Extended Submission Period, New Reporting Periods
Big changes are coming to the 2018 ARC/STSA Annual Report. At their September 2017 meeting, the Board of Directors unanimously approved moving to one-year reporting of surgical technology and surgical assisting program Graduate Outcomes (GO) data. This determination was made after months of data collection, analysis and polling of our accredited programs and program directors.
So what does this mean for our surgical technology and surgical assisting education programs?
First, the Annual Report submission period has been changed. Programs may begin entering data for the 2018 Annual Report on May 1, 2018. The submission period has been extend by one month—programs will now have three (3) months for data collection and entry into the Annual Report. The 2018 Annual Report submission period ends July 31, 2018.
Why the change? With programs now reporting Graduate Outcomes (Graduate Placement, Employer Survey Return and Satisfaction, Graduate Survey Return and Satisfaction) from the same year as Program Outcomes (Retention, Outcomes Assessment Examination Participation and Pass Rates), the ARC/STSA Board of Directors wanted to assure that programs would have ample time to collect all pertinent data for the report. With the new submission period, programs will have up to 12 months to collect, analyze, and submit data.
What will the 2018 Annual Report look like? ARC/STSA staff, working with our software designer, are busy revising, reviewing and testing the Graduate Outcomes section of the Annual Report to accommodate to this change. Over years of development, the Annual Report has become increasingly intuitive and user-friendly, and our goal is make that happen for the 2018 Annual Report submission, as well. The 2018 Annual Report will require programs to provide data for two years of Graduate Outcomes data. This means for each outcome – Graduate Placement, Employer Survey return and satisfaction and Graduate Survey return and satisfaction – programs will report data from the following ARC/STSA reporting years: August 1, 2015 – July 31, 2016 and August 1, 2016 – July 31, 2017.
Two-year reporting of Graduate Outcomes will occur on the 2018 Annual Report only. After 2018, programs will submit one year of Graduate Outcomes data on future Annual Reports.
Over the next two months, ARC/STSA will be in contact with more information regarding the 2018 Annual Report. Stay tuned for ARC/STSA e-Newsletter updates, Annual Report e-mails, social media content and instructional materials.
Remember, you are not alone and we are here to help. Reach out with your 2018 Annual Report questions by sending an email to ARQuestions@arcstsa.net. We look forward to working with you.
Updates regarding the 2018 Annual Report were presented at the ARC/STSA Educator’s Conference. The full presentation can be found online here. For your reference, key dates for the 2018 Annual Report are also listed in the chart below:
