Who We Are and What We Do
The Office of Institutional Research at Santa Monica College provides essential decision-support services for the college.  The office also serves as a key contact and institutional resource for external entities such as the state (California Community College Chancellor's Office) and federal government (National Center for Education Statistics), the accrediting commission (WASC), and other individuals, such as academicians and graduate students, who have an interest in conducting research about the college and its students. 

Some of the services provided to the broader institution include: 

supporting the development of institutional and departmental assessment efforts related to Institutional and Student Learning Outcomes,

serving as the primary contact for state and federal accountability and compliance initiatives, such as Accountability Reporting in Community Colleges (ARCC) and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 

providing for the research and analytical needs of institutional initiatives and priorities such as the Basic Skills Initiative, 

supporting institutional enrollment management efforts and environmental scanning on selected topics,

providing demographic and statistical profiles of students, supporting matriculation needs with selected program data and analyses,

supporting program review by providing programs with access to a set of standard data, 

validating the accuracy and validity of college data submissions to the Chancellor's Office,

facilitating access to focused literature reviews and resources on particular topics of interest, and

periodically initiating specific in-depth, longitudinal studies of college programs and services. 

Services provided to individual departments and units include:

• assistance with developing surveys,
• assistance with and coordination of some requests for data extracts from Information Technology, 
• producing small, selected reports for college departments and units, and
• developing a department's or program's  capacity to assess and evaluate outcomes.

Referrals to Other Units:
In general, the Institutional Research Office doesn't produce mailing labels, postcards, or data extracts for individuals, departments or units.  The office does coordinate requests for data extracts produced by Information Technology.  In addition, the office is not able to provide support for the personal research projects of staff that are not connected with the duties and responsibilites of the staff member.  The Institutional Research Office has access to historical data.  As a consequence, the office cannot provide research that goes against current or live data.

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