Transcript Slide 1
Mission-Based Approach to
Using Assessment to
Improve Student Learning &
Institutional Effectiveness
Session #1813
A Shared Enterprise: Assessment as a CrossCampus Strategy for Improving Student
Learning and Retention
June 2007
St. Louis, Missouri
Your Assessment Panel
Beth Anderhub, Professor, Diagnostic
Medical Sonography
John Cosgrove, Director of
Institutional Research, Planning &
Assessment
Ed Fliss, Assistant Professor, Biology
Larry McDoniel, Professor, English
Bob Serben, Director, Center for
Business, Industry, and Labor
Donna Wallner, Professor, Nursing
Recent History of Assessment At SLCC
In 1999, SLCC responded to the
North Central Association’s call for
greater use of assessment data to
improve teaching and learning by
developing and implementing a
Five-Year Assessment Plan.
The Five-Year Plan focused on
course and classroom assessment.
SLCC Assessment Model (1999)
Assessment Process (1999)
Nichols’ 5-Column Model
St. Louis Community College
Mission Statement
St. Louis Community College expands minds and
changes lives every day. We create accessible and
dynamic learning environments focused on the
needs of our diverse communities. The College
accomplishes this mission by providing programs
and services related to transfer education, career and
technical education, general education, basic skill
development and remediation, workforce
development and continuing education, and
personal and academic support.
Remodeling SLCC Assessment
In 2002, the College implemented
new programmatic approaches to
career and technical education,
developmental education, and
general education.
The shift to increased programmatic
approaches required the College to
once again examine its assessment
efforts to ensure that they aligned
more closely with our mission areas.
With the continuous examination of
assessment efforts the College was
well-positioned to move forward
when its five-year assessment plan
expired in 2004.
A Mission-Based Approach To Using
Assessment To Improve Student Learning
Outcomes And Institutional Effectiveness
Model’s Core Components
This approach “persuades” us to
Assess What Our Mission Claims
Identify “Most Important” Aspects
Provide Consistent, User-Friendly, SelfService Access To Data/Information
Through Decision Support Tools
Create An Environment For Thoughtful
Interpretation of Data/Information
Create An Environment For Action
Assess How We Assess As Well As
What We Assess
Mission-Based Assessment Committees
Career & Technical Education
Developmental Education
General Education
Institutional & Student Support
Services
Transfer Education
Workforce & Community
Development Education
Assessment Support Committees
Divisions &
Departments
Governance
Internal & External
Communication
Mission-Based Assessment Committees
Key Processes
I DID Process
INQUIRE — What Do We Want To Know?
Define the specific area or student learning
outcome to be assessed.
DISCOVER — What Do We Know? Identify
data sources and methods of assessment,
and collect assessment data.
INTERPRET — What does the information
tell us? Analyze and share the results of
the data.
DEVELOP — What actions do we plan to
take? Use results to design strategies to
improve student learning outcomes and
institutional effectiveness
Mission-Based Assessment Committees
Key Processes
LAASIE Process
Listen, Look & Learn — Specify what needs
to be examined.
Act — Determine how to address the issue
under examination.
Another Look — Examine the data collected
and analyze results.
Share The News — Report what was
learned.
Improve & Celebrate — Use the data to
make improvements.
Excel — Integrate changes into the unit or
program’s ongoing operation.
St. Louis Community College
Assessment Vision
Assessment Vision
SLCC collects and uses assessment
data to improve student learning,
academic achievement, and
institutional effectiveness.
Mission-Based Assessment Projects
Divisions and Departments
Assessment Projects
Mission-Based Student Learning
Outcomes
Developmental Education:
Mission-Based Assessment Committee
Project
Inquire
Identify diagnostic criteria for students
unlikely to be successful in developmental
courses?
Discover
Examine data for students who test into
base-level English, Math, Reading courses.
Interpret
Analyze data related to student enrollment
and learning outcomes.
Develop
Establish a task force to design and
implement alternative academic/life skills
coursework and/or career pathways
Developmental Education Assessment
Committee Recommendations
Alternative Academic Life-skills Programs
Sustained Orientation/First year experience
curricula and support services
Workforce Literacy programs with
certification in job-readiness skills
Individual attention/Individual Case
Management intervention support for at-risk
students
Directed advising and enrollment protocol
and support procedures
Service-learning instructional and jobreadiness curricula with work-based
internships
Learning communities for at-risk students
Institutional & Student Support Services:
Mission-Based Assessment Committee Project
Listen, Look & Learn---28% of the fall, new to higher
education cohort do not return for the spring term and
50% do not return for the following fall term.
Act---The College participated in the Community College
Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) project to help
better understand student engagement at SLCC.
Another Look---On four of the five CCSSE dimensions,
SLCC was below the national index.
Share The News---CCSSE results were widely shared on
all 3 campuses and within the College’s governance
process.
Improve and Celebrate---CCSSE results are being used as
part of division assessment efforts and to improve
SLCC’s student orientation program.
Excel---Changes are being made and CCSSE data
will be collected again in spring 2008
SLCC & National CCSSE Dimension Results
Support For
Learners
50
51.7
Academic
Challenge
50
48.2
Collaborative
Learning
50
47
Faculty
Interaction
50
47
Student Effort
50
48.2
0
20
40
National
SLCC
60
80
100
SLCC CCSSE Student Satisfaction Results
Disabilities
45.1
8.6
Transfer Asst
55.7
17
Student Org
24
9.6
Comp. Lab
43.6
Finan. Aid
Child Care
60.9
26
28.2
6.1
Skill Labs
40.8
19.8
Job Placement
37.8
7.1
Career Counseling
48.4
15
Academic Advising
62.3
27.4
0
% Very Important
% Very Satisfied
46.8
26.4
Tutoring
57.2
20
40
60
Percentage of Students
80
100
Division and Departments:
Assessment Support (Campus) Projects
Liberal Arts Division: Embedded
Classroom/Course Assessment Related To
Gains In Students Critical Thinking and
Writing Skills.
Math, Science, Engineering & Technology
Division: Course To Course Assessment
Related To Student Learning Outcomes In
Science and Math Courses For Students
Who Started In Developmental Math
Courses.
Business, Human Development, and
Nursing Division: Assessment of Graduate
Skills Levels in Math and Reading for
Information Using ACT WorkKeys.
Mission-Based Student Learning Outcomes
Career and Technical Education
61 percent of the career graduates
are employed in a related field within
6 months of graduation.
89 percent of employers say they
are either more than satisfied or
very satisfied with the overall job
preparation of SLCC graduates.
92 percent of employers report that
the preparation of SLCC graduates
was the same or better than
graduates from other colleges.
Mission-Based Student Learning Outcomes
Transfer Education
One year after transferring, 90
percent of students who transferred
reported a four-year GPA that was
similar or higher than their SLCC
GPA.
89 percent of the students who
transferred reported that their
transfer college accepted their 100
level or above SLCC courses.
Institutional Research and Planning’s
Assessment Toolbox
The Assessment Information
Toolbox helps identify data
sources, collect assessment
data, and interpret and share
assessment results.
Data/information is available
through static reports or
dynamic queries using the
Hyperion (BRIO) decisions
support system tool.
The toolbox provides a
common data source for
faculty, staff, and
administrators related to each
mission area.
The “So-What” Institutional
Assessment Model
Assessment
Data Collection
Confusing
Activity With
Achievement Is
Never A Good
Thing!
Assessment
Data Reporting
Value Of Mission-Based Approach
To Assessment
Creates A Unifying, Central Theme For
Assessment
Makes Assessment Everyone’s Business
and Encourages Cross-Campus Sharing
Encourages Thoughtful Interpretation to:
Improve Teaching and Student Learning
Outcomes
Improve Student Support Services
Advance Institutional Effectiveness
Document Appropriate Outcomes To
Constituencies
Assessment: The President’s Role
Demand Mission-Based Assessment
Create and Support A Culture of
Inquiry Based Upon Thoughtful
Interpretation of Data
Create and Support A Culture of
Action & Improvement
Recognize Accomplishments and
Improvements
Assessment Requires Leadership and Action
Assessment is 90% mental
and the other half is physical.
I wish I had an answer for that
because I am tired of
answering that question.
In your assessment process,
when you come to a fork in
the road—take it.
Assessment is like traveling,
if you don’t know where you
are going, you will wind up
somewhere else.
You Can Observe A Lot Just By Watching
St. Louis Community College
Assessment Resources
John Cosgrove, Director of Institutional
Research, Planning & Assessment
[email protected]
League for Innovation in the Community
College “Leadership Abstracts” (Oct 2006)
http://www.league.org/publication/leadership
/issue.cfm
St. Louis Community College Assessment
Home page
http://www.stlcc.edu/assessment/
“Assessment Tools to Improve Outcomes,”
The Business Officer (May 2007)
http://www.nacubo.org/x2443.xml