effective assessment practices project
DESCRIPTION
Strategies for Effective Assessment Practices in Higher EducationTRANSCRIPT
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Effective Assessment PracticesDebra Johnson
Consultant Kaplan University
10/25/2011
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How Assessment Can Benefit the Institution
Used As a basis to inform action Make decisions that affect student learning budgeting and planning Making changes to the overall curriculum or
academic programs, policy changes that support learning
Revising individual courses Adding new services to address students’ needs Reveal trends or patterns in how faculty and staff
are using assessment results to make enhancements.
Faculty Development Improve Student Learning
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The Importance of Assessment
Measure goals, objectives, learning outcomes
Inform decision-makingImprove student learningGauge progress of student learningImprove teachingImprove institutional effectiveness
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Accreditation Standards Northwest Association of Schools
and Colleges Assessment of Student Learning
Engage in on-going systematic collection and analysis of meaningful, assessable, verifiable—quantitative and /or qualitative indicators of achievement
Engage in an effective system of evaluation of its programs and services wherever offered and however delivered to evaluate achievement, of clearly identified program goals or intended outcomes.
Communicate academic intentions, programs and services to students and to the public and demonstrates its academic programs can be completed in a timely fashion.
Operates with the highest academic and ethical standards in the awarding of its degrees.
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Build a Culture of Evidence
Institutional leaders must demonstrate genuine care about student learning outcomes
Create trust and integrity through consistent actions that demonstrate commitment to ethical and evidence-based decision-making
Establish connections between formative and summative assessment and between assessment for improvement and assessment for accountability
Connect curriculum design, pedagogy, and faculty development to delivery and evaluation of student learning.
Connect faculty research and teaching so they complement each other in practice and in the campus reward structure.
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Assessment Practices of Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago (peer Institution)
Embedded assessment; locally developed instruments (rubrics) to examine student writing and critical thinking
Standardized testing (Annually) Item analysis from NSSE
(National Survey Student Engagement) (Annually)
Alumni Surveys to discover trends in response related to general education.
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Strategies for Institution-Wide Assessment
Establish a campus-wide vision
Plan short, mid- and long-range goals for the institution.
Tie assessment to resources and processes that count such as program review, budget requests, general education review, or reform.
Identify who needs to know what, for what, and this should guide assessment planning.
Create a well-represented committee; Articulate expectations for outcomes-
based assessments
Organize committee roles and responsibilities
Ensure that the goals live; place on institution website to be used as a guide for lower-level programs.
Relate institutional goals to the mission; gather institutional documents, self studies.
Identify existing resources and processes and new processes
Establish a communication plan
Discuss implementation barriers and strategies to overcome them
Move forward with flexibility Plan Strategically for the future
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Strategies for Institutional Assessment- System Diagram
ProvostStrategicPlanning Council
VPS
Deans Faculty Senate
Digestion: Institutional Research, Gen Ed Director and Committee, Curriculum CommitteeAssessment Director and Committee, Associate/Assistant Provost-Approve new courses/programs, including how those courses/programs will be assessed-Support assessment measures; fund and/or conduct come measures-Monitor how well the assessment system is working and recommend improvementsAggregate/analyze assessment data from all sources and ensure it is properly distributed-Recommend actions to enhance student learning, based on data-Keep records and generate reports..
Digestion and Decision:Departments or gen edUnits digest and act onTheir data
Data: StudentsSurveys and classroomWork, gathered by facultyUsed by them forImprovement
Data: Studies conducted Within gen ed units, e.g.Composition, first-year Studies.Used by them forimprovement
Data: Portfolios.Student portfolios Read by faculty readers
Data: Collected Institutionally:-Surveys, e.g., NSSE-Tests, e.g. CLA-Retention, etc.-Alumni Surveys
Data: Studies con-ducted within Academic supportAnd co-curricularUnits,e.g., library, IT, student affairs, Athletics.Used by them forImprovement.
Diagram Read from the Bottom Up
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Strategies for Program Level Assessment-The Basic No-Frills Departmental Assessment
System
Incorporate the history of the unit, its current status, and its aspirations for the future.
Conduct extensive evaluation of the assessment, departmental, and program review purposes, policies, and report systems.
Use a scoring rubric for gauging the effectiveness of the assessment plan).
Consolidate all former university-wide reviews into a single review (annual department reports, annual assessment reports, and program review reports).
Examine Personnel and resources
Arrange a forum to discuss data and identify action items
Gather two measures of how well students are achieving the goals; one direct measure e.g., a sample of students’ work completed at the end of their course of study analyzed by faculty to find the strengths and weaknesses of the students as a group; one indirect measure. e.g., student surveys and/or focus groups asking questions.
Involve adjuncts; ask them to submit, along with grades, a report of students’ strengths and weaknesses measured against departmental or general education learning goals.
Follow-up actions: action on one item may take several years; focus on one or two of them each year.
Encourage multicampus systems to use a peer review process to share effective practices and provide feedback that would facilitate future action at the campus and system levels.
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Important (Major) Components of an Institutional Assessment Plan
Establish Vision, Audience, Purpose, Goals
Analyze Your Overall Assessment System
Make Improvements to the Assessment system
Documenting Assessment for Accreditors and Others
Budgeting for Assessment
Follow-up and Strategic Planning
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Web-based Resources to Use As Guidelines in Assessment
Planning AAC&U –The Association of American Colleges and Universities' LEAP (Liberal
Education and America’s Promise) Project http://www.aacu.org/leap/vision.cfm
Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning: http://www.assessment.tcu.edu/assessment/aahe.pdf.
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Schools (NWCCU): http://www.nwccu.org/
Assessment Plan of Northwestern Illinois University: http://www.neiu.edu/neasses/pdf/GenEd_Assessment_Plan_FINAL_
APPROVED.pdf
League for Innovation in the Community College: www.league.org