Each academic department, academic program, and general
education Collegiate Center unit of the College has developed an annual plan
for the academic assessment of student learning for continuous improvement. This assessment is also an integral part of a
regular cycle of departmental and program external evaluations. Each plan is available online in Faculty
Resources along with annual assessment reports and reviews by the Academic
Assessment Committee. Each plan is structured in accord with the
principles stated below.
Student Assessment Plans
For each academic department, academic program, and Collegiate
Center unit, the Student Assessment Plan [SAP] has the following
components:
- Learning Goals: We have standardized the expectations for
learning goals to ensure they are student focused. Statements that are faculty or program
focused are valuable descriptions of how student learning is achieved, but do
not constitute learning goals. Learning
goals also appear on the appropriate web sites for the department, program, or
Collegiate Center unit.
- Curriculum Mapping: Curricular mapping links each course that
contributes to major requirements to the department learning goals addressed in
that course.
- Plan for Gathering Information: The
SAP outlines a plan for gathering information.
For each learning goal, the assessment plan includes:
- At least one form of indirect assessment (measuring
students’ perception of their own progress through instruments such as student
surveys, exit interviews, etc.)
- At least one form of direct assessment (measuring faculty
perception of students’ progress through instruments such as rubrics for a
capstone, common course, or learning goal, standardized exams, etc.)
- A planned cycle for assessment of the goals (not all
goals are assessed each year).
- Copies of assessment instruments are included in the SAP.
The Academic Assessment Committee and the Committee on Faculty
monitors every SAP for consistency with campus-wide practices and for the
assurance of multiple measures of student performance. Solitary reliance upon graded course
examinations or projects and upon internally generated comprehensive
examinations is not acceptable.
Department and programs also have available graduate placement in
graduate schools and employment.
The Vision for Student Learning
The assessment of student academic achievement reflects and is
governed by this statement, and it is cited here as the basis for the
assessment of the College’s success in educating students. To the degree that
the graduate has realized this statement, the College has attained success. Measurements
of the degree of such success are used, through systematic procedures and
policies stated below, in the continual improvement of the College’s programs.