Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness
In this
section
About OIRE
NVCC's Office of Institutional Research & Effectiveness (OIRE) provides current and reliable information to support strategic and operational planning, policy formulation, decision-making, assessment, and the measurement of the effectiveness of programmatic activities at the college.
What We Do
- Compliance: Meeting the requirements of the U.S. government, Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education, and college-mandated reporting activities.
- Strategic Planning: Working with the campus community to develop relevant, quantifiable benchmarks, and metrics for the purpose of strategic planning. Providing data to support the strategic plan and assess goals.
- Assessment: Supporting faculty and staff in the assessment of student outcomes. Improving efficiency and effectiveness for both internal and external assessment efforts through the use of data.
Standards of Service
- Quality Improvement: Serve as repository of data and information about NVCC; emphasize data-based research to inform policy, planning, and decision-making in and for the college; and enhance participation of OIRE on issues that could impact NVCC policies and planning.
- Satisfaction: Provide a high-level of quality in analyzing and reporting data and information.
- Motivation: Keep abreast of the state-of-the-art regarding institutional research as a tool for planning, assessment, and decision-making.
Contact Us
Questions?
For data requests:
Please fill out an
OIRE Service Request Form
Questions about
conducting research on human subjects?
Need Data?
The OIRE collects, analyzes, and maintains data to support the planning, assessment, and decision-making activities of the college community. If you're a member of our community and in need of our help, please provide as much detail as possible when you submit your OIRE Service Request Form. If you have any questions, see our frequently asked questions (FAQs) below first for more information. Specifically, we need to know:
- What data you need;
- The date it is needed (no less than two weeks); and
- The purpose for which the data will be used.
Requests for data or research assistance are processed by the director of institutional research in consultation with college administrators. Please allow a minimum of two weeks for processing. On a case-by-case basis, a determination will be made about the feasibility and appropriateness of requests. Once accepted, data requests and research projects are prioritized in accordance with the college's strategic plan. Placing requests early will help with prioritization. Submit your request via the OIRE Service Request Form.
Please allow a minimum of two weeks for processing. You will receive an e-mail confirming that your OIRE Service Request has been received. Confidential information is provided in response to special requests. Disclosure of this information to unauthorized parties violates the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). When provided with confidential information, it is expected that you will:
- Handle the information in a secure manner to ensure that it remains confidential;
- Communicate the information only to other parties authorized to have access to it in accordance with the provisions of FERPA; and
- Use the information only for its intended purpose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Based upon requests received in the past, OIRE regularly publishes the following data to our website:
- Student profiles
- Enrollment trends
- Completions trends
- Institutional characteristics
- Institutional reports
For other types of requests, the following data is available from our office:
- Federally reported data
- Geographic (service region) data
- Program based data
- Survey results (e.g., SENSE, CCSSE, and Graduate Survey).
In support of program reviews and advising, contact information is routinely provided to Division Directors and the CAPSS office, on or about the 4th week of the semester. For other forms of outreach, contact information may be produced on an ad hoc basis.
Typically, consistent with our federal reporting requirements, we produce reports using fall semester “frozen” data. Although data is available, spring is not a standard reporting period.
Please use the OIRE Service Request Form for all data requests.
Once OIRE receives your service request, we will contact you by e-mail if additional information is needed. We make every attempt to complete requests within time frames indicated on the request; however, data availability and mandated reporting may cause a delay.
Please indicate the purpose for which the data will be used, what type of data will be needed, and a due date for the data. Typical types of data requested include specific demographic data (gender, race, high school, etc.) and academic data (student’s major, GPA, etc.). Additionally, required OIRE Service Request fields include your name, telephone number, e-mail address, and your division/unit.
For program reviews: OIRE has on file the most current template and can assist with required data.
For program accreditation: Although OIRE produces much of the data that is needed by most accreditors, it is helpful for our office to have a copy of the accreditor’s requirements.
- Fall enrollment data is available beginning on or about October 1.
- Retention information is available on or about October 10.
- Academic division dashboards are available on or about October 10.
- Contact information for Fall programmatic needs is available on or about October 1.
- Contact information for Spring programmatic needs is available on or about February 15.
- Information on student transfers to 4-year institutions is available on or about February 15.
- Graduation data is available on or about August 1.
We ask that you initiate your request by submitting an OIRE Service Request Form. OIRE will then contact you to coordinate specifics.
All definitions for terms used in any of the surveys from theIntegrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) are searchable in the IPEDS Glossary.
Colleges and universities throughout the United States report data to the federal government’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). To promote consistency in reporting, colleges and universities freeze or lock their data on or about the third week of the fall and spring semesters. This provides a snapshot of student enrollments at a specific point in time.
Although daily changes are made to the Banner record keeping system both before and after the freeze, as students enroll and change courses: NVCC and all the colleges in the CSCU system use this “frozen data” for the purposes of reporting. The snapshot taken at the “freeze” provides a census for the student population throughout the nation and is therefore referred to as the “census date.” The fall semester is most commonly used for federal reporting.
To maintain consistency with NVCC’s federal reporting, OIRE has a policy to use this frozen census data from the fall semester for all requests unless otherwise specified by the requester.
The OIRE maintains a SurveyMonkey account for use by NVCC faculty and staff. For more information about utilizing SurveyMonkey for institutional purposes, please
Kinney Hall, Room 702
