Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness
Supporting the college's data-informed decision-making, strategic planning, and continuous improvement.
ORPIE's Mission, Vision and Values
Mission
The Office of Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness (ORPIE) advances equitable student success and institutional effectiveness by partnering with
the campus community to help the college understand relationships between their work,
processes, technology, data, and student outcomes. We deliver accurate, actionable,
and goal-aligned information, provide data literacy, and elevate students’ lived experiences,
in support of informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
Vision
ORPIE aspires to be a future ready, trusted, equity-minded leader in institutional
research, planning, and effectiveness, recognized for transforming data into shared
understanding, institutional learning, and measurable improvements in student achievement.
Values
- Integrity: Being transparent about data limits and providing the best available information in support of student success.
- Equity-Minded Inquiry: Centering students’ lived experiences in our interpretation of data, thoughtful questioning, reflection, and an understanding of systemic barriers to student success.
- Human-centeredness: Building trusted partnerships through collaboration, compassionate service, and genuine care for the people we support, and meeting people where they are with meaningful and evidence-informed solutions.
- Continuous Learning: Foster a culture where learning is shared, questions are encouraged, mistakes become opportunities, and growth is continuous.
- Responsible Stewardship: Thoughtful management of our time, expertise, and institutional resources. We support adaptable practices that preserve quality, support employee well-being, maintain organizational knowledge, and strengthen ORPIE’s capacity to serve the college over time.
The Office of Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness supports Mission College by providing data, research, analysis, and planning support to inform decision-making, institutional effectiveness, student success, and continuous improvement.
Because ORPIE manages multiple projects and reporting responsibilities at any given time, research requests are reviewed and prioritized based on institutional need, regulatory requirements, strategic alignment, available data, and office capacity. In general, priority is given to requests in the following order:
- Mandated projects related to state, federal, accreditation, or district reporting requirements.
- Projects assigned by the College President, District Chancellor, or executive leadership.
- Projects tied to external funding, grant requirements, or institutional strategic initiatives.
- Research aligned with Mission College’s Strategic Education Master Plan, Student Equity Plan, program review, enrollment management, accreditation, and other collegewide planning priorities.
- Feasibility and institutional alignment, including available data, data quality, confidentiality requirements, analysis complexity, reporting deadlines, ORPIE capacity, and the extent to which the request supports Mission College or WVMCCD priorities.
External requests may be considered when they align with college priorities, appropriate data-use expectations, and available office capacity.
California Community Colleges Data Resources
This comprehensive clearinghouse connects users to key data dashboards, metrics platforms,
and official reporting systems across California’s public higher education ecosystem,
K-12 education, and regional labor markets. These tools provide the empirical foundation
needed to evaluate student success, optimize funding models, and align educational
programs with regional workforce demands.
- California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office DataMart – Official website for the Chancellor’s Office, the DataMart includes essential tables
utilizing data from MIS reporting.
- CalPASS Plus – Official website for the state partnership between K-12 and the community colleges. You will need to request a login for this.
- LaunchBoard: statewide data system that provides data on progress, success, employment, and earnings outcomes for CA community college students, including:
- Student Success metrics
- Guided Pathways
- Community College Pipeline
- Adult Education Pipeline
- Strong Workforce Programs
- K-14 CTE Transitions
- Data - California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Official website for the Chancellor's Office data resources including:
- Data on Demand
- Student Centered Funding Formula Dashboard
- Transfer Level Gateway Completion Dashboard
- Salary Surfer and more!
- CTE Outcomes Survey - Information collected by Sana Rosa Junior College to assess employment outcomes for students participating in career technical education coursework at the California Community Colleges
- MIS Data Element Dictionary - Describes the specifications and codes tied the Management Information System (MIS)
CSU and UC Data Resources
- UC enrollments by source school - Number of CA Community College students transferring to UC Campuses disaggregated by Community College
- UC Transfers by Major - Number of transfers from CA Community Colleges disaggregated by campus, major, and year.
- UC Admissions by source school - Number of Applications/Admissions from CA Community Colleges disaggregated by ethnicity, gender, and GPA
- CSU data dashboards -These dashboards provide data about applications and enrollment, graduation and student success, labor market outcomes, and teaching credentials.
- CSU Community College Partnership - The CSU’s partnerships with P-12 schools, community colleges and faith-based and community organizations help the CSU extend the reach of college-readinesss efforts and close the gaps.
- CSU reports and analytics - For summary enrollment, retention and graduation and graduate earnings information, view our dashboards. Student enrollment and completion data is also available as Excel workbooks.
Other Important Data Resources
- DataQuest - California Department of Education-K-12 Demographic Data: The source of performance and demographic information about the K-12 system. Information is available at state, county, district, and school levels.
- College Scorecard - Search and compare colleges: their fields of study, costs, admissions, results, and more.
- Research and Planning Group (The RP Group) - provides leadership in research, analysis, and planning issues for the California Community Colleges. The RP Group provides news, assistance, resources, and networking opportunities for researchers.
- Silicon Valley Indicators: Comprehensive information and data about the economic and community health of Silicon Valley
- U.S. Census Bureau - An encyclopedic source of economic, demographic, and geographic data at the local, county, state, and national levels
- LMI Data- This site has a wide variety of labor market and economic data which covers many important labor market subject areas such as, unemployment and labor force, economic indicators, industries, occupations, wages, employment projections etc.
- U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard - Search, download and compare data on fields of study, costs, graduation, retention, campus diversity, test scores & acceptance, student completion, debt and repayment, earnings, and more.
Planning for the Future: Mission College's Vision and Strategy
Mission College is committed to thoughtful, student-centered growth through strategic planning and facility development. Critical plans created by our campus community reflect our dedication to innovation, equity, and excellence in serving our community.
Student Achievement and Institutional Accountability
The mission of the Office of Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness (ORPIE)
at Mission College is to provide access to high quality data to members of the campus
community to help make data-informed decisions to support planing decisions, improve
student learning outcomes, and promote institutional effectiveness.
Mission College establishes and reviews Institution-Set Standards as part of its commitment
to accreditation, institutional effectiveness, and continuous improvement. Institution-Set
Standards identify minimum performance expectations, also known as floor standards,
for key student achievement measures. Aspirational standards identify higher performance
goals that reflect the College’s commitment to improvement.
The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges requires colleges to
document standards and goals for student achievement, including successful course
completion, certificate completion, degree completion, transfer, job placement, and
licensure examination pass rates at the institutional and program levels. ACCJC also
expects colleges to set both a minimum floor standard and an aspirational stretch
goal for these measures, monitor performance against those standards, and use the
results to inform continuous improvement (see ACCJC Accreditation Standards).
This dashboard supports Mission College’s accreditation and planning work by displaying
annual outcomes in relation to the College’s floor standards and aspirational standards.
The dashboard is intended to help students, employees, governance groups, and community
members better understand institutional performance, areas of strength, and areas
where continued inquiry or improvement may be needed.
Institution-Set Standards align with ACCJC Standard 1, which focuses on Institutional
Mission and Effectiveness. In particular, Standard 1.3 expects institutions to hold
themselves accountable for achieving their mission and goals by regularly reviewing
relevant, meaningfully disaggregated data to evaluate progress and inform plans for
continued improvement. Standard 1.5 also expects institutions to communicate progress
toward mission and goals with internal and external stakeholders.
Mission College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior
Colleges. More information about the College’s accreditation status, mission, vision,
values, and accreditation process is available on the Mission College accreditation
website (see MC Accreditation).
Contact Us
Alfred Gallegos
Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Research
(408) 855-5255
Thanh Do
Senior Info Tech Analyst
(408) 855-5171
Jamille Featherstone
Research Analyst
Prachi Samant
Research Analyst
Visit Us
Questions? We are here to support you!
Visit the Office of Research, Planning, and Institutional Effectiveness in the Student Engagement Center (SEC), Office 332.