Download
1 / 27
270 likes | 284 Views
Learn how AUBG assesses quality through input, process, and outcome evaluations. Explore standards and advantages in the quality management program.
E N D
From Inputs to Process to Outcomes: the Quality Management Program at the American University in Bulgaria Steven F. Sullivan Dean of Faculty
Assess Inputs • Does the meat have the correct weight, fat content? • Is there the correct amount of cheese? • Are the other ingredients according to the recipe?
Advantage: If the inputs necessary for a quality product are not there, the quality cannot be there. Disadvantage: Having the inputs doesn’t guarantee that the output is high-quality. Standards may lag behind changes in technology Input-based assessment
Process Evaluation • Was the meat cooked for the right amount of time at the right temperature? • Does the restaurant observe the limits on holding time? • Was the sandwich packaged correctly?
Does process evaluation guarantee high quality? • Following the correct processes ensures that the actions taken are those that were intended, but doesn’t guarantee that the desired outcome was achieved.
Outcome assessment • Were the organization’s goals achieved? • Are society’s goals achieved?
AUBG’s assessments of quality • External Constituencies • New England Association of Schools and Colleges (US accreditation) • National Evaluation and Assessment Agency (Bulgarian accreditation) • Employers • Donors
Internal Constituencies • Board of Trustees • Students • Parents
NEASC (US Accreditation) The institution’s academic programs are consistent with and serve to fulfill its mission and purposes.
NEASC (continued) • The institution works systematically and effectively to plan, provide, oversee, evaluate, improve, and assure the academic quality and integrity of its academic programs and the credits and degrees awarded. • The institution develops the systematic means to understand how and what students are learning and to use the evidence obtained to improve the academic program.
Advantage: you set out to measure the very objective your organization is striving to achieve. Disadvantage: It’s hard! Outcome assessment
Do we engage in the processes that reflect our goal to accomplish the institutional mission? • Do we monitor our success in graduating students? • Do we evaluate our students’ career success after graduation? • Do we take steps to ensure that the quality of our academic programs are upheld? • Do we monitor student, faculty, and institutional performance and take appropriate steps to improve performance?
NEAA Criteria (Bulgarian accreditation) • 1.2. HEI performs procedures for developing, approving, observing and renewing the educational documentation (qualification descriptions, curricula, syllabi) • 3.2. HEI ensures professional level, qualification and development of academic staff • 3.2.2. Ensures the normative minimum of habilitated teachers appointed
Example: allocation of resources to fulfill academic mission
Academic Planning • Faculty member’s observation: “I feel like my obligation to try to reach out to the bottom 15% of the class drags down my whole class. Why are these students even taking my course?”
Response • 2010-11 Academic Catalog: • Upper-level required courses in Business Administration (those numbered 3XX and 4XX) are available only to declared Business Administration majors. To be qualified for declaring the Business Administration major, a student must earn a 2.5 GPA in the first four required Business Administration courses – BUS 203, BUS 208, BUS 209, and BUS 210.
Conclusions • Assessment occurs throughout the institution • Types of assessment include inputs, processes, and outcomes • Facts and data can (and should) be collected to support the decision-making process • A commitment to quality requires that decision-making be driven by relevant data.
