Foundations of Excellence:® Overview of Key Elements
The Process
The Foundations of Excellence process enables each campus to take a sustained, focused look at the experience of new students to determine what elements are appropriate and working well and what needs to be changed.
- The engine of the Foundations of Excellence process is the Foundations of Excellence task force – a group that has broad representation from across campus.
- The process is enhanced by an advanced technological system (FoEtec).
- The work of the task force begins with a campus audit of relevant policies, practices, and existing data (the “Current Practices Inventory”), continues with a 9 – 12 month process of evaluation using the Foundations of Excellence model and related performance indicators, and culminates in the development of an “Action Plan” for campus improvement.
- Campus task forces use both qualitative and quantitative evidence to support their judgments of campus achievement.
- One form of quantitative evidence will be the results of the Foundations of Excellence new student survey and faculty/staff survey administered by Educational Benchmarking, Inc.
The Model
The Foundations of Excellence initiative focuses on the institution and its policies, practices and programs rather than on student-level input characteristics or learning outcomes.
- Model is comprised of nine standards of excellence, termed “Foundational Dimensions®.”
- Foundational Dimensions are aspirational, rather than minimum, standards.
- Six Dimensions constituted the original model developed in February of 2003 by the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and research partners at Penn State University and Campus Compact. In the spring of 2003, 219 four-year public and private colleges and universities reviewed and vetted the model and expanded it to the current version comprised of nine Dimensions. In the spring of 2005, 81 two-year colleges reacted to the nine Dimensions and collectively developed a version that is appropriate and relevant to two-year higher education.
- In 2003-2004, the model was pilot tested by 24 four-year colleges and universities as a method of assessing and improving the first year. A pilot test with 10 two-year campuses began in the summer of 2005.
- Currently, the model has expanded to include a transfer-focus – in addition to assessing first year students, the process will also include an assessment of transfer-bound students.
This project was developed and piloted with the support of The Atlantic Philanthropies and Lumina Foundation for Education. Lumina Foundation is continuing its support for the expansion of the project to two-year colleges. The Foundations of Excellence project is also supported by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.