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The RP Group has two distinct roles as both a membership organization that represents Institutional Research, Planning, and Effectiveness (IRPE) professionals in the California Community Colleges (CCC) system, and as a service provider of customized research, evaluation, and professional development services. These two roles help us strengthen the ability of CCC to discover and undertake high-quality research, planning, and assessments that improve evidence-based decision-making, institutional effectiveness, and success for all students.
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The RP Group is a nonprofit, nonpartisan team made up of a dedicated Board of Directors and staff, working together with a shared and resolute goal: to increase the success of California community colleges and beyond. Through collaboration and commitment to authenticity and quality, our work is focused on promoting inspired futures for California Community College students in important areas such as equity, success, completion, and employment.
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What Is an IRPE Professional?
Institutional Research, Planning, and Effectiveness professionals are responsible for identifying and meeting organizational information, planning, and efficiency needs by collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data. IRPE professionals serve as the stewards of information who educate institutional data producers, users, and consumers to ensure compliance with state and federal mandates related to data privacy, security, and ethical data use. IRPE professionals are at the center of an ever evolving landscape of institutional planning, data systems, effectiveness, and innovation focused on advancing student achievement and success.
Our Origins and Evolution Through Time
The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group) was formed in 1992 in order to advocate for and support the use of data and evidence to illuminate effective policy and practice within our state’s community colleges.
Many might not know that our nonprofit also has roots dating back to the 1960s with antecedents including two main predecessor groups: The Southern California Community College Institutional Research Association (SCCCIRA) and the Northern California Community College Research Group (NORCAL consortium).
More than two decades later, the above networks came together to form a nascent iteration of The RP Group, which incorporated in 1994, two years after it formed. This decade was marked with the necessary heavy lifting of forming an organization and the passing of the Student Right to Know Regulations legislation, both of which had an impact on the priorities and goals of the organization.
The mission of The RP Group was born out of these events as well, and also from the three main purposes of the NORCAL consortium: conducting cooperative research; providing resources to individuals and colleges in their research efforts; and exchanging research ideas and results.
Today, The RP Group primarily supports CCC IRPE professionals, but also faculty, classified professionals, and administrators; in order to help make data accessible and to bridge silos among all CCC practitioners to improve equitable outcomes for — and the lives of — all students.