Historical Perspectives Assessment at Highline Community College

7 Elements of Assessment Planning Mission Statement Goals Outcomes (Learning & Service/Program) Methodology Implementation Results Decisions/Recommendations

Accreditation Northwest Commission on Community Colleges and Universities seeking more from Instruction and the Student Services on assessment.

departments asked to assess relevant work

Landscape changes 1990’s Major Recession Institutions of higher education are accused of “failing to meet the needs of society for higher standard of education” (p. 108) Mallory, S.L. & Clement, L.M. (2009). Maintaining and modeling everyday ethics in student affairs. In G.S. McClellan, J. Stringer (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration (p. 108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

“What can our departments benefit from knowing more about?" Strategy “What can our departments benefit from knowing more about?" “How do we assess things that will advance our institution and mission?”

Guaranteed “When students’ experiences match their expectations they are more likely to be satisfied and persist” (p. 108) Mallory, S.L. & Clement, L.M. (2009). Maintaining and modeling everyday ethics in student affairs. In G.S. McClellan, J. Stringer (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration (p.108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

STUDENT AFFAIRS COUNCIL ASSESSMENT TASK FORCE F.A.C.T.S: Focused Assessment Collaboration Teams Assessment Task Force: All Student Services Assessment activities are coordinated by the Assessment Task Force under the leadership of the ATF Leadership Team directed by the Vice President for Student Services. The broader ATF committee has rotating membership of SS division members based on the needs of the active assessment activities.   Focused Assessment Collaboration Teams (F.A.C.T.S): The teams comprised of faculty and SS staff that work together to implement assessment initiatives. This is HCC’s method for strategically implementing assessment initiatives in the Student Services Division and is an answer to the national call for data driven decision making and accountability.

Assessment at HCC Today Seeking to broaden and deepen divisional assessment practice -This training is a component of this initiative and was based on a model implemented at Seattle University.

Benchmarking @HCC CCSSE, … What are the ways that these surveys are utilized/who uses them (which departments)

How we know how results compare to other results. How good is good? U.S. Geological Survey http://tahoe.usgs.gov Benchmarking How we know how results compare to other results. How good is good? Much like scientists measuring the changes in annual water flow into Lake Tahoe to monitor the health of the lake, and using the annual mean to determine whether the lake is historically high or low…institutions use benchmarks to understand how they compare to other peer institutions. i.e. Is this year’s rate of retention high or low? Is it average? Are we on track with national numbers? Benchmarking: is the systematic process of comparing an organization’s performance on key measures to the performance of others. This process typically emphasizes comparing one’s performance not just to a performance average but to an objective standard of excellence—Center for Community College Student Engagement http://www.ccsse.org/sense/resources/publications/SENSE_Benchmarking_and_Benchmarks_3-29-10.pdf

HCC benchmarks Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) Active and Collaborative Learning Student Effort Academic Challenge Support for Learners Student-Faculty Interaction Persistence Rates within Service Areas (are more or less students persisting?) Are there any others you use? There are national benchmarks (CCSSE) and there are internal benchmarks (persistence rates). Handouts CCSSE Benchmark handout is anyone measuring these variables? If so, it is possible to compare your results to a nationally recognized standard? Questions: Why would it make sense to measure variables that are monitored nationally? How might this benefit the institution?

Why do we assess our programs? Tying it all back to student success, and creating the best program(s) and environments for their success.

Questions?

Assessment time! Observation Group discussion questions: 1) What are benchmarks and what are some that are used at Highline CC? 2) What is the Assessment Task Force? 3) What do F.A.C.T.s do here at HCC? 4) Why is assessment important? Each module is set-up to model a different type of assessment at the end of each training. This assessment is of “observation”– Facilitator will observe the group discuss and answer questions to model this type of assessment method.

What’s next? Forthcoming training sessions: 1) Mission to Measures 2) Mastering Methods 3) Ethical Considerations 4) Data Resources at HCC (under construction) Each module is set-up to model a different type of assessment at the end of each training. This assessment is of “observation”– Facilitator will observe the group discuss and answer questions to model this type of assessment method.

References Mallory, S.L. & Clement, L.M. (2009). Maintaining and modeling everyday ethics in student affairs. In G.S. McClellan, J. Stringer (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration (p. 108). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. U.S. Geological Survey: http://tahoe.usgs.gov A big thank you to Seattle University Assessment Training Certificate program and the Divisional Assessment Working Group!