1. Bridging Silos Building Assessment Culture and Capacity

2. Outcomes for Today Participants will be able to:
Articulate why co-curricular assessment is critical within student affairs
Identify barriers to building assessment culture
Diagnose your institutional readiness for assessment within student affairs
Identify one action step you will take on your home campus

3. Our Mandate: Standards 5 and 8
5.20. Through a program of regular and systematic evaluation, the institution assesses the appropriateness and effectiveness of its student services to advance institutional purposes. Information obtained through this evaluation is used to revise these goals and services and improve their achievement. 8.4 The institution with stated goals for students’ co- curricular learning systematically assesses their achievement.

4. Co-Curricular Assessment
There has been a longstanding relationship between learning outcomes and accountability for higher education.
The Student Affairs profession has been and continues to be under considerable pressure to demonstrate its importance and worth.
Student affairs practitioners have felt increased pressure to conduct assessments as a way to provide evidence to compete for resources and answer questions of importance, rationale, and end results of programs.

5. Assessment, Evaluation, and Research: Basic Competencies
One should be able to:
Differentiate among assessment, program review, evaluation, planning, and research and the methodologies appropriate to each
Effectively articulate, interpret, and use results of assessment, evaluation, and research reports and studies, including professional literature
Facilitate appropriate data collection for system/department wide assessment and evaluation efforts using up-to-date technology and methods
Assess trustworthiness and other aspects of quality in qualitative studies and assess the transferability of these findings to current work settings
Assess quantitative designs and analysis techniques, including factors that might lead to measurement problems, such as those relating to sampling, validity, and reliability
Identify the political and educational sensitivity of raw and partially processed data and AER results, handling them with appropriate confidentiality and deference to the organizational hierarchy; and
Align program and learning outcomes with organization goals and values

6. What’s the Problem? Over-reliance on national benchmark surveys
Top down directive (accreditation visit coming!) rather than bottom up (continuous improvement framework)
Disconnected from overall campus (academic) assessment efforts
Large focus on satisfaction and needs
Lack of expertise to conduct assessment of student learning

7. The Changing Mandate of Student Affairs: Learning
Responding to a revised, broader understanding of learning that integrates development
Mapping and supporting learning inside and outside classrooms
Engagement of students in active, transformative learning
Identifying and ameliorating barriers to learning
Shift from satisfaction to student learning
Sources: Keeling and Associates, LLC. 2006; Schuh and Gansemer-Topf, 2010

8. Learning Outcomes Assessment
Outcomes assessment is the most valid way of demonstrating the effectiveness of services, programs, and facilities, especially in defending and promoting higher education, and also in meeting accreditation standards. It is also the most difficult, complex and misunderstood of all the assessment methodologies.
(Upcraft & Schuh, 1996)

9. What are the Learning Opportunities?
Community service
Service learning
Learning communities
Internships
Study abroad
Immersion trips
Tutoring
Discipline systems
On campus employment
Participation in student clubs and organizations
Residential living
Peer mentorship programs
Retreats
Recreational sports

10. Typical Barriers within Student Affairs
Additional work – “another thing we need to do”
Time/staff restraints
Difficult to coordinate
Lack of expertise
Concerns about “unscientific” or “non- valid” studies
Fear of over assessing or survey fatigue
Results not shared, benefits not realized
Fear of negative findings or consequences
Getting started
Lack of enthusiasm from key constituents
Source: Campus Labs

11. What staff really think…
It’s just additional work
We don’t have time
I don’t know how to do it, but I don’t want to admit that
I’m afraid that negative findings will reflect negatively on me
I don’t know where to start

12. Building Assessment Culture

13. Conditions needed to create a culture of assessment:
Trust
Assessment must be “doable.”
Commitment
Support

14. Strategies to build trust:
Start by assessing a component of student life as a whole, not just at individual units.
Set up the process so that the amount of effort required is relatively small and less of a risk.
Use relevant examples to explain how programs used the information gained to enhance their programs (i.e. Marketing funds used to purchase more plasma screens, increase tutoring hours at night/Sundays)
Tell staff clearly that assessment results will not be used to evaluate staff.

15. Strategies for making assessment doable
Start small
Team up with a colleague
Map and utilize your campus resources

16. Strategies to develop support:
Identify those who are interested in assessment.
Empower them to identify barriers and strategies to overcome them.
Provide professional development opportunities to build capacity.

17. Strategies to develop commitment:
Generate and celebrate short-term wins
Provide opportunities for staff to share results
As a senior leaders, participate in assessment projects and value work done by making data- driven decisions (actions speak louder than words)

18. Keys to Success Senior Student Affairs leadership Strategic goals
Build capacity and competency
Systematic approach
Start small and build – not everything at once
Use data to make decisions
Share results
Celebrate assessment

19. √ Assessment Checklist My Institution’s Student Affairs Division:
Provides assessment professional development opportunities
Has an assessment committee
Uses data to inform decisions
Has senior leadership that expects, supports, and encourages assessment
Embeds assessment in annual reports and performance appraisals
Uses a common assessment language
Provides easy-to-access resources (e.g. data, assessment tools, people, technology)
Identifies measurable learning outcomes
Has a strategic plan/goals
Has a dedicated staff member for assessment
Recognizes and celebrates assessment work

20. Lessons Learned Challenges
The importance of starting small, anxiety reduction
Build gradually
Accept small wins as legitimate progress
Consult with experts (e.g. Campus Labs)
Have a champion at the highest level
It’s okay to not know something
Be prepared to change course as needed
Must have buy-in and support from department directors
Must maintain momentum – assessment is not a fad and is not going away
Use the data that you collect
Hold people accountable

21. Taking Action
What is your top priority for moving forward on assessment within your student affairs division?
What are your next steps?
Who needs to be involved?

22. Questions/Discussion
Your learning on assessment continues with an overview of some specific techniques widely used in assessment, from formative techniques, surveys, focus groups, and rubrics. We will then review interpreting your data, reporting and sharing the results, and deciding if and how to adjust your program based on the data.