Student Support Services Assessment Plan

1. Student Support ServicesAssessment Plan Char Perlas Capella University December 10, 2007

2. Purpose of this Workshop “While many academic programs at community colleges are participating in learning outcomes assessment, fewer academic support programs such as learning centers are rigorously involved in assessment and evaluation efforts” (Hendriksen, Yang, Love & Hall, 2005, p. 56).

3. Why did you choose the field of Education? • Money? • Fame? • Popularity? or….. STUDENTS?

4. Historical Influences • Student Learning in College • Retention and Student Behavior • Evaluation and “Student Management” • Mastery Learning From Building a Scholarship of Assessment by T. Banta, 2002.

5. Philosophy of Assessment As a student-centered Staff or Faculty Member • When you hear the word assessment, what does that mean to you? • What is the difference between being teacher-centered and learning-centered?

6. Philosophy of Assessment Assessment is a technique for institutions to utilize that will allow them to: • Improve services • Achieve shared vision • Identify areas of accountability

7. Seven Good Practices in Undergraduate Education • Encourages contact between students and faculty, • Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students, • Encourages active (verses passive) learning, • Provides prompt feedback, • Emphasizes task on time, • Communicates high expectations, and • Respects diverse talents and ways of learning. Chickering & Gamson, 1987

8. Paradigm Shift Resistance Friedlander and Serban (2004) have identified four challenges to the implementation of assessment in community college setting: • Lack of evidence • Lack of Knowledge • Difficulty in gaining consensus • Difficulty in Implementing and sustaining a comprehensive SLO assessment effort

9. Roles of Assessment “We assess to assist, assess to advance, assess to adjust” • Assist • Advance • Adjust Ruth Steihl (2007), The Assessment Primer: Creating a Flow of Learning Evidence.

10. Goal of Assessment • Formative • Summative

11. Purpose of Assessment “Scholars and assessment professionals have argued that student assessment should not be an end in itself but should be used for educational and institutional improvement” (Banta, 2002, p. 26).

12. Mapping the Assessment Process 1. Mission of Student Services Program 2. Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) 3. Measurement 4. Results 5. Use of Results

13. Step 1: Mission of Program • Why does the College exist? • Why does your student support program exist?

14. Step 2: Outcomes “What do students need to be able to do OUT THERE that we’re responsible IN HERE?” -Ruth Stiehl, The Outcomes Primer

15. Step 2: Outcomes When developing SLO’s, keep in mind that outcomes should: • Be short-term (one semester or one year) • Describe what the program intends students to think, feel, or do • Use active, measurable words

16. Step 2: SLO’s • How do students demonstrate that they are achieving the purpose of the program? • What will they think, know, do, or feel because of a given educational experience?

17. Step 3: Measurement • How do we know that students are moving toward or achieving the program’s purpose? • What is the program’s criteria for success?

18. Develop, modify, or review a curriculum, course, program, or service. Develop Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) Determine refinements based on outcomes data.   Closing the Assessment Loop Design & Measure Student Learning as a result of the Curriculum, Course, or Program Collect, discuss, and analyze data. What are You Already Doing? Skyline College SLOAC, 2007

19. O’Banion’s Six Guiding Principles • The Learning College creates substantive change in individual learners. • The Learning College engages learners in the learning process as full partners who must assume primary responsibility for their own choices. • The Learning College creates and offers as many options for learning as possible. • The Learning College assists learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities. • The Learning College defines the roles of learning facilitators in response to the needs of the learners. • The Learning College and its learning facilitators succeed only when improved and expanded learning can be documented for learners.

20. Measurement Tools Measurement tools should promote student and staff feedback. The following are examples of feedback tools: • One Minute Paper • Muddiest Point • Revised Program Evaluation Forms From Learning-Centered Assessment on College Campuses by Huba & Freed, 2000

21. Step 4: Results • What did you observe? • How did the students perform on the measurement?

22. Step 5: Use of Results • How will you use your results to improve your program?

23. Evaluating Assessment Plans • Contains a balance of direct and indirect assessment methods overall. • Contains a mix of quantitative and qualitative measures overall. • Contains mostly formative assessments for mid-course corrective action. • Contains links between major assignments/activities and assessments. • Contains three different ways to assess each SLO. • Contains criteria that are based on realistic and meaningful benchmarks. • Contains a variety of assessment methods both tried and true and new. • Contains suggested approaches for sampling or systematically evaluating the student learning outcome.

24. Final Thought “Assessment involves “the systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and use of information to understand and improve teaching and learning…Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning” (Skyline College SLOAC Committee, 2005, p. 6).

25. Resources • Skyline SLOAC: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/skysloac/index.htm • Pasadena City College SLO: http://www.pasadena.edu/SLO/resources/ • California Assessment Institute: http://cai.cc.ca.us/Resources/index.htm

26. Thank you for attending! Before you leave, please fill out the assessment! For more information on this workshop including PPT presentation and handouts, visit: http://salsa.missioncollege.org/perlas/ Scroll to Presentations and click on: Student Support Services Assessment Plan(PPT) link Assessment Plan Handoutslink

27. References Banta, T. W. (2002). Building a scholarship of assessment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey- Bass. Banta, T. W., Black, K. E., Kahn, S., and Jackson, J. E. (2004). A perspective on good \practice in community college assessment. In New Directions for Community Colleges. 126, 5 – 16. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Periodicals. California Assessment Institute (n.d.). Resources. Retrieved November 24, 2007, from California Assessment Institute Web site: http://cai.cc.ca.us/Resources/index.htm Chickering, A. W. and Gamson, Z. F. (1997). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. Retrieved November 23, 2007 from http://learningcommons.evergreen.edu/pdf/fall1987.pdf Cuseo, J. B. (2003). Assessment of the first-year experience: Six significant questions. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from http://www.sc.edu/fye/resources/assessment/pdf/Cuseos6Qs-web.pdf Cushman, K. (1999). The cycle of inquiry and action: Essential learning communities. Retrieved November 10, 2007 from http://www.essentialschools.org/cs/resources/view/ces_res/ Friedlander, J. and Serban, A. M. (2004). Meeting the challenges of assessing student learning outcomes. In New Directions for Community Colleges. 126, 101 – 109. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Periodicals. Hendriksen, S. I., Yang, L., Love, B., and Hall, M. C. (2005). Assessing academic support: The effects of tutoring on student learning outcomes. Journal of College Reading and Learning. 35, 56-65. Huba, M. E. and Freed, J. E. (2000). Learner-Centered assessment on college campuses. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

28. References Joint Task Force for Student Learning, (1998, June, 2). Powerful partnerships: A shared responsibility for learning. Retrieved October 31, 2007, from ACPA College Student Educators International Web site: http://www.myacpa.org/pub/documents/taskforce.pdf','700','450' League for Innovation in the Community College. (n.d.) An assessment framework for the community college: Measuring student learning and achievement as a means of demonstrating institutional effectiveness. Retrieved May 15, 2006, from http://www.league.org/publication/whitepapers/0804.html Pasadena College SLO (2005). Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). Retrieved November 24, 2007 from Pasadena City College Web site: http://www.pasadena.edu/SLO/resources/ Maki, P. (2002).Developing an assessment plan to learn about student learning. Journal of Academic Leadership. 28, 1-2. Moorpark Community College. (2007) Program Improvement Toolkit 2007. Moorpark, CA: Moorpark College Assessment Committee. Stiehl, R. and Lewchuk, L. (2007). Assessment Primer. Blaine, WA: The Learning Organization. Stiehl, R. and Lewchuk L. (2007). Outcomes Primer. Blaine, WA: The Learning Organization. Skyline College SLOAC Committee (2005). The Skyline College SLOAC framework: An implementation guide for the student learning outcomes and assessment cycle. Retrieved November 18, 2007, from Skyline College Web site: http://www.smccd.edu/accounts/skysloa