The State Board of Education’s 2018-19 performance funding report shows Daytona State College has inched ever so close to achieving gold-tier status among Florida College System (FCS) institutions.
Compared to last year, DSC significantly moved the needle for student success in terms of the metrics the State Board of Education uses to measure the performance of FCS schools. DSC came in at the high end of the silver-tier level, with a total score of 36.87, falling just shy of the 37.78 out of 40 measure required to reach the gold-tier level.
“This is truly the effects of a lot of the strategies we have put in place the past several years that are now showing results,” said DSC President Tom LoBasso. “We continue to make incredible progress, and I am so proud of our staff and faculty for the work and dedication they have put toward these efforts. As I said when performance metrics were initially instituted four years ago, we have the right people for the challenge and we are proving it every day.”
Under the funding model, the state sets aside dollars as an incentive for Florida’s 28 state colleges to stay on a path of continuous improvement. Each institution is ranked and placed into purple, bronze, silver or gold categories. Funding is rewarded or withheld based on performance measures that include student retention and completion rates, the number of graduates who are continuing their education or landing jobs, as well as their entry-level wages.
For incentive dollars, the college projects to see about $1.2 million this fiscal year.
In the performance-funding model’s first year of implementation in 2015, DSC fell into the bronze category, sparking an ambitious college-wide improvement plan built on evidence-based practices. As a result, the college has steadily climbed the ranks of the silver-tier institutions each year, and expects to strive for gold in next year’s funding cycle. These continuing efforts include:
- Offering a mandatory student success course for new students;
- Offering proactive advising and guided pathways to degree completion;
- Holding tuition costs steady.
- Increasing the number of job fairs the college hosts each year for current students;
- Implementing a system through the Career Services Department that notifies more students through text alerts when jobs become available in their field;
- Expanding internship and work experience opportunities for students;
- Implementing an early intervention system that allows academic advisors to discuss strategies, services and options for at-risk students;
- Increasing the number of students who enroll in DSC’s transfer partnership with the University of Central Florida, DirectConnect to UCF;
For the 28 FCS colleges, the SBOE report shows 18 institutions in the silver category (with DSC near the top), five in the gold, five in bronze and zero in the lowest performing level, purple.
