Research and Planning Department
Contra Costa Community College District; District Offices
Our Mission
The 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.
The Office of Research and Planning (RP Office) works to advance this mission by supporting the colleges and district in five strategic areas:
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Institutional Effectiveness
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Equitable Student Success
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Strategic Planning
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Accreditation and Accountability
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Culture of Inquiry
The Research and Planning department primarily supports institutional research, planning, and effectiveness efforts districtwide. We provide research support for all employees and employee groups and strive to help make data accessible and to bridge silos for all educators in our district in order to improve outcomes for — and the lives of — all students.
The Office of Research and Planning (ORP) is located in the Contra Costa Community College (4CD) administrative district office and is the central Research and Planning Office for Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College, and Los Medanos College. The Office of Research and Planning supports the planning and decision-making efforts throughout the district by providing data and information for managing and maintaining the quality and effectiveness of programs and services. The Office of Research and Planning also assists and provides information that is mandated by external accrediting agencies and legislative bodies and serves as a primary source for information on institutional research at 4CD.
We have developed several research tools that are available to every employee and additionally provided a helpful Research FAQ with quick links to data resources based on commonly asked questions. If you do not find the support you need here, please contact us directly with your questions by completing a research request or emailing Blackthorne, Dean of Research and Planning.
Public Research Resources
CalPassPlus, Launchboard, has many resources and datasets available to the public for personalized analysis. The LaunchBoard, a statewide data system supported by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office and hosted by Cal-PASS Plus, provides data to California community colleges on progress, employment, and earnings outcomes for both CTE and non-CTE pathways.
CalPassPlus Student Success Metrics
View student progression along various educational journeys, from recruitment to completion, transfer, and the workforce.
California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office DataMart
The data mart provides information about students, courses, student services, outcomes and faculty and staff. The emphasis of a data mart is to answer the questions of administrators, educators, parents, students, state leaders, and professional organizations.
Because the data mart is aimed at supplying information to a wide variety of users, the easy-to-use interface and query explanations ensure the data is easily accessed and processed.
Institutional Research Resources
*Accessible only to employees*
The Research and Planning SharePoint contains a variety of resources made available to college staff and the districtwide research team. Resources include helpful links to external data resources, research reports that respond to the diverse needs and interests of the 4CD constituencies, and the district communities. The reports provide critical information for program and service evaluations, planning and improvement efforts and accountability and grant writing. Many of the institutional level and districtwide foundational reports are posted in this section including College Research Request reports, Enrollment Management Dashboards, and other Student Success Metrics and surveys.
Research Department SQL Report Services
The research department maintains a SQL reporting folder that is accessible to all employees. There are reports that have been specifically designed and requested by each college, and a folder “Districtwide Reports” that have numerous data rich resources that can be used to answer a wide array of research questions.
The SQL services reports provide exportable raw data for your individualized analysis needs. Reports do not have graphs and often require specific selection criteria, such as term, location, or attendance types.
To access these reports, you must be logged into a computer connected to the college or district Wi-Fi system or be authenticated by the Global Protect VPN services.
We have developed numerous at a glance dashboard. Many dashboards provide both high level and drill in detail visualizations that can be filtered for more tailored needs. Dashboards are designed to provide quick and easy visual analyses based on system level definitions (MIS reporting). Every employee can access the dashboards and download the visualizations for use in presentations or reports.
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