Program Assessment

Every degree and certificate program in the University is responsible for formulating goals stated as learning outcomes and conducting annual assessment reviews of some element of their academic program. These reviews are included in annual reports to the academic deans. While the precise number of goals/outcomes evaluated annually will vary by program, we expect that all goals/outcomes be addressed within a five year period. In addition to underscoring long-term planning, a summary evaluation of the program's annual assessments will serve as the basis for self-assessment in the department's Academic Program Review (APR) which is required every five years.

Some General Guidelines To Keep In Mind

In Student Learning Assessment: Options and Resources, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education makes a simple but important point about what to do as you begin the assessment. Learning goals must be defined before selecting assessment methods. They write:

The most important step in developing successful methods for evaluating student learning is to develop meaningful, clear, and realistic goals for student learning at the course, program, or institutional level. These goals or statements of expected student learning are different from the actual evidence or the data gleaned from evaluations of student learning. Goals are the basis for determining how best to collect, assess, and interpret the data in order to improve. Data collection not tailored to goals will not provide information about the achievement of desired student learning, nor will it lead to new approaches to teaching and learning. (Student Learning Assessment, p. 17)

Similarly, in “Curriculum Review: The Questions to Ask,” Robert M. Diamond and Lion F. Gardiner begin by identifying five basic components of a strong educational program that effective assessment both encourages and sustains. According to these authors, a quality education program must:

• Be consistent with its institution’s mission;
• Have clearly defined outcomes that it intends to produce;
• Use the best combination of learning experiences to help each learner achieve these results;
• Include an assessment process that shows whether the results are being achieved; and
• Use the findings of assessment to improve program effectiveness.

Our Program Assessment Resources page provides a range of resources to help department chairs and program directors as they develop, revise, refine, or even simply reaffirm their program goals in terms of desired learning outcomes for students.