Writing an Effective Assessment Plan
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Transcript Writing an Effective Assessment Plan
Writing an Effective Assessment
Plan
Administrative and Academic
Support Units
February 2015
What is Assessment?
Act: Use what
you've learned.
Revise or reinforce
your plans, make
improvements,
change your
measures or targets
as needed.
Check: Measure
your progress
against
performance
targets and analyze
results.
Plan: Define your
mission, identify
outcomes, and
develop measures
and performance
targets
Do: Conduct your
work in accordance
with division and
unit strategic plans.
Step 1: Define your mission
• Three or four lines of text that clearly and
concisely communicate WHAT you do, WHY you
do it, and HOW you do it
• “The mission of (name) is to (purpose) by
providing (functions) to (stakeholders). These
(services, etc.) contribute to the university’s
mission by….”
Step 1: Define your mission (cont.)
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Is it brief? Distinctive?
Does it clearly state the purpose?
Does it indicate the primary function?
Does it say who the stakeholders are?
Does it clearly support the university’s mission?
Step 2: Identify outcomes
• Operational outcomes
▫ End result for (on impact on) a
customer/stakeholder or the institution that is a
consequence of your work.
▫ Directly related to the mission and key
responsibilities; stable from year to year
▫ Describes ends, not the means; “big-picture”
▫ Beneficiary + action verb + benefit=outcome
“Eligible employees will have the information they need to
make appropriate decisions regarding employee benefits
packages.”
Step 2: Identify outcomes
• Strategic outcomes
▫ Reflect future expected results based on a planned
activity
▫ Written in future tense, closely tied to strategic
goals, consistent with operational outcomes
“Over the next year, the Registrar’s office will improve student
access to services by expanding hours of operation.”
Step 2: Identify Outcomes
• Learning outcomes
▫ Relate to student learning
▫ Describe the key knowledge, skills, or abilities that
students attain as a result of a learning experience.
▫ “Upon successful completion of ---, students will
<action verb>.” Must be observable, measurable.
“Students will identify correct academic requirements for
their major.”
Which should I use?
• It depends. Can use a combination of the three.
• Check:
▫ Are they aligned with the mission statement?
▫ Are they important to the university/division and
reflect key results?
▫ Is it possible to collect accurate and reliable data?
▫ Can they be used to identify areas to improve?
Step 3: Measure outcomes
• First: Develop measures
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Must relate to the outcome directly and clearly
Must be objective and avoid structural bias
The process is documented, systematic, and impartial.
What are you already doing?
Direct v. indirect
Direct measures examine actual results.
Indirect measures examine perceptions related to that
outcome.
Must use multiple measures to examine each outcome,
one of which should be direct.
Step 3: Measure outcomes
• Institutional Data Sources
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MAYS (Students)
MAYS (Faculty and Staff)
CIRP Freshman Survey
NSSE
Graduating Student Survey
Alumni Survey
Factbook
Great Places to Work
Step 3: Measure outcomes
• Second: Set targets
▫ How do you define success? What is the minimum
result that will represent achievement of the
outcome?
▫ Should be challenging but realistic
Step 4: Collect data
• Look at what you already collect.
• Plan: What kind of data is needed? What needs
to be done? Who is responsible? When and how
will it be collected?
Step 5: Analyze results
• What do these results mean for your unit?
• Why did you/did you not reach your target?
• What does this tell you about
strengths/weaknesses?
• Which strategies were successful?
• What will you do differently going forward?
▫ Each issue that is identified needs to have an action
plan to improve performance. If 100% target was
achieved, how will you raise the bar?
▫ What resources will be needed, who is responsible,
when will actions take place?
Planning
September
Division: Using
the university’s
strategic plan,
develops and
presents to units
goals for current
year onwards.
October
November
Unit: Develops or
revises
assessment plan
for current year,
sends plan to
Division.
University: UAC
reviews previous
year’s assessment
reports and sends
feedback to
Division.
Division: Compiles Division:
and reviews unit
Communicates
plans and send
feedback to units.
division-wide plan
to PIE. Formulates
appropriate
budget requests,
based on strategic
plan and
assessment results
from previous
year.
University: PIE
reviews plans and
sends feedback to
divisions.
December
University: UBC
reconciles budget
requests with
projected budget
Unit: Responds to
feedback as
required.
Data
Collection
January-May
Unit: Implements
current year
assessment plans,
collects data, and
analyzes results.
Units may also
collect data at
other points
during the
academic year, as
appropriate.
University: PIE
forwards results
of institutional
surveys to units
Reporting
June-July
Unit: Prepares
assessment report
and forwards
results to Division.
Division: Compiles
units' assessment
reports and
analyzes results;
sends report to
UAC (July 31).
Unit Assessment Report 2014-2015
Previous Academic Year
Outcomes
Planned Improvement
Current Academic Year
Progress on Implementing Improvement
Outcome 1:
Relates to divisional goals:
Method 1: (Each outcome should be Target:
assessed using at least two
measures, and at least one of these
measures should be a direct
measure.)
Results: (Detailed discussion of
results, charts, tables, etc. can be
included in the “analysis” section
below.)
Method 2:
Results:
Target:
Analysis of Results and Implications: (List all data sources used, discuss the results for each method used,
describe what analysis of the results indicates, and provide and other relevant information.)
Planned Improvements: (List specific actions intended to improve the unit’s effectiveness. Each result should
have an associated improvement. If 100% of the target has been met, what will the unit do to reach the next
level?)