Fall 2015 FaCET Conference Ruth E. Cain, Ed.D., Director of Assessment It’s Not Just a Numbers Game: Using Assessment to Enhance Student Achievement Fall 2015 FaCET Conference Ruth E. Cain, Ed.D., Director of Assessment

It’s Not Just a Numbers Game: Using Assessment to Enhance Student Achievement Assessment results are a means to an end, rather than ends in themselves. The assessment process is incomplete until the results are used to improve student learning (Kinzie, Hutchings, Jankowski, 2015).

Why We Assess Assessment helps us make sure that we are fulfilling the promises we make to our students and to society (Suskie, 2010; Finley, 2014) Institutional: mission and values statements; Institutional (general education) learning outcomes Department / program mission statements and SLOs Individual course SLOs

Ensure we are delivering on what we care about: that students get the best possible education, and they learn what is important: institutional and program outcomes. Ensure that learning is of appropriate scope, depth, and rigor

Three questions to answer through assessment: What have our students learned? Are we satisfied with what they’ve learned? If not, what are we going to do about it? (Eder, 2010)

The Foundations Mission Educational Goals Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) – measurable and cognitively appropriate Identify assessment methods Planning annual assessment cycles Identify targets for achievement (what is “good enough” in terms of student achievement in the aggregate) Data collection

Hatfield, 2011

Using the Results to Inform Changes – Action Plans “The final stages of any assessment and improvement plan involves taking action on results and then going back to assess whether or not this action was effective” (Kinzie, Hutchings, Jankowskie, 2015, p. 58). Action Plan tracking – use function in Weave (completed, in progress, not implemented) and describe results Avoid the tendency to collect more data – more data are not necessarily better.

The Assessment Cycle Easy Hardest Harder Identify SLOs and Methods Collect Data Analyze Data Share Results Identify and Implement Changes Assess Impact of Change Easy Hardest As you think about the assessment cycle – which task are easy to accomplish? Which are hard? Which are the hardest? Harder From Kinzie, Hutchings, & Jankowski, 2015, p. 17.

Assess the Impact of the Changes Identify SLOs and Methods Collect Data Analyze Data Share Results Identify and Implement Changes Assess Impact of Change Easy Hardest The relative ease of assessment activity – of planning, identifying outcomes, and collecting data – contributes to a tendency to overemphasize the collection of data and ignore the use of evidence. The final stage of any assessment cycle is to take action on the results and then assess whether the action was effective in improving student learning. Harder From Kinzie, Hutchings, & Jankowski, 2015, p. 17.

Case Studies Examples of programs that have made programmatic alterations to improve learning and are assessing the impact of the change: BA in Studio Art BA in Political Science BA in History BA in Criminal Justice and Criminology BA in English – Creative Writing Emphasis MA in Music Therapy   Divide in groups; each take a case; discuss and then present

Questions: What outcomes were being assessed and how? What did the assessment results indicate concerning student achievement? What, if anything, did the program do to improve student learning? Has the program assessed the impact of the programmatic alterations? If so, what do the results indicate?

References Finley, A. (2014) Assess for Success Conference. Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN. Hatfield, S. (2011) Facilitating and coaching assessment. Presentation at Indiana State University. Kinzie, J., Hutchings, P., & Jankowski, N. (2015). Fostering greater use of assessment results. In G. Kuh, S. Ikenberry, N. Jankowski, T. R. Cain, P. T. Ewell, P. Hutchings & J. Kinzie (Eds.), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (pp. 51-72). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Suskie, L. (October 26, 2010). Why are we assessing?, Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/layout/set/pring/views/2010/10/26/suskie

Questions? Ruth E. Cain, Director of Assessment cainre@umkc.edu 816-235-6084