Writing Effective Assessment Plans

1. Writing Effective Assessment Plans Office of Assessment and Accreditation Indiana State University

2. Why Assessment Plans? • Facilitates periodic, not episodic assessment of student learning and program outcomes • Serves as a management guideline • Leads to improvement in student learning • Enables faculty to play central role in managing student learning • Facilitates program review process

3. Who Is Involved in Organizing Assessment Plans? • Faculty (always central to each step in the process) • Program accrediting organizations • University expectations and mission statement • State and other government bodies (especially true of state institutions) • Professional community (employers, alumni, etc.)

4. What Are The Components of Assessment Plans? • First, clearly state objectives • Avoid complex statements—if objective contains more than one measurable item, then separate into different objectives • Consult faculty—do objectives reflect what you want to achieve? • Are the objectives achievable? • If accredited by a national organization, do the objectives address (or even match) the student learning outcomes or objectives communicated by such organizations? • Are the objectives measurable?

5. 2. Choose Assessment Methods Direct Assessments Examples—embedded questions, rubric evaluations of projects and other assignments, standardized tests, etc. Indirect Assessments Examples—surveys, student interviews, etc.

6. 3. Write It Down Objectives match general education objectives listed in catalog; might be improved by rewording as statements, such as “students will develop a capacity for independent thinking. Assessment one contains questions on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which were reviewed by general education coordinator and general education committee. Meeting minutes were collected to demonstrate that faculty (on the committee) were involved in choosing specific questions that assess specific objectives. Capstone course assessments will include rubrics. This column needs to be more specific about what the rubric will contain to assess the elements within each general education objective.

7. 4. Define Periodicity of Assessments • Periodicity means specifying when or at what cycles information will be gathered, organized, reported, aggregated, and reported to faculty • Most accreditation organizations frown upon assessments that are not regularly applied • It is usually best to put a column in the assessment plan specifying periodicity • It is important to show that the plan is worked according to periodicity

8. Example of Periodicity in Assessment System This department lists its assessments, the purpose of each, the nature of each assessment, and when the assessments are analyzed and when they are presented to faculty. Also listed are currently listed assessments in the final column. It appears that the emphasis here is to present all the assessments at one time. College of Education Graduate Programs Assessment System All of the assessments appear to be indirect, although this is the first page.

9. After Organizing the Assessment System • Faculty should play a part in organizing an assessment plan; a good idea is to organize the assessment system as a result of discussions at various faculty meetings; some departments and programs have held “assessment retreats” in which faculty have met for a couple of hours to design assessments systems and assessment instruments. • Ask employers, alumni, and even students to participate. They may often be able to provide insights about questions, question-wording, • Make sure to present final assessment system to faculty, and assure that they have had a hand in reflecting on the aggregate assessments • “Triangulate” assessments. That is, create and implement a few assessments that evaluate similar student learning objectives; this is why it is important to use both direct and indirect assessments of student learning