Assessment Plan

Academic Program:

 

Program Chair or Director:

 

Date:

 

Instructions:  Use this form to summarize your academic assessment plan.  Attach any documents that explain aspects of the plan in greater detail. Note: Begin with what you want to know: do students learn what you want them to learn? Do you have specific questions about your program that you want to answer? Assess what matters most to you and your department.

 

Example:

What students should learn[1]	How their learning will be assessed [2]	How results will be analyzed and by whom [3]	Assessment schedule [4]	See attached documents
Communicate in writing	Student portfolios	Curriculum Committee review at end of semester; writing rubric	Spring 2003, 2005, 2007	A: Portfolio directions for students B: assessment rubric
Solve problems	Capstone course project	Capstone instructors, end of semester; problem-solving rubric	Spring 2004, 2006, 2008	C: Project Instructions D: rubric
Apply knowledge to real world situations	Internship	Internship supervisor evaluations, reviewed by all Department faculty; specific applications evaluated	Every semester	E: Internship evaluation form
Know content of the field	Selected questions embedded in course evaluations	Reviewed by all Department faculty, using scale of 1-5 for each content area.	Results from three different courses reviewed each semester.	F: Sample test questions
Able to assess self reflectively	Exit interview	Notes of interviewers summarized for the faculty	Every spring semester.	G:  Key interview prompts
Perform successfully after graduation	Alumni survey	1st and 5th year graduates assessed by mailed survey	2005 and 2010	H:  Previous alumni survey

Note:  All results will be discussed with recommendations made by the entire faculty at the beginning of the Fall semesters.

 

[1] In the literature of assessment, these are usually referred to as “learning outcomes.”  If "learning outcome" is to jargony for you, think of it as "evidence of student learning." What should students be able to do, know, or value? However, you may really want to know the answer to a question you have about your program. E.g., Can our students solve a problem in our discipline if they've never heard of this problem before? Why aren't our students as committed to the subject as we'd like them to be? Can seniors write better than freshmen? And so on.

2One or more methods may be used for each learning outcome, question, or issue.  When possible, direct assessments of student work should be used for assessment, but indirect methods may help flesh out the overall assessment.  Direct methods include portfolios, work in capstone courses, embedded work such as research papers and examination answers, and student creative products such as art, dance, theatre, and writing.

3More than one faculty member should assess student work, not just the instructor of a course.  Methods might include evaluations using rubrics or written summaries or statistical analyses.

4Some assessments should occur every year, but not everything needs to be assessed every year.  Develop a cycle of assessment that might be one to three years long.  Allow additional assessments to be developed as additional questions arise about student learning.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                            Assessment Plan

Academic Program:

 

Program Chair or Director:

 

Date:

 

Instructions:  Use this form to summarize your academic assessment plan.  Attach any documents that explain aspects of the plan in greater detail.

 

 

What students should learn [6]	How their learning will be assessed [7]	How results will be analyzed and by whom [8]	Assessment schedule [9]	See attached documents