Program Assessment Steps

Robert M. Diamond writes in Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: “A quality education does not happen by chance; it requires careful planning, skilled teaching, and an overall structure that ensures that every student has the opportunity to reach the goals of the program in which he or she is enrolled.” The task of assessment at the department or program level is to measure our success in designing courses and curricula, to document how well plans produced their intended outcomes, and how well those outcomes in turn serve the larger enterprise of the university and its aims for academic excellence.

Assessment itself depends upon good planning. This website is designed to help programs and departments design and implement an assessment plan that will produce valuable information to guide and help direct your program in the coming years.

GW's model for assessment is an iterative cycle which includes the following steps:

1. Set program goals and outcomes;
2. Develop and implement assessment strategies (design tests, assignments, reports, performances, etc.) that gauge the types and quality of learning you expect;
3. Review the assessment data with an eye towards improving student learning; and
4. Create an action plan that addresses issues raised by assessment data.