External Programs works with NCSSM school leaders to provide data for the school improvement process and to evaluate the effectiveness of school-based initiatives. An ongoing initiative of the Research & Evaluation Division is NCSSM alumni data collection and reporting. The division works as well with some students on student initiated institutional research projects and must approve any student research that involves institutional data or human subjects, e.g. surveys.

Research Guidelines

NCSSM encourages research projects using scientific methods of inquiry to gather information of a broad interest to the NCSSM community. Opportunities for research are afforded by NCSSM's Mentorship programs, Research Symposium, and Mini-Term. In years past, NCSSM Office of Research and Evaluation (R&E) has approved and assisted in several studies. Because of the very limited staffing in R&E, and because if takes considerable staff time to review proposed research studies, R&E rarely approves research studies initiated by those outside of the NCSSM community. R&E has also rejected quite a few NCSSM-generated proposals for various reasons including inadequate methodology, issues of confidentiality, and perceived political motivations and biases. The following links to guidelines on doing research at NCSSM will assist you in planning your research and help you avoid some common pitfalls.

Data Collection

NCSSM values the systematic collection of data to gauge program success and improve programs. The NCSSM Research & Evaluation (R&E) office is responsible for maintaining and reporting school data for the School Improvement Team and for the NCSSM Profile. The division assists in the design and format of surveys making use of on-line and scantron technologies. As the school implements grant-funded projects or implements new school-wide initiatives, R&E assists leaders in the design and implementation of evaluation. This may be in the form of coordinating external evaluation or designing reports using in-house expertise. Click the links below to access the contact for data collection and project evaluation.

Alumni Studies

NCSSM values the systematic collection of data from our alumni to gauge the school's success and to improve its programming:

• The NCSSM one-year out graduating class is the target of a spring survey focused more on detailed questions about NCSSM programming, college adjustment and success. (Alumni Survey Strategy I).


• The NCSSM reunion classes (classes that graduated 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years out from the current year) are the target of a multiples of 5-year out survey in the fall of each year. (Alumni Survey Strategy II).