Rapid Growth Leads to First Strategic Plan for NACEP

Creating a sustainable infrastructure, educating stakeholders, and developing new standards-based products and services are the focus for 2011-13.

A guide for the next three years, NACEP’s first strategic plan builds on the organization’s original mission and successes and responds to new demands on NACEP resulting from rapid growth in membership, accredited programs, conference attendees, and external and governmental relations.

The strategic plan reflects the ideals of the organization’s founders by re-affirming the beliefs that rigorous standards ensure program quality, NACEP accreditation affirms excellence, and that professional development enhances successful outcomes. “This plan will ensure that NACEP prioritizes those activities that will have the greatest impact for current and potential member institutions and to advance the field of concurrent enrollment,” remarked NACEP President Lynn Burbank. “Our many successes over the past few years have placed NACEP on firm footing, enabling us to plan ahead in building a sustainable organizational infrastructure and offer additional products and services to support members.”

The 2011-2013 strategic plan articulates a vision for the organization as a leader in advancing seamless education through secondary and post-secondary collaborations. It also includes a revised mission statement and establishes seven core beliefs to guide the organization’s work. Three strategic goals were crafted to support the vision, mission, and belief statements:
• We will create an infrastructure that keeps NACEP vital and sustainable
• We will create opportunities to educate stakeholders to strengthen NACEP
• We will provide products and services that support standards-based concurrent enrollment partnerships

These goals are supported by eight measurable objectives and twenty-nine specific action steps that NACEP will take over the next three years to achieve the strategic goals. For each action step, the Board created an action plan including a project timeline, a three year budget, and responsible parties. Implementation of some of the action steps is already underway, including the creation of a Program Development Committee to develop additional products and services to support member institutions seeking to implement NACEP’s quality standards.

An experienced strategic planning facilitator, Peter Swatsburg, has supported the Board’s efforts since February 2010. Peter’s services were initially provided by the University of Connecticut, a founding member of NACEP. The Board will continue to retain Peter as an advisor as it implements the plan and monitors progress.