Has your college been given an accreditation visiting team recommendation to strengthen your planning processes? To link planning with budgeting? Does your college need to position itself to be able to address the new institutional effectiveness accreditation standards? Do you need to initiate an institutional transformation planning process? Have you had discussions that struggle to determine what will be included in your mission statement versus your philosophy or values statement?

The RP Group has collaboratively developed two resource guides about planning topics in California Community Colleges. They provide strategies with which to address these challenges and examples of other colleges' processes. The first Planning Resource Guide provides guidelines for planning in California community colleges. The Guide includes definitions of common planning terms (e.g., "goal", "objective", "mission"), characteristics of good planning processes, and strategies for linking planning with budgeting and research. The Guide addresses an unmet need and has been very well received by faculty and staff throughout the State.

The second Planning Resource Guide covers additional planning topics of interest, such as linking plans with decision making, monitoring and evaluating plans, motivating staff to plan, and master planning, to name just a few of the topics. The Guide is available now.

Copies can be ordered for $15 each, plus shipping, using the order form. Make checks payable to the RP Group. If you have questions about the Guide, contact KBooth@rpgroup.org.