1. Fall 2015 FaCET Conference Ruth E. Cain, Ed.D., Director of Assessment
It’s Not Just a Numbers Game: Using Assessment to Enhance Student Achievement
Fall 2015 FaCET Conference
Ruth E. Cain, Ed.D., Director of Assessment

2. It’s Not Just a Numbers Game: Using Assessment to Enhance Student Achievement
Assessment results are a means to an end, rather than ends in themselves. The assessment process is incomplete until the results are used to improve student learning (Kinzie, Hutchings, Jankowski, 2015).

3. Why We Assess
Assessment helps us make sure that we are fulfilling the promises we make to our students and to society (Suskie, 2010; Finley, 2014)
Institutional: mission and values statements; Institutional (general education) learning outcomes
Department / program mission statements and SLOs
Individual course SLOs

4. Ensure we are delivering on what we care about:
that students get the best possible education, and
they learn what is important: institutional and program outcomes.
Ensure that learning is of appropriate scope, depth, and rigor

5. Three questions to answer through assessment:
What have our students learned?
Are we satisfied with what they’ve learned?
If not, what are we going to do about it? (Eder, 2010)

6. The Foundations Mission Educational Goals
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) – measurable and cognitively appropriate
Identify assessment methods
Planning annual assessment cycles
Identify targets for achievement (what is “good enough” in terms of student achievement in the aggregate)
Data collection

7. Hatfield, 2011

8. Using the Results to Inform Changes – Action Plans
“The final stages of any assessment and improvement plan involves taking action on results and then going back to assess whether or not this action was effective” (Kinzie, Hutchings, Jankowskie, 2015, p. 58).
Action Plan tracking – use function in Weave (completed, in progress, not implemented) and describe results
Avoid the tendency to collect more data – more data are not necessarily better.

9. The Assessment Cycle Easy Hardest Harder
Identify SLOs and Methods
Collect Data
Analyze Data
Share Results
Identify and Implement Changes
Assess Impact of Change
Easy
Hardest
As you think about the assessment cycle – which task are easy to accomplish? Which are hard? Which are the hardest?
Harder
From Kinzie, Hutchings, & Jankowski, 2015, p. 17.

10. Assess the Impact of the Changes
Identify SLOs and Methods
Collect Data
Analyze Data
Share Results
Identify and Implement Changes
Assess Impact of Change
Easy
Hardest
The relative ease of assessment activity – of planning, identifying outcomes, and collecting data – contributes to a tendency to overemphasize the collection of data and ignore the use of evidence.
The final stage of any assessment cycle is to take action on the results and then assess whether the action was effective in improving student learning.
Harder
From Kinzie, Hutchings, & Jankowski, 2015, p. 17.

11. Case Studies
Examples of programs that have made programmatic alterations to improve learning and are assessing the impact of the change:
BA in Studio Art
BA in Political Science
BA in History
BA in Criminal Justice and Criminology
BA in English – Creative Writing Emphasis
MA in Music Therapy
Divide in groups; each take a case; discuss and then present

12. Questions: What outcomes were being assessed and how?
What did the assessment results indicate concerning student achievement?
What, if anything, did the program do to improve student learning?
Has the program assessed the impact of the programmatic alterations? If so, what do the results indicate?

13. References
Finley, A. (2014) Assess for Success Conference. Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN.
Hatfield, S. (2011) Facilitating and coaching assessment. Presentation at Indiana State University.
Kinzie, J., Hutchings, P., & Jankowski, N. (2015). Fostering greater use of assessment results. In G. Kuh, S. Ikenberry, N. Jankowski, T. R. Cain, P. T. Ewell, P. Hutchings & J. Kinzie (Eds.), Using Evidence of Student Learning to Improve Higher Education (pp ). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Suskie, L. (October 26, 2010). Why are we assessing?, Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from

14. Questions?
Ruth E. Cain, Director of Assessment