Research and Planning

The Contra Costa Community College District Office of Research and Planning is committed to building, maintaining and nurturing a districtwide culture of inquiry and reflection by providing a foundation for the effective and pervasive practice of evidence-based decision making at every layer of the institution.

Its primary purpose is to empower faculty, staff and administrators with information to effectively pursue and achieve the mission of their institution. Because the pursuit of that mission relies heavily on the ability of the institution to constantly improve and adapt, the Office of Research and Planning maintains an infrastructure to support on-going assessment and continuous improvement within a framework oriented toward achieving sustained improvements in student success.

Specifically, the Office of Research and Planning aims to:

Provide information to improve decision making at every layer of the institution, both at the District and each of the colleges.
Use evidence to stimulate thoughtful reflection on existing practices and encourage on-going review and improvement.
Encourage the use of data and evidence to identify and incubate new interventions.
Actively nurture a districtwide culture of inquiry that supports a pervasive commitment to excellence in student learning.

The Office of Research and Planning provides a variety of support services to achieve these goals, namely:

Request-driven research and analysis
- student performance research
- program participation studies
- student persistence studies
- service usage investigations
- student satisfaction and employee climate surveys
- studies measuring the impact of an intervention
- marketing impact studies
Data collection/infrastructure maintenance
- program review
- grant support
- productivity reports
- program improvement & viability
- manage district data repository
- Development of new decision support tools (e.g. enrollment tracker, earned unit tracker)
Strategic planning
- Develop the districtwide environmental scan
- Support development of the district office and college strategic plans
- Economic and policy trend analysis
- Sequencing and mapping out planning processes
- Service area border realignment studies
- Economic impact studies
Accreditation & accountability support
- Accreditation reporting requirements
- Federal and state mandated reporting requirements
- Placement validation studies
- Title V and Title IX research investigations
Technical assistance and facilitation around evidence
- Facilitate discussions about implication of research findings
- One on one and group coaching on the use of evidence
- Support practitioner-led research investigations
- Design of classroom and service area research projects
- Process planning for turning data into action
Comprehensive research projects
- Achievement Gap studies
- longitudinal / cohort tracking studies
- Student pathway studies
- Case studies on best practices
- Process improvement studies
- Basic Skills assessment studies
- High school transcript studies
Leadership and decision support
- Developing and managing the district and college research agendas
- Presentation of research findings to senior leaders
- Respond to Board requests
- Member of Chancellor’s Cabinet
- Chair of the District Research and Planning Council