The Intersection of Assessment, Accreditation, and Accountability: Faculty Unite! Teeanna Rizkallah, Ph.D Chair, Assessment and Educational Effectiveness Committee (CSUF) XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Town and Gown… XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Some definitions…. Assessment – Enhancing student success through program evaluation Accreditation – Incentivizing program development through self-study Accountability – Demonstrating program effectiveness to external stakeholders XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Accountability…. Accountable to who? Students Alumni Community Funding sources – Private – Public Accountable for what? Quantitative measurements – Enrollments – Access – Retention – Graduation rates Qualitative – Personal and social growth XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Accountability…. What level of accountability? Description Explanation Justification Who should provide the account? What are the consequences of providing an account? XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Accountability…. Competing goals (academic) Increasing access to underrepresented groups Innovative (i.e., experimental) pedagogies Research & external grants competition Improved performance regardless of student preparation Competing goals (external) Elected leaders Oversight boards and agencies (i.e., accrediting bodies) Students & parents Ranking systems Competition against new educational systems (MOOCs; for-profit education) XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Assessment…. Student achievement must be measured on a “valued [sic] added” basis that takes into account students’ academic baseline when assessing their results. This information should be made available to students, and reported publicly in aggregate form to provide consumers and policy makers an accessible, understandable way to measure the relative effectiveness of different colleges and universities. - US Department of Education, Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2005) XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Assessment…. But…isn’t assessment about enhancing student success through program evaluation? XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Accreditation…. Public/private accrediting was considered Too private Too process oriented Too little interested in bottom line competencies Recommendation: “A more transparent, outcomes-based, and accountable accreditation system based on student performance.” - US Department of Education, Commission on the Future of Higher Education (2005) XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Accreditation… But…isn’t accreditation about incentivizing program development through self-study? XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Indicators of quality Five Dimensions of Quality (Suskie, 2015) 1.Relevance 2.Community 3.Focus and aspiration 4.Evidence 5.Improvement XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Indicators of quality Relevance Integrity – Put students first – Meeting the needs of key stakeholders – Keep our promises – Serve the public good Stewardship – Ensure the college’s health – Deploy resources effectively – Deploy resources efficiently Community People – Respect – Communication – Collaboration – Collegiality Leadership – Focus on college’s best interests – Interactive leadership – Ongoing development XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Indicators of quality Focus and aspiration Purpose – Who are we (as a college)? – Why are we? Goals and plans – Where are we going? – How will we get there? Successful students – Who are they? – Where are they going? – What helps them learn? XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Indicators of quality Evidence Gauging student success though measurements Choosing measurements that are useful Setting and justifying (defining) targets for success Sharing evidence with stakeholders (transparancy) Improvement Recognize and celebrate successes Use evidence to – Enhance program quality – Deploy resources effectively – Refine goals and targets Value community – Value efforts to change – Don’t overvalue perfection – Regroup and reflect XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

And finally… DOCUMENT IT! and OWN IT! Faculty can and should control assessment efforts, especially those that lead to accreditation, to ensure input into the accountability conversation! XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Town and Gown, married at last? XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF

Sources…. Drisko, J.W. (2014). Competencies and their assessment. Journal of Social Work Education, 50, DOI: Feingold, R.S. (2013). Vision in an age of accountability. Quest, 65(4), DOI: / Hoffman, E. (September 2013). Ratings, quality, and accreditation: Policy implications for educational communications and technology programs in a digital age, 57(5), DOI: /s Rabovsky, T. (2014). Support for performance-based funding: The role of political ideology, performance, and dysfunctional information environments. Public Administration Review, 74(6), DOI: /puar Rasmussen, P. and Zou, Y. (2014). The development of educational accountability in China and Denmark. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 22(121). Suskie, L. (2015). Five dimensions of quality: A common sense guide to accreditation and accountability. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. XIX Assessment Conference - CSUF