Developing an Institutional Assessment Plan: Product and Process Bruce P. Szelest Winter Workshop - January 20-21, 2005 Saratoga Springs, NY Association of Institutional Research and Planning Officers

Assessment and the Changing Rules of the Game NYSED Quality Assurance Initiative, Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness, Part-52 ( ) Report of the Provost's Advisory Task Force on the Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (2000) Assessment in the major General Education assessment Middle States Characteristics of Excellence (2002) Institutional assessment – Standard 7 General education – Standard 12 Assessment of student learning – Standard 14 Strengthened Campus-based Assessment (2004)

UAlbany Needs Assessment Re-focus and put primary emphasis on student learning outcomes Leadership and direction from Academic Affairs Develop more systematic assessments of institutional effectiveness Write an Institutional Assessment Plan Build a pervasive culture of assessment

UAlbany Needs Assessment Leadership and direction from Academic Affairs Director of Assessment Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies for General Education Assistant VP for Strategic Planning and Assessment Provost’s Assessment Advisory Committee (PAAC)

Goals: Participate in drafting Institutional Assessment Plan Work with the Vice Presidents and Deans to create organizational structures to implement and support assessment within each division by: By virtue of 1 st two goals, MSCHE role General Support for Assessment: Assessment Inventory Identify and disseminate best practices Develop and maintain website Maintain document library Assist as able in implementation of divisional assessment plans

UAlbany Needs Assessment Re-focus on student learning outcomes Embed assessment in the major within the academic program review process Partnering with faculty governance General Education Assessment Subcommittee Council on Academic Assessment

UAlbany Needs Assessment Develop more systematic assessments of institutional effectiveness Build on long history of episodic and targeted assessments of issues of institutional import Convince student support and administrative units across VP divisions that they need to meaningfully engage assessment Create linkages between assessment and planning and budgeting Develop a body of evidence of how assessment results are used

UAlbany Needs Assessment Write an Institutional Assessment Plan Work through the PAAC

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS Vice Presidential leadership Dean Leadership Role of University Senate Councils The Provost’s Assessment Advisory Committee FOCAL POINTS OF INTROSPECTION Assessments of Student Learning Institutional Level Outcomes General Education Outcomes Academic Program and Course Level Outcomes Assessment of Institutional Effectiveness in Research, Public Service, Academic Support, and Administrative Linkages Between Assessment and Planning and Resource Allocation Organizing Assessment Activities

All Assessment Plans Should: 1.Identify goals and objectives both within the framework of the institution's mission and in terms of program goals; 2.Develop qualitative and quantitative metrics, and a timetable for their implementation, to determine whether goals and objectives are being achieved; 3.Include provisions for incorporating assessment results into operations; 4.Document processes of evaluation and improvement; and 5.Detail plans for communicating assessment plans and how assessment results are used to campus constituencies.

Institutional Assessment Plan (IAP) Highlights 1.Assessment in the major and Gen Ed already in place. 2.Each VP division will have an assessment plan that describes how their division supports and measures the achievement of institutional goals. 3.Undergraduate and Graduate Deans responsible for developing assessment plans for University-wide programs in their areas 4.Plans for Academic Affairs divisional plan to incorporate deans and school/college assessment plans to encourage their active participation – and benefit from their insights on support operations. 5.Divisional plans should include a detailed listing of units that will develop unit assessment plans, timetables. 6.Divisional and unit assessment plans, and annual activity reports, will be shared with appropriate University Senate Councils and campus constituencies to promote collegial review of assessment processes and promote community awareness of assessment efforts. 7.Provost’s Assessment Advisory Committee is charged with annually reviewing and promoting this flow of information.

UAlbany Needs Assessment Build a pervasive culture of assessment All of the above, and then some…

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