Assessment Report School of TAHSS Department: African and African American Studies Chair: Dr. J. Roger Kurtz Assessment Coordinator: Dr. Michael Boston Date of Presentation: 1 October 2013

What was assessed? Student learning outcomes list: 1.Articulate the purpose and history of the field of African and African-African American Studies, and its proclivity to offer a corrective to mainstream representations of Africa and Africans. 2. Interpret the Africana experience by applying methodologies and perspectives in African and African American studies. 3. Identify key themes on how race, ethnicity, class and gender impact issues in African and African American Studies from a variety of disciplinary approaches. 4. Analyze the historical experiences of African people on the continent of Africa and in the Diaspora, underscoring crucial themes relevant to their experiences. 5. Analyze the literary expressions and contributions of African people on the continent of Africa or in the Diaspora, including analysis of seminal literary treatises from ancient times to the present. 6. Analyze the experience of African people on the continent of Africa or in the Diaspora from the perspective of the social sciences. 7. Apply the skills and knowledge acquired in their studies to practical use, such as going on for further study or serving as agents of change in their own settings and communities.

How was the assessment accomplished? Student work assessed in three essay questions in two classes: ESSAY QUESTION 1 (in AAS 104 Institutional Racism): Requires students to describe the implementers, the structure, and the legal building blocks of South African apartheid, based on specific materials presented in class. ESSAY QUESTION 2 (in AAS 429 The Civil Rights Years): Requires students to select a specific civil rights or nationalist group from the 1960s and describe how it would respond to a report on employment discrimination in Rochester NY. ESSAY QUESTION 3 (AAS 429): Requires student create an argument about the impact of the Black Nationalist Movement on the Civil Rights Movement during the period

How was the assessment accomplished? Measurement strategy: Question 1 requires students to demonstrate knowledge of the historic experience of South African Apartheid and to evaluate that experience from the Africana perspective. Question 2 measures students’ ability to articulate the Africana perspective on a key moment in U.S. history (the 1950s and 60s). Question 3 measures students’ knowledge of the Black Nationalist Movement and its effect on the Civil Rights Movement from the period , and to assess the interaction of those movements from the Africana perspective. Essays were graded on a scale of points. Sample size: Question 1 = 27 students (all eligible) Question 2 = 16 students (all eligible) Question 3 = 18 students (all eligible)

Actual assessment data Target = 70% of students will obtain a grade of 70% or better Question 1 (AAS 104 Institutional Racism): Percent exceeding = 60 Percent meeting = 4 Percent approaching = 18 Percent not meeting = 18 Question 2 (AAS 429 The Civil Rights Years): Percent exceeding = 50 Percent meeting = 44 Percent approaching = 6 Percent not meeting = 0 Question 3 (AAS 429 The Civil Rights Years): Percent exceeding = 33 Percent meeting = 56 Percent approaching = 11 Percent not meeting = 0

Assessment results: What have the data told us? The students in AAS 104 Institutional Racism (Question 1) did not meet the benchmark, with only 63% of students earning a grade of 70 percent or greater. The students in AAS 429 The Civil Rights Years (Questions 2 & 3) met the benchmark of the Department of African and African American Studies, with 94% and 89% of the students achieving a grade of 70 percent or better.

Data-driven decisions: How the department has or plans to “close the loop” based on these results. Data reveals that students in a 400-level course were able to “interpret the Africana experience by applying methodologies and perspectives in the field” to a greater extent than students in a 100-level course. This suggests several possibilities: Students achieve higher proficiency in this skill as they progress through our program and the College. Students in lower-level courses may need more instruction in applying the Africana perspective to specific historical experiences. Lower-level students may need more training in how to discuss and evaluate historical institutions and structures. We might institute more in-class activities requiring students to examine the differences and similarities between two or more organizations that embraced similar methods to solve their problems versus organizations whose outlooks and methods clashed, or more in-class activities could also be done compelling students to deeply analyze and enumerate strong and weak points concerning strategies articulated and implemented by leaders and organizations. We may wish to consider restructuring AAS 104 Institutional Racism as an upper-level course.

What resources were used or have been requested to close the loop? The “close the loop” recommendations above do not require additional resources. The department is discussing the methods and timing for implementing these recommendations during the Fall 2013 semester.