Memorandum #321: Data Verification Policy

                                                                                    Original Date of Issue: August 18, 2024
Approved by: President
Policy Owner: Associate Vice President, Institutional Effectiveness

Introduction

Ensuring that the Community College of Philadelphia (“the College”) and the Community College of Philadelphia Foundation (“the Foundation”) are sharing clear and accurate data across all public platforms is essential. Failure to do so could result in loss of public trust, accreditation challenges, poor partner or donor relations and other negative outcomes.

This Data Verification Policy (“Policy”) is designed to prevent the dissemination of inaccurate information about the College, its students and employees, as requested by the public, external agencies or other third parties. It is also to prevent the misinterpretation of accurate data available on verified College platforms.

Definitions and Scope

Data is defined as “factual statements including statistics, demographics or other numerically descriptive data or descriptive figures, or survey-related qualitative data.”

Data covered by this Policy includes all Data that is to be published, shared with external agencies or entities, or shared by the College publicly at public meetings. A request for Data by the public pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right to Know Law or other applicable law will be evaluated and responded to in accordance with applicable law and the College’s policies. 

For clarity, this Policy applies to all publicly shared Data, including but not limited to Data to be used for the following:

• All College web properties, including ccp.edu and myccp.online;
• Social media postings on the College’s social media platforms;
• College marketing materials and advertising;
• College and Foundation Annual reports and fact sheets;
• Data shared at Board of Trustees Meetings and Board of Trustee Committee Meetings;
• Data shared for the purposes of raising funds or applying for grants;
• College Nominations and applications or materials for awards and memberships;
• Governmental compliance reports;
• Press releases on behalf of the College or Foundation;
• Any Data submitted to accreditation bodies, government entities or ranking organizations; or contained within responses to RFPs.

This Policy does not apply to:

• Scholarly research performed by individual faculty members or administrators in their own names.
• Surveys by faculty as part of their instruction of students currently enrolled in their class(es).
• Internal use only communications and documents including but not limited to oral communications, emails, internal memorandums, or other similar communications that are not intended for publication, distribution or postings.
• Internal conversations related to assessment of learning and outcomes or data related to respective department/unit internal tracking and deliberations.  
• The College’s or Foundation’s finances or financial statements, nor to employee compensation or benefits.  The College’s finances are verified by the College’s Vice President of Business and Finance or the College’s Controller. The Foundation’s finances are verified by the Foundation’s Executive Director or designee.

If unsure if this Policy applies, please email dataverification@ccp.edu.

Policy

All Data covered by this Policy must be verified by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness before it is published or shared publicly in accordance with the Data Verification Process [Link to process to be provided here]. The Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and the Director of Institutional Research or their designees will verify all data submissions in as timely a matter as possible.
Once the review or request is completed and that Data is verified, the Associate Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness or the Director of Institutional Research will provide written confirmation of the Data verification. Written confirmation is required before Data is published or shared publicly.

This Data Verification Policy is intended to ensure that all data posted, published, or shared externally is accurate. The responsibility to create true and accurate materials remains with each individual department and division responsible for drafting any such materials.

Review

This Policy will be reviewed regularly in accordance with the Policy on College Policies (#319) (hyperlink). The Vice President of Enrollment Management and Strategic Communications or their designee will inform relevant parties when changes are made to this Policy.

Resources and Related Policies

Right to Know Law information (hyperlink)
Survey Policy (Policy # 316) (hyperlink)
Personal Information Privacy and Protection Policy (#320) (hyperlink)