Assessment Comes from The Classroom – Not the Administration Building!

Assessment Comes from The Classroom – Not the Administration Building!
Thomas W. Zane PhD Assessment Coordinator

Proposition If we agree that assessment is about learning and student success, then we must shift our focus from regional accreditation to the classroom.

Results to Date Assessment is a part of our normal teaching practice. Our model meets exceeds accreditation requirements. 80% of our departments/programs submitted assessment plans and reports last year. Most assessment reports included at least rudimentary descriptions of closing the loop.

Results: Closing the Loop Dance Department: Included a measure of students’ ability to memorize certain movements. Their benchmark was not achieved. They decided to modify how they trained their adjuncts. Business Marketing Department: Included measures of written communications quality. Found that students were weak with syntax. Decided to require the use of the communications rubric for most written assignments to encourage improvement. A Non-example: A department listed 15 outcomes. They presented grades showing most students were passing the courses. They cut and pasted into their interpretation column “No change needed” for all 15 courses.

Changed Our Philosophy Published a Model Provided Constant Support Overcame Misconceptions
How did we do it?

Assessment Philosophy Given: Faculty have been assessing student learning and providing helpful feedback for thousands of years. Faculty have always adjusted what they do in an effort to improve learning. Therefore: Assessment must matter to learning and program performance. Assessment is an organic, normal, and regular part of the teaching and learning cycle. Assessment is NOT an add-on activity.

Rules of the Road Assessment must provide meaningful feedback to students to support learning. Assessment information must be helpful for making decisions. Translation? If it doesn’t matter to you or your students – why do it?

How does it Work? --- SDDD(Same Data Different Day!) E-portfolio Assessment A sample of all signature assignments. Program Assessment Classroom data aggregated here. Classroom Assignments Almost every assessment measure starts here.

Ingredients for Success Focus on student learning and success. Not on accountability measures. Bottom up, not top down! Focus on mentoring faculty in pedagogy, assessment practices, signature assignment development, etc. Not on research methods, data collection, and reporting. Focus on providing faculty with many degrees of freedom to select the sorts of measures and other information that they value. Not on administration-selected measures. Focus on ongoing improvement. Not on compliance. Build a culture of trust and support. Not that other kind!

Institutional Steps for Success Assessment Coordinator meets one-on-one with every department each year. The Faculty Senate Learning Outcomes Committee, Faculty Teaching and Learning Center staff, and the Assessment Coordinator all provide ongoing help to individual faculty members . Assessment website provides simple just-in-time assessment development guides. www.slcc.edu/assessment Celebrate success!

Examples of Excellence

TheDetails

Extended Assessment Model

Schedule

Planning and Reporting

Documentation Website

Thomas W. Zane Assessment Coordinator tom.zane@slcc.edu All materials are available at: www.slcc.edu/assessment
Questions?

Assessment Comes from The Classroom – Not the Administration Building!