Inc., (EBI) are employed early in the self-study process. EBI's interactive on-line analysis tools allow groups to analyze and discuss survey results as team. Final results are an important source of evidence for the campus to make judgments about its level of performance in the first year.

Foundations of Excellence Launch Meeting. The Policy Center sponsors a required two-day summer meeting to prepare each campus to derive maximum benefit from the Foundations of Excellence process. Three complimentary registrations include most meals and all materials. In addition to the three representatives, additional participants may attend for a fee of $325. The 2008 launch meetings will be held in Asheville, NC at the Asheville Renaissance Hotel on the following dates: four-year institution meeting on July 31st & August 1st; two-year institution meeting on August 4th & August 5th. Click here for detailed information about recommended campus representatives, meeting schedule, accommodations, and travel.

Foundations of Excellence Winter Meeting. The Policy Center sponsors a one-day optional Winter Meeting of all participating campuses, which in the past has been held in conjunction with the annual National Conference on The First-Year Experience^®, sponsored by University of South Carolina. Participants may attend the Winter Meeting for a modest cost recovery registration fee. Tentatively, the Winter Meeting for 2009 will be held on February 6th in Orlando.

The Winter Meeting will enable current and past participants to meet and share challenges, opportunities, and outcomes of the project. Detailed registration information will be provided several months prior to the meeting.

To view a sample agenda from the 2008 Winter Meeting, please click here.

Feedback from Policy Center staff on all reporting items.   As part of the Foundations of Excellence process, participating campuses submit, to the Policy Center, the Current Practices Inventory and reports on the nine Foundational Dimensions. In turn, the campus will receive written feedback from Policy Center Advisors on each of these reports.

National recognition. While recognizing individual campuses' privacy with respect to specific findings, participating campuses will receive national publicity for their involvement in Foundations of Excellence.

Special opportunity for Higher Learning Commission institutions. Institutions that are regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) may use the Foundations of Excellence process as the first step in an officially sanctioned "customized self-study process" for the purposes of reaffirmation of accreditation. For more information on this option contact either John Gardner at the Policy Center or your HLC campus staff liaison.

Click here for complete cost information on the comprehensive package

Optional Foundations of Excellence Process Enhancements and Support
(for additional costs)

Note: It is the intent and design of the Foundations of Excellence process that it be successful and influential without the additional services described below. But Policy Center staff recognize that some campuses may wish to select from a menu of additional forms of support and service, and these are offered in that spirit and recognition.

Campus visit(s): Members of the Policy Center advisory support team are available to make site visits to participating FoE campuses. During site visits a number of services may be provided based on the unique needs of the campus. These services include, but are not limited to:

• Direct work with campus leaders, FoE task force members, and students.

• Presentations to the campus community during the self-study process (e.g., campus launch, mid-point, or at the conclusion of the study).

• Information and advice on various first-year initiatives.

• Interaction with media representatives.

Campus visits may be made by:

• The campus's primary Policy Center Advisor

• Any of the other Policy Center advisory support team members 

Click here for complete biographical information on these individuals.

A Second Perspective: A member of the Policy Center advisory support team may be requested to serve as a “critical friend” to the campus task force. This consultant provides additional, independent written feedback on the key components of the self study. The principal advantage of this feature is that the campus secures the added perspective and support of someone who has successfully led and completed the FoE process. This consultant provides extensive feedback in addition to the feedback provided by the campus's primary advisor. This option may also be enhanced by incorporating a campus visit.

Advisory support for former Foundations of Excellence participating institutions. As the Policy Center launches its fifth national cohort group of Foundations of Excellence participants, we will have worked previously with 117 US colleges and universities, public and private, four and two-year, that have participated in a Foundations of Excellence Self Study and Strategic Action Plan for campus improvement. Recognizing that the hardest work for many of them may be the implementation of that Strategic Action Plan, we understand that some institutions may want or need external assistance on such implementation and we would be pleased to offer such support.

Additional participant attendance at Launch Meeting.
Launch Meeting additional participant costs (above the three complimentary representatives) include a registration fee of $325 per person and costs for travel and accommodations.

Optional participant attendance at Winter Meeting.
Winter Meeting participant costs include a modest cost recovery registration fee per person and costs for travel and accommodations.

For additional information about these optional project enhancements, contact John N. Gardner, Executive Director.