Academic Program Assessment

What Is Academic Assessment?

graphic circle graph about the stages of assessment Academic assessment measures the extent to which students have achieved expected student learning outcomes (SLOs) within an academic program. SLOs are expectations for what students should know at the end of an academic program. Assessment is one of the College’s methods of ensuring 1) its academic programs are effective and 2) its students are demonstrating the academic skills and abilities they are expected to have when they complete an academic program.

The assessment process requires faculty members overseeing an academic program to establish SLOs; map the curriculum to determine when assessments will occur within the major, minor, or program; select methods for assessing student learning; analyze the results of the assessment; and plan improvements to teaching and learning based on those results.

Principles of Good Assessment Practice

H-SC follows the Principles of Good Assessment Practice adopted by the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE) in 1992, which were reaffirmed in 2012 (Hutchings, Ewell, & Banta, 2012) and state the following:

The assessment of student learning begins with educational values.
Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time.
Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes.
Assessment requires equal attention to the outcomes and the experiences that lead to those outcomes.
Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic.
Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved.
Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about.
Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change.
Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and the public.

H-SC's Assessment Philosophy

Additionally, Hampden-Sydney has developed its own set of assumptions about assessment:

We collect and track data that are useful and relevant to the mission of this College.
Assessment is a collective effort and will be conducted at the institutional, program, and classroom levels. It will be driven primarily by faculty but funded, supported, and coordinated by the administration.
Academic assessment is used primarily for enhancing student learning and improving instruction.
We will employ multiple assessment methods including primarily direct measures of student learning (e.g., portfolios, performance appraisals, capstone assignments) and supplemental indirect measures of learning (e.g., self-reported estimates of progress, satisfaction ratings).
Assessment will lead to program improvement and increased institutional effectiveness.

As a member of institution of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, Hampden-Sydney College is required to complete academic program and administrative unit assessments.

Academic Assessment Procedures

Follow these procedures for completing academic assessment reports at H-SC

Assessment Procedures web page

Academic Assessment Process Training

a Power Point training/presentation describing the assessment process at H-SC

Assessment Process Training (ppt pdf)

Glossary

Common Assessment Terms

Assessment
The process of measuring what students know compared with what they are expected to know.

Curriculum Map
A chart showing when a program’s learning outcomes will be introduced, reinforced, and mastered by students in an academic program.

Student Learning Outcome
Knowledge and skills students will be able to achieve by the completion of an academic program.

Course Learning Outcome
Knowledge and skills students will be able to achieve by the completion of a course.

Tool
The assignment used to measure student learning that is often paired with a scoring tool, such as a rubric, used for evaluating the assignment consistently.

Method
The steps or process that will be taken to measure student learning (i.e., how the tool will be used).

Criteria
The components of an assignment or rubric used to measure student learning directly related to the SLO (i.e., the parts of a rubric that measure the SLO versus the overall score).

Rubric
A tool used to score assignments that explicitly states the criteria and clear expectations or standards for the student work.

Performance Targets
Thresholds or benchmarks that students are expected to achieve to demonstrate mastery of a learning outcome.

Analytic Scoring
Reporting an overall rubric score in addition to student scores on each section of the rubric, focusing on student performance on rubric sections specifically related to the SLO.

Holistic Scoring
Reporting a single score based on an overall impression of the work or performance (e.g., the overall grade vs. the individual components of a rubric).

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions about assessment

What is the purpose of assessing student learning?
The purpose of assessment is to determine and improve a program’s effectiveness. The goal is to measure student learning, identify gaps or areas needing improvement, and plan and implement improvements for instruction.

What are Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)?
SLOs are statements that focus on what students will be able to do or demonstrate as a result of their participation in a course, program, or activity (U of RI, 2017). A method to help clarify such statements includes asking the following questions:

What learning is being demonstrated?
How will the learner be different after completing said course/program/activity?
How will you measure this learning?

What is the role of student learning outcomes in assessment?
Assessing student learning outcomes provides a clear closing of the loop when looking at programmatic effectiveness as well as institutional effectiveness. Student learning outcome assessment should demonstrate that at graduation/program completion/course completion, students have acquired knowledge, a skill set, and/or specific abilities consistent with the mission and goals of said program and the College.

What counts as evidence of student learning?
There are numerous ways to assess student learning. Assignments that provide measurable results to show progress toward mastery of a learning outcome are considered direct measures. Examples of direct measures include quizzes or examinations (or embedded questions within an exam), essays and writing assignments, oral presentations, projects, artistic work or performances, lab reports, etc. Many assignments are scored using a rubric for consistency.

Indirect measures, such as surveys or course evaluations, can sometimes be used to supplement direct measures but should not be the primary measure of student learning.

Is “grading” the same as “assessment”?
Grades are not the same as assessment. A letter grade itself is too holistic. It does not pinpoint anything for continuous improvement. For instance, a grade of ‘C’ does not explain which concepts the student grasped in a course or those concepts the student did not master.

Student learning outcomes are very specific, assisting in identifying strengths and areas for continued improvement. A letter grade at the end of a course does not provide this type of information.

Can course evaluations be used for assessment?
No. Course evaluations usually focus on instruction and not student learning outcomes. It is possible to use course evaluations that focus on learning outcomes as an indirect assessment measure.

When should I assess student learning?
It is important to map curriculum to determine when each learning outcome will be introduced, reinforced, and assessed. Each learning outcome should be assessed twice. Once at the beginning of the major when the outcome is introduced to get a baseline of student understanding and again later in the major to show mastery of the learning outcome.

Who do I assess? - Declared majors or all students?
It depends. If there are enough declared majors within a program to provide an adequate sample size, instructors may only want to report scores for those students, especially in upper-level courses. However, if there are very few declared majors within a program, or if an assessment is given in a lower-level course which includes non-major students, it is perfectly acceptable to assess all students. In short, either is acceptable as long as the number of students is adequate and appropriate.