Internal Assessment and Development

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Internal Assessment and Development

• Jan M. Shane
• Wednesday, August 2, 2006
• Pathways to Leadership Workshop

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Opportunities for Internal Assessment

• Specialized accreditation self-studies
• Program Reviews and other on-going institutional
  assessment requirements
• Special university initiatives (i.e.
  reorganization studies)

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Program Review

• Typically mandated but not always utilized well
• Occurs at the program and/or unit level
• A report is submitted to the institution and
  (possibly) a state board

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Program Review

• From the University Perspective
• Evaluates the quality of an academic unit and
  its degree programs
• Affirms units current status and future plans
  are congruent with those of the College and
  University
• Informs budget planning and decision making at
  the unit, college and university level
• Reports on the strengths and weaknesses of unit
  and degree programs.

5
Program Review

• From the Department/program Perspective
• Engages faculty and administration in a process
  that validates academic rigor and program
  viability to internal and external audiences
• Identifies strengths and weaknesses of the unit
  and programs
• Periodic opportunity for rigorous self-evaluation
  to advance program excellence.
• Allows unit to identify strengths and weaknesses.

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Principles of good practice in PR

• Should be both critical and constructive
• Should be linked to institutional priorities
• Must be faculty-driven
• Unit should determine its own quality measures
• Should be outcomes-based and evidence provided

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Principles of good practice in PR

• Always begin with a thorough self-study
• Look at SLOs early in the self-study
• Appoint a senior faculty member to help
• Ensure faculty, student and alumni participation
• Other offices to work with
• Library
• Institutional research
• Grants and contracts office
• Assessment office

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Appropriate use of data for PR

• What information do you need to help tell your
  story?
• Office of Institutional Research
• Enrollment trends, profile of major, degree
  trends, graduation rates, discipline costs,
  studentfaculty ratios, faculty profile.

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Appropriate use of data for PR

• Grants and Contracts Office
• External submissions and awards
• Funding amounts
• Faculty participation in interdisciplinary grants
• Honors program
• Faculty participation
• Majors enrolled in honors

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Appropriate use of data for PR

• Assessment Office
• Alumni surveys, national surveys
• Library
• Collection size, relevant data bases. Journal
  holdings, library instruction sessions by course
• National data
• FAEIS
• Delaware study

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Program self-study

• Program/unit
• Describe the program characteristics,
  uniqueness
• How is unit/program central to mission of
  institution
• Describe planning processes (long- and
  short-range plans for curriculum, facilities,
  equipment, hiring) and attach plans

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Program self-study

• Program/unit (cont.)
• Facilities
• Academic advisement and career counseling
• Library
• Accreditations (recent findings by accreditor)
• Students
• Student demand
• Career placement
• Profile of majors
• Honors program participation

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Program self-study

• Faculty
• Indicators of faculty quality
• Natl reputation of faculty
• Indicators of quality teaching
• Overview of scholarly work of faculty
• Diversity of faculty
• Typical faculty assignments

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Program self-study

• Curriculum
• Rationale for curriculum
• Coherence of curriculum
• Summary of recent curricular changes
• Reference the SLP Assessment Plan
• Goals and quality measures of the program
• Indicators of quality in the discipline
• Peer comparison programs for each quality
  indicator

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Program self-study

• Recommendations
• Identify strengths and areas for improvement
• Make recommendations and incorporate into
  planning documents

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Accreditation Trends

• Regional more emphasis on general education,
  comparisons between institutions, no co-ed left
  behind
• Specialized more emphasis on critical thinking
  and connections between general education and the
  major, evidential

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A final question

• What are the most significant issues facing
  higher education at a national level?