1. The assessment process For Administrative units
Steve Culver
Director, Assessment and Analytics
Fall 2017

2. WHAT IS ASSESSMENT? WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?
For administrative units, the assessment process provides the opportunity to systematically improve the
quality of their processes.
Focus is on meaningful outcomes.
Measuring those outcomes.
Examining the results in relation to established targets.
Developing plans for improvement.
Implementing those plans.
Evaluate resulting changes.

3. WHY DO ASSESSMENT? WHY DO ASSESSMENT?
Identify strengths and areas for improvement
Provide evidence for stakeholders, including regional accreditors
Highlight program contributions to stakeholders
Encourage collaboration within and among units
Create a unit vision and ideal
Encourage systematic review, particularly of critical functions, services, processes
BUT the PRIMARY REASON is to obtain data to improve
the unit, its functions and its processes, particularly as they relate
to the institution’s mission and strategic plan.

4. STEPS IN THE PROCESS: State administrative outcome to be assessed.
WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?
STEPS IN THE PROCESS:
Review unit mission/strategic plan and the core functions of the unit.
State administrative outcome to be assessed.
Identify an assessment methodology/measure.
Identify target. (what would be considered success?)
Share findings for each outcome addressed (% achieved, # met, etc.)
Reflect on findings and describe planned changes to be implemented.

5. WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?

6. STARTS WITH THE MISSION STATEMENT
A concise statement about the values and purpose of the unit.
What would your perfect unit look like? What does it take to achieve
a high level of performance?
You are already collecting measurements Why? How do these
relate to your mission or functions?
Consistent with institutional and college mission
Structure of an administrative unit mission statement: “The mission of (name of your unit) is to (your primary purpose) by providing (your primary functions or activities) to (your stakeholders).” Additional clarifying statements as necessary.

7. Checklist for Administrative Outcomes
Is it aligned with the mission statement?
Is it important to management and reflects key results of the unit’s work?
Is it possible to collect accurate and reliable data for the outcome, given existing resources?
Can it be used to identify areas to improve?
Can it be measured in more than one way? (ex: High quality results to requests as evidenced by a survey response from requestors served).

8. ADMINISTRATIVE OUTCOMES
Suppose you already have several measures for which you already collect data, e.g., # of reported crimes on campus. The outcome being measured is “members of the campus community will be able to operate in a safe and secure environment.” (a good outcome is stated so that it cannot be measured by a single method.)
Other examples
The admissions office serves as a link between higher education and the community to counsel and advise students, parents, and community members on the opportunities provided at the university.
The Office of the Registrar oversees the student registration process to ensure students are on the path to graduation.
The Bursar’s Office maintains accurate and timely processing for accounts payable.

9. WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A MEASURE
MEASURES
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A MEASURE
Compatible with the outcomes
Provide reasonably accurate, useful information
Information should be directly controllable by the unit
Data should not be difficult to collect or access
Examples include operational data, content analysis, point of service
assessment, national surveys, locally developed surveys
Results should be easily interpreted and unambiguous
Yield results specific enough to show where improvements could be made
Use methods that can assess both strengths and weaknesses
Use multiple methods
Direct and indirect
Direct measures – observable behavior
Indirect measures – infer, not directly observable

10. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR…..
MEASURES
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK FOR…..

11. METHODOLOGY MAPS CAN HELP WITH PLANNING:
MEASURES
METHODOLOGY MAPS CAN HELP WITH PLANNING:
An example of what an assessment methodology map might look like
Administrative Outcome
Direct Assessment Methods
Indirect Assessment Methods
Reported crime #’s
# of students using free rides after 8:00 pm
Focus group
Senior exit survey
1-year Alumni survey
Outcome #1: members of the campus community will be able to operate in a safe and secure environment.
Summarized every month
Report compiled at the end of each semester
Conducted every year, in the spring
Conducted by OSPIE in December & May
Conducted every three years

12. TARGETS
WHAT IS A PERFORMANCE TARGET?
Defines the unit’s achievement expectations for each outcome-method pair (a benchmark for judging success)
Is usually expressed as percentages or numbers expected
Is achievable but rigorous
Is realistic for the unit
Examples:
--- 95% of the results will be proposed, analyzed, and provided to the client within
two weeks.
--- The office of Research will receive an evaluation of satisfactory or above for
support provided by 90% or more of faculty who submitted grant proposals and
completed the assessment instrument.

13. ACTION PLANS
WHAT MAKES A GOOD ACTION PLAN?
Action plans:
Describe the changes a unit intends to implement to address deficiencies identified as a result of the assessment
Describe specific changes with timelines if possible
Should be discussed among all members of the unit, as applicable, to involve them in the improvement or planning process
Changes can be to processes, policies, procedures, the assessment process/measure

14. CLOSING THE LOOP
SEVERAL WAYS TO “CLOSE THE LOOP”
#1: Assessment results show that program has achieved its outcome.
Data were collected, results show outcome achieved given the specific target; program plans to continue to measure outcome in future assessment cycles.
#2: Assessment results show that program has not achieved its outcome.
Data were collected, results show outcome not achieved given the specific target; program developed/implemented action plan to improve performance; program examined impact of action plan by re-measuring and collecting data on outcome in a future cycle.
#3: Program has determined that the assessment plan is ineffective and needs to be revised.
Data were collected; program determined that plan was not accurately measuring the outcome or that outcome needed revision; program documented changes to be made in the plan and re-measured in future cycle.

15. REPORTING

16. Taskstream as the repository for our work
Reports due:
Assessment plans for the year - August 25th
Assessment results report - June 29th
Two major areas in Taskstream:
Standing Requirements
includes mission & outcomes
Annual Assessment Plan
includes assessment results report and assessment plans for the year

17. SUMMARY

18. QUESTIONS