effective assessment practices project

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1 Effective Assessment Practices Debra Johnson Consultant Kaplan University 10/25/2011

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Strategies for Effective Assessment Practices in Higher Education

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Page 1: Effective assessment practices Project

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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