April, Right- and Left-handed Tools for all Seasons: A Toolbox of Useful Items to Embed a Culture of Assessment in General Education, Discipline-Level, and the Classroom. Ingrid PeternelPresented at the NCA Russ WatsonAnnual Meeting Peter KlassenApril 1, 2001 Jan GeesamanChicago, Illinois College of DuPage

April, Toolbox Assemblages for Classroom, Discipline and Program Assessment, Institutional Assessment of General Education, Communication, a route to building support

April, Classroom Assessment What are the tools? Angelo & Cross – Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, 2 nd ed. Faculty letter Report Form Hard Copy Online

April, Classroom Assessment How have we used them? Target: Full-time faculty Target: Part-time Faculty Credit Courses Continuous Cycle

April, Classroom Assessment What have we learned about making them work better? Modifying the form Schedule of Reporting

April, Discipline and Program Assessment Specific disciplines we have developed tools for multi-section offerings and discipline wide assessments: Sociology - Assessing sociological perspective, vocabulary, theory, and content accuracy. English Assessed for strengths and weakness on rubrics related to course content.

April, Discipline and Program Assessment Inorganic chemistry assessment used Am. Chem. Society Chem. Ed Exams to determine students were performing at levels of national norms. Biology Developed a pre- post- test model, also asked for hours working, hours studying per week, and whether they asked questions in class or visited profs during office hours.

April, Discipline and Program Assessment Established Discipline-Level ‘Contact Faculty’ to serve as liaisons between Assessment Committee and specific disciplines. An internal ‘mini-grant’ system through the ‘Innovation Incubator’ encouraging projects related to assessment and improving college-level reading skills.

April, Discipline and Program Assessment A two-purpose pre-/ post-test design in developmental writing classes and reading classes to: 1) Confirm appropriate placement in the class, and 2) to document student progress. Success rate comparisons among developmental course placements

April, General Education – the Challenges: (Defining general education) A very large churning student population Who’s designated as entering, exiting? How to get participation? Statewide and national comparisons of value added, and success

April, General Education – Design Responses: Use sampling of course sections to attain a representative sampling. Use a standardized instrument Focused on skills (not knowledge) With appropriate national norms Use local questions to gather subject responses Use a student tracking system to provide additional information about students

April, General Education – Implementation Responses: Connecting CAAP To General Education To instructional activity: skills as necessary tools, test validity Recruiting faculty cooperation Letter, phone, contacts Putting a “good” face on it Student cooperation Invitation Classroom testing Feedback Reward

April, Promoting cooperation and support Spearheaded by faculty Interlocking assessment with institutional organization Feedback to the college Dialogs, forms, discussions

April, Communication - the route to building support What are the tools? How have we used them? What have we learned about making them work better?

April, Contact Information Outcomes Assessment Committee College of DuPage – nd St., Glen Ellyn, IL Russell J. Watson, Ed.D. Jan Geesaman – Ingrid Peternel – Peter T. Klassen, Ph.D.