Assessing Administrative and Educational Support Services Southwest Texas Junior College August 2006 by Mary Frances Gibbons mgibbons@dcccd.edu

First Decisions Institution must: Determine which units are organizational and which units are instructional support Consider the participation of the outsourced services (bookstore, food services, janitorial services) Institution still responsible for these. Begin with a clear timeline for all groups

Assessing Organizational and Instructional Support Services Organizational services provide services that maintain the institution and are essential to its operations, but do not impact directly the institution’s instructional programs. Examples: Accounting Office, Office of the Registrar, Physical Plant Department, etc.

Assessing Organizational and Instructional Support Services Educational support services are those that, while not primarily instructional in nature, contribute directly to student learning or instruction. Examples: Academic Advising Center, Library, and Information Technology. Each focuses on services that relate directly to students and often are part of the institution’s overall learning environment or process.

Unit Assessments Units identify the services they wish to assess; assessment may lead to improving processes Examples: --Administrative and academic units will receive their monthly accounting reports during the first five business days of the month (Accounting Office) --Students will have their transcript requests filled in two business days (Admissions Office)

Unit Assessments Unit assessment objectives describe what client will do after receiving the service Examples: --Students will be able to use library’s reference services efficiently (to use three different databases correctly) (Library) --ESL students will be able to communicate easily with their reading tutors (Tutoring Center)

Unit Assessment Follow a systematic process for assessing unit services Document both the process and the use of results for implementing change

Unit Documentation Report May include: 1. Institution’s mission statement and goals and the relationship of unit’s role to these 2. Unit’s service objectives 3. Means of assessment and criteria for success for service assessed 4. Summary of data collected from assessment 5. Use of results

Reasons Why Your Group Should Participate in Assessment Satisfy regional accrediting agencies Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): As part of an overall process of improving services State Mandates Competition: To attract students by providing better institutional services

Suggested Steps for Assessing Your Services Formulating Unit Assessment Plan: 1. Establish linkage to institution’s statement of purpose. Identify which portion of the Expanded Statement of Institutional Purpose (college’s mission statement and goals) your group supports. 2. Establish your group’s mission statement --List the services you provide --Identify the recipient of those services 3. Formulate organizational/instructional support objectives for your group 4. Identify your group’s means of assessment and criteria for success

Suggested Steps for Assessing Your Processes, cont’d. Moving from Planning to Implementation and Use of Results 5. Conduct assessment activities --Collect and analyze the results 6. Document and demonstrate use of results for service improvement

Step 1—Establish a Linkage to the Institution’s Statement of Purpose Identify which portion of the Expanded Statement of Institutional Purpose your unit supports

Career Center (Example) Institutional Mission/Goal Reference: (Goal 6) … The College will continue to develop leadership and to instill in its students a sense of justice, moral courage, and tolerance for the views of others…improve admissions, academic, career, and placement counseling. Unit Mission Statement: …to assist students in transition from academia to the world of work by preparing students for life after graduation…The Career Center offers services that include: career counseling; three classes for academic credit, workshops, and seminars on career-related subjects; assistance with resume writing and interviewing; and opportunities for part-time jobs, internships, and full-time jobs.

Institutional Missions Statements: What’s Found Institutional Missions Statements: Most often these provide no place where organizational/educational support units can show they support the purpose of the institution

Step 2—Establish a Unit Mission Statement Column 1 Describe the services your unit provides and identify the recipients of those services (the clients for whom you provide these services). Evaluate this mission statement annually for appropriate changes.

Preparing Unit Assessment Plans What is the Focus of the Assessment Effort? To Improve services

Step 3—Formulating Intended Organizational/Educational Support Objectives/Outcomes Column 2 Answers Question: How does your unit know you are accomplishing your purpose and improving your services?

The 2-3 Chosen Objectives are the Key to the Assessment Plan Related to the Services the Unit provides (linkage to Unit Mission Statement) Focus of your Assessment Plans Statements indicate those areas for which you want more information Will lead to improvement of unit services Within control of unit

Formulating Organizational/Instructional Support Objectives Organizational and instructional support objectives Refer to: Currently existing services Rather than: Administrative Planning Activities— Future Actions

Step 4—Means of Assessment and Criteria for Success Column 3 Answers Questions: What will provide your unit with information concerning accomplishment of the objective? What level of success will be sought?

Types of Attitudinal Assessment Standardized: Noel Levitz (institution can add questions appropriate to its mission and goals) Locally Developed: Alumni surveys, graduating students, employers, points-of-contact surveys

Primary and Secondary Criteria for Success in Unit Assessment Primary: The minimum overall rating or score (response your unit would identify if your services are functioning as you feel they should) Secondary: The minimum item or scale-score rating (response within the primary or overall measure below which your unit would want to investigate to determine how to improve services)

Step 5: Analyze Results Review the results of your primary and secondary assessment means Analyze your assessment results to determine what you might want to change in your approach to achieve your goals Special note: Include a second means of assessment only if it seems appropriate

Step 6—Assessment Report Document your results in your Assessment Report. Remember: Documentation is key! If you don’t write it down, then it never happened.

Implement Changes to Reflect Results Goal—to improve, not to prove! Implement changes in your approach that address your assessment findings Assessment process requires annual evaluation