Transcript So We Have to Do Assessment, Now What?

Making Assessment Count: How to
Develop a Useful and Practical
Assessment Effort
2012 MSACROA 82st Annual Conference and Meeting
Gladys Palma de Schrynemakers
Long Island University
Double Session
Part I: The Context of Assessment
Part II: How to Create A Useful and Meaningful
Assessment Effort
Climate of Assessment
The Context for Assessment
1980’s : The Gathering Storm:
Robert Zemsky and William Massy –
Academic Ratchet and Lattice
Change Magazine
1996: U.S. News and World Report
“ The trouble with higher education is it remains a labor-intensive
service interest industry made up of stubbornly independent and
mutually jealous units that support vastly underused facilities. It
is a more than 200 billion-a-year economic enterprise, and often
regard efficiency, productivity, and commercial opportunity with
hauteur with which Victorian aristocrats viewed those in trade.”
(U.S. News and World Report, 1996, 91)
The Federal Government Chimes In
 Higher Education Act 1998: Establishes a National
Commission on the Cost of Higher Education
“ Academic institutions need much better definitions
and measures of how faculty members, administrators,
and students use their time.” ( National Commission on
the Cost of Higher Education, 1998, 20)
Four Recommendations
 Academic institutions to control costs and increase productivity.
 Provide leadership that will develop better consumer
information about costs and prices and to improve accountability
to the public.
 Governments will develop new approaches to academic
regulation, approaches that emphasize performance instead of
compliance, and differentiation in place of standardization.
 Develop well-coordinated , efficient accrediting process that
relate institutional productivity to effectiveness in improving
student learning.( National Commission on the Cost of Higher Ed., 1998, 1517)
A Test of Leadership: Charting the
Future of Higher Education
Spelling Report 2006
“ We believe [in] improved accountability...information should be
available to students, and reported publicly in aggregate form to
provide consumers and policymakers an accessible,
understandable way to measure the relative effectiveness of
different colleges and universities. (Spelling Commission, 2006, 4)
Then what?
The assessment movement led all six regional
accrediting bodies to requiring institutions to provide
evidence of
1. Assessment of Student Learning
2. Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness
3. Systematic Strategic Planning
Higher Education Opportunity Act
Consumer Education Information Provided to Institutions
HEA Sec. 433A
• Guaranty agencies must provide schools with high-quality educational
programs and materials to
provide training for students and families in
o Budgeting
o Financial management
o Debt management
o Financial literacy
• Materials shall be simple and understandable to students and families
• Provided before, during and after enrollment in higher education
• Guaranty agencies may use existing activities, programs and materials to
meet these
requirements
• Guaranty agencies may provide these materials to Direct Lending Schools
So What is Assessment Anyway?
Assessment is any effort to gather,
analyze, and interpret evidence which
describes institutional, divisional or
agency effectiveness.
Upcraft & Schuh, 1996
Why Assess in Student Services?
 Provides us with data about student learning and/or
program improvement
 Provides evidence of institutional effectiveness
 Allows decisions to be evidence based
 Provides us with information for resource allocation
 Offers evidence for accountability, accreditation, and
best practices
Why do we have to do
this?
What is assessment
anyway?
We collect so
much data, I don’t
want to reinvent
the wheel!!!!!!!
Where do I start?
How do I organize it
all???!!!
Why Do Assessment?
External
Factors
Internal
Factors
Important
Factors
•Federal and State Requirements
•Meet Accreditation Standards
•Strategic Planning
•Budget Planning
•Institutional Effectiveness
•Improve student learning and engagement
Student Learning and Engagement
“…an institution can increase the likelihood that students will
experience college as a seamless web of learning across
classroom and out-of-class settings by linking programs and
activities across the academic and out-of-class dimensions of
students' lives and removing obstacles to students' pursuit of
their academic and personal goals. ”
Student Learning Outside the Classroom: Transcending Artificial Boundaries by George D. Kuh, Katie Branch
Douglas, Jon P. Lund, and Jackie Ramin-Gyurnek.
What is Assessment?
Ask a Question
Make changes
based on the
analysis of
information
Analyze the
information
Determine best
way to collect
information
Collect the
information
George Washington University, Assessment Tool Kit
Where do I Start?
Who are you? Your Office
Mission
The mission of the Office of the University Registrar is:
• to support the academic mission and purpose of the University;
• to provide information and academic services to the University community in an
efficient, user-friendly manner while ensuring accuracy, integrity, and
confidentiality of academic records;
• to provide exemplary service by continually improving our business processes for
registration, scheduling, academic records, degree audit, and related functions;
• to effectively communicate procedures and responsibilities for the successful use
of our services; and
• to adhere to policies and model the highest standards of the registrar profession.
Ohio University
The Office of the Registrar for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences is
dedicated to providing the best possible services to meet the
needs of the Harvard College and Graduate School communities.
The office is the steward of student records from the point of
matriculation to the conferral of the degree. It offers a wide
range of services to faculty, students, and members of the
administration in the areas of academic records, student status,
registration, course enrollment, publications, classroom
assignments, and administration of final examinations. The office
supports teaching and learning within the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences by administering the various academic policies of the
College and the Graduate School.
Harvard University
Goals
Goals are a framework for determining the more specific
objectives of a department, and should be consistent with the
mission of the department and the mission of the institution.
Sample Admission Goals
 Provide accurate and useful information to perspective
students.
 Enroll admitted students and help them transition into the
University
Objectives
Objectives are brief, clear statements that describe the desired
learning outcomes.
Goal 1: Provide accurate and useful information to prospective
students.
Objectives:
1.1 Send written correspondence to student explaining each step
of the admissions process
1.2 Counselors will respond to applicants via phone, e-mail,
personal contact to reinforce admissions process
Measure
Measures are the ways to assess student learning
Direct Measures: Direct measures of assessment require students to
represent, produce or demonstrate their learning.
Indirect Measures: Indirect measures of assessment represent
students’ impressions or opinions about their learning.
Now What?
Analyze data
Direct Measure
Outreach
Telephone Calls
E-mails
Personal Contacts
Number of Successful
Attempts
Percentage of
Conversion
Indirect Measure
Survey of converted students
CH-CHANGE!!!
Time to Play!
STEP ONE
 Think about your institutional mission/culture
 Think about your department and how it fits into that
culture
Write down one or two goals that would connect to those
two thinking points.
STEP TWO
 Find five people and sit together!
 Share your 1 goal
 Help each other develop one objective
and one direct measure for that goal
STEP Three
Share!!
One person from each group report
on group work
Final Note
Be S.M.A.R.T. about Assessment
Specific/Simple
Measurable/ Meaningful
Attainable
Result Oriented
Timely
Resources
Middle States Commission on Higher. Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education.
Education. PA .2006.
Higher Education Opportunity Act was approved by the Senate and House of
Representatives on July 31, 2008. The President signed the bill into law on August 14,
2008.
Kuh, G. ,K. Branch Douglas, J. P. Lund, and J. Ramin-Gyurnek. Student Learning Outside
the Classroom: Transcending Artificial Boundaries(1995). Jossey-Bass. CA.
Middaugh, M.F. (2010) Planning and Assessment in Higher Education Jossey-Bass. CA.
Spellings Commission. A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of Higher Education.
The Report of the Secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, 2006.
U.S. News and World Rankings Best Colleges 1996
Zemsky, R., and W. Massy. “ Cost Containment: Committing to a New Economic
Reality.” Change 22, no. 6 (1990): 16-22