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?)