How to Develop a Tracking and Accountability System
Look to the Future
There is increased demand on accountability for Career Center practitioners. Attention to the results of your services and programs will continue to be important. Develop systems to provide information on who uses your services, what services and programs they use, and the impact of the programs and services on the students. Keep current with accountability trends and find new ways to measure the success of your program and services.
Collect Assessment Data
Many Career Centers determine who is using their services and what services they are using through sign-in sheets or a computerized login system.
Santa Rosa Junior College's Career Center has developed a computerized tracking system. See examples of the system on the right side of the page. The tracking system includes a Spanish language option.
DeAnza College tracks students through the fee-based computerized system, SARS–TRAK. The program tracks the overall number of students utilizing the Career Center.
When students visit the Career Center, they enter their student number to log-in and they log-out, when they leave the Center. Reports can be generated demonstrating the times and dates of services used, the amount of time spent at the service sites, and the reasons for the visits.
Ask for Feedback
How have your services and programs helped the students? Email your students an online follow up survey. Place the survey on your Website. Look at the "Recent Graduate Employment Survey" on OSU's site. Ask for help from your Research and Development Office with formulating an appropriate survey for your needs.
Promote Your Center
Look for ways to market your Career Center in the Career Quick Tips. Click on the Marketing Your Career Center newsletter. Look at the marketing PowerPoint presentation, Partnering for Career Success. Tell your Career Center story. Adjust the PowerPoint to suit your audience and add your statistics. Defend your effectiveness, fiscal efficiency and resource productivity to the appropriate audiences.
Work with your supervisor to identify appropriate audiences that might include: the administrative cabinet, Academic Senate, academic counselors, department/division meetings, staff development presentations, student leadership classes and student clubs.
Continue to Redefine Your Career Center
Compile and analyze your tracking results to determine trends. Identify areas that need improvement and develop new goals and objectives for your strategic plan. Read how the University of Missouri's Career Center redefined their Career Center in an article by Joseph Johnston and Craig Benson.
Look Toward the Future
According to the September 2006 Spotlight Online Newsletter* (from the National Association of Colleges and Employers), expect more accountability for Career Services programs and services. Practitioners must be more "mission focused, politically savvy, and astute in demonstrating unit effectiveness."
Documentation development to support student outcomes will be crucial. Have you found ways to prove that students are learning from your services and programs, and the learning has impact on the student? If so, Please share your ideas with Rita Jones at rjones@occ.cccd.edu.
For more information on Career Center Best Practices, view the California Community Colleges Statewide Career Development Advisory Committee's Website.
* Sam Ratcliffe, Director of Career Services, Virginia Military Institute and Pat Carretta, Associate Dean, University Life, George Mason University are authors of (September 2006) Spotlight Online Newsletter, "What to Expect: Career Services and Accountability.