The 2003 Slippery Rock University
Report on Assessment Progress

Assessment is the process by which educational effectiveness is measured by relating institutional program missions and goals to actual student performance outcomes for the primary purpose of enhancing learning. The Assessment Workforce of Slippery Rock University has been addressing the assessment issue for the past five years, and has worked intensely to help the university community develop effective assessment systems. The documents accessible on this site reflect the collective efforts of some academic and student affairs programs to articulate student learning outcomes and to devise appropriate and effective means of measuring student achievement. 

The efforts of the Assessment Workforce have been part of a broader program underway at Slippery Rock University.  Members across the university community recognize they must be active players in this project to address an unevenly prepared student body. Faculty, students, staff, and management have decided how to define achievement in student learning, how to ensure it, and finally how to create a system by which degrees of success within programs are determined.  Student learning will be assessed and will be the indicator of the effectiveness of our major programs, our Liberal Studies program and our co-curricular programs as well. Each department has completed the process of deciding what system of assessment is most appropriate for their faculty, staff,  and students, and for their discipline.

The members of the Slippery Rock Community who have dedicated themselves to this project have done so for two reasons. First, we are convinced that we are best qualified to articulate the student learning outcomes which drive our programs, and to determine how student achievement of these outcomes can be most accurately assessed. Second, we believe that collaboration in the process involved in developing goals and modes of assessment can help all members of our community improve the programs we offer, as well as the teaching and learning that occurs at Slippery Rock University.  In this report we seek to document the progress that has emerged from our work. 

Evidence of Effective Assessment
Effective assessment processes should reflect these characteristics, according to T. Dary Erwin, in Assessing Student Learning and Development:

First, successful assessment programs involve many people in the process. The assessment effort at Slippery Rock University offered the opportunity for all members of the university community to participate in each stage of the process. In 1998, the State System of Higher Education awarded Slippery Rock University an Imperatives Grant for Assessment Planning.  The grant mandated we follow a "collegial” process to develop and implement an outcomes-based assessment process, and to measure student learning outcomes for general education, major programs, and co-curricular activities. Collegiality has been our method of final decision-making for five years, as the Assessment workforce has sought input from administrators, staff, faculty, and students

Collaboration within the Slippery Rock University community in the development of a collegial assessment model -- by sharing expertise and resources -- offered the opportunity for each academic and student affairs departments to participate in assessment activities and obtain the skills and knowledge necessary to develop and implement an assessment process they could not otherwise develop alone. There remains an untapped potential for the further development of collaborative assessment projects in terms of grants, research proposals, curricular embedded assessment for general education and major programs, co-curricular programs, and the development of direct and indirect assessment strategies.

Second, successful assessment programsidentify clear, assessable educational goals and objectives to direct both general studies and degree programs. Outcomes-based assessment is a process through which we establish student abilities, develop course outcomes that seek to build these skills, and ultimately, determine if we are indeed preparing students in the ways we say we are. The aim of this process is to clarify goals for students, faculty, and staff, and eventually, to provide feedback from which to demonstrate programmatic effectiveness, and to revise and rework curriculum. Students are given feedback about their programs' goals and their particular stage of development.  Faculty and staff are given feedback about how their programs are working to prepare students.

In 1999-2000 academic year, the Assessment workforce convened a campus-wide discussion to arrive at consensus on what learning outcomes we expect Slippery Rock students to achieve upon graduation. We identified eight University-wide Learning Outcomes to drive all academic and student affairs programs on campus. Eight taskforces were then convened to further articulate these outcomes and to identify means by which each of the eight university-wide outcomes might be assessed. Workforce goals included identifying abilities that would demonstrate student learning of the outcome and investigating tools of assessment regarding these outcomes and abilities.

Our approach has been to articulate degree programs in terms of student abilities expected upon graduation, how each course included in that degree program contributed to those outcomes, the criteria by which we would assess student attainment of those abilities, and finally, how we would assess if those abilities have been attained.   The hope is that through this process, we will continue to improve courses and degree programs by asking what specific skills and insights do we want our students to have and whether we are doing those things necessary to provide for their development. Once assessment plans have been fully developed and integrated, students will be more aware of (1) the specific abilities, skills, attitudes, etc. that are expected of them by their academic  major, and by the Liberal Studies program; and (2) how those skills and abilities are related to their current course work.

Third, successful assessment programs collect and tally data not just for compliance purposes, but as a method of conducting continuous assessment of student achievement of learning outcomes. The Assessment Workforce has identified, explored and recommended to departments multiple research methods appropriate to assess degree program goals and objectives, as well as co-curricular activities and programs.  The TracDat reports contained on this web site reflect a growing sophistication on the part of our departments in terms of identifying evidence of student achievement in learning.

We are aware that assessment is driven, in part, by external exigencies. Accrediting bodies and state legislators are calling for higher standards in education and clearer data for accountability; many of them see escalating costs and perceive a decline in students' academic accomplishment.  The efforts of the Assessment Workforce reflect the belief that the means which outside agencies hold us accountable should come emerge from a comparison of the student learning outcomes that drive our degree programs and the observations of student achievement from goals and criteria which faculty write into the curriculum.  While acknowledging the importance of accountability, the primary concern of assessment must be on ensuring educational quality through continuous improvement. The challenge to the university community is the integration of outcomes-assessment into the force that drives all curricular decisions on campus. Faculty and administration must support the ongoing review of curricula to insure that rigorous attention is being paid to the quality and currency of the degree programs we offer and to the Liberal Studies program.  We must be prepared to evaluate and revise courses in response to findings from the outcomes assessments and to emerging student and employer needs.

Finally, successful assessment programs establish a consistent process to collect, analyze and report assessment results.  Two important decisions have helped establish a consistent standardized assessment process on our campus. First, in the spring of 2001, the Assessment Workforce invested the remaining SSHE Imperative Grant monies to acquire Trac Dat software from Innervate, Inc. to aid in the development of departmental assessment plans and reporting of assessment outcomes on a university-wide basis.  Second, at the suggestion of then Provost Robert Smith, the Assessment Workforce established a grant program as incentive to academic and student affairs programs to invest their time and energies in creating this annual campus-wide reporting process. 

The State of Assessment 2002-2003

The goals of the Assessment Workforce for 2002-2003 were ambitious:

1)     Academic Programs and Student Affairs Departments must establish an assessment plan, demonstrating how they assess student performance to document the quality of its programs & execute that plan. Departments must address how they are using assessment to improve student learning.

2)     Academic Programs and Student Affairs offices will complete their integration of TracDat as the standard assessment reporting mechanism of the University

3)     The Assessment Workforce will aid the Liberal Studies Program Committee in the development of an Assessment Plan for the University Liberal Studies Program.

The results of this report confirm significant accomplishment in the first two goals:

•       27 of the 30 Academic departments submitted their Assessment Plans as part of the SRU Annual Department Reports of Assessment Progress.  All those departments reporting employed TracDat to do so.

•       17 of the 30 Academic departments have employed assessment methods to make qualitative observations regarding effective student learning. These departments submitted Assessment Impact Reports through TracDat as part of their Annual Report of Assessment Progress.

•       19 of the 30 Academic departments filed statements describing their assessment process and how that process was employed to improve student learning.

•       11 of 11 of Student Affairs departments submitted their Assessment Plans as part of the SRU Annual Reports of Assessment Progress.  All those offices reporting employed TracDat to do so.

•       7 of the 11 Student Affairs departments have employed assessment methods to make qualitative observations regarding effective student service. These offices submitted Assessment Impact Reports through Trac Dat as part of their Annual Report of Assessment Progress. 

•       9 of the 11 Student Affairs departments filed statements describing their assessment process and how that process was employed to improve student service.

While the goal of helping the Liberal Studies Program Committee to develop an Assessment Plan for the University Liberal Studies Program remains unrealized, there is reason for optimism. Members of the Workforce have met with the LSPC. It appears that the LSPC are prepared to adapt an outcomes-driven approach to revise that program. The development of an assessment plan for the Liberal Studies Program must be addressed early next year and remains the number one goal of the Assessment Workforce.

Moreover, it is now time to “do’ assessment, meaning that departments must revisit their assessment plans, fine tune them, and begin to apply them in a regular process to evaluate the effectiveness of their degree programs.  While the work performed to date is commendable, examination of these reports reveals varying levels of quality, lack or uniform reporting, continuing unfamiliarity with basic principles of assessment.

We have accomplished a great deal in the last five years. Much work remains to be done.

Thomas R. Flynn
Assessment Coordinator, 2002-2003