1. Mission-Based Approach to Using Assessment to Improve Student Learning & Institutional Effectiveness Session #1813 A Shared Enterprise: Assessment as a Cross- Campus Strategy for Improving Student Learning and Retention June 2007 St. Louis, Missouri

2. Your Assessment Panel  Beth Anderhub, Professor, Diagnostic Medical Sonography  John Cosgrove, Director of Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment  Ed Fliss, Assistant Professor, Biology  Larry McDoniel, Professor, English  Bob Serben, Director, Center for Business, Industry, and Labor  Donna Wallner, Professor, Nursing

3. Recent History of Assessment At SLCC  In 1999, SLCC responded to the North Central Association’s call for greater use of assessment data to improve teaching and learning by developing and implementing a Five-Year Assessment Plan.  The Five-Year Plan focused on course and classroom assessment.

4. SLCC Assessment Model (1999)

5. Assessment Process (1999) Nichols’ 5-Column Model

6. St. Louis Community College Mission Statement St. Louis Community College expands minds and changes lives every day. We create accessible and dynamic learning environments focused on the needs of our diverse communities. The College accomplishes this mission by providing programs and services related to transfer education, career and technical education, general education, basic skill development and remediation, workforce development and continuing education, and personal and academic support.

7. Remodeling SLCC Assessment  In 2002, the College implemented new programmatic approaches to career and technical education, developmental education, and general education.  The shift to increased programmatic approaches required the College to once again examine its assessment efforts to ensure that they aligned more closely with our mission areas.  With the continuous examination of assessment efforts the College was well-positioned to move forward when its five-year assessment plan expired in 2004.

8. A Mission-Based Approach To Using Assessment To Improve Student Learning Outcomes And Institutional Effectiveness

9. Model’s Core Components This approach “persuades” us to  Assess What Our Mission Claims  Identify “Most Important” Aspects  Provide Consistent, User-Friendly, Self- Service Access To Data/Information Through Decision Support Tools  Create An Environment For Thoughtful Interpretation of Data/Information  Create An Environment For Action  Assess How We Assess As Well As What We Assess

10. Mission-Based Assessment Committees  Career & Technical Education  Developmental Education  General Education  Institutional & Student Support Services  Transfer Education  Workforce & Community Development Education

11. Assessment Support Committees  Divisions & Departments  Governance  Internal & External Communication

12. Mission-Based Assessment Committees Key Processes I DID Process  INQUIRE — What Do We Want To Know? Define the specific area or student learning outcome to be assessed.  DISCOVER — What Do We Know? Identify data sources and methods of assessment, and collect assessment data.  INTERPRET — What does the information tell us? Analyze and share the results of the data.  DEVELOP — What actions do we plan to take? Use results to design strategies to improve student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness

13. Mission-Based Assessment Committees Key Processes LAASIE Process  Listen, Look & Learn — Specify what needs to be examined.  Act — Determine how to address the issue under examination.  Another Look — Examine the data collected and analyze results.  Share The News — Report what was learned.  Improve & Celebrate — Use the data to make improvements.  Excel — Integrate changes into the unit or program’s ongoing operation.

14. St. Louis Community College Assessment Vision Assessment Vision SLCC collects and uses assessment data to improve student learning, academic achievement, and institutional effectiveness.  Mission-Based Assessment Projects  Divisions and Departments Assessment Projects  Mission-Based Student Learning Outcomes

15. Developmental Education: Mission-Based Assessment Committee Project  Inquire Identify diagnostic criteria for students unlikely to be successful in developmental courses?  Discover Examine data for students who test into base-level English, Math, Reading courses.  Interpret Analyze data related to student enrollment and learning outcomes.  Develop Establish a task force to design and implement alternative academic/life skills coursework and/or career pathways

16. Developmental Education Assessment Committee Recommendations  Alternative Academic Life-skills Programs  Sustained Orientation/First year experience curricula and support services  Workforce Literacy programs with certification in job-readiness skills  Individual attention/Individual Case Management intervention support for at-risk students  Directed advising and enrollment protocol and support procedures  Service-learning instructional and job- readiness curricula with work-based internships  Learning communities for at-risk students

17. Institutional & Student Support Services: Mission-Based Assessment Committee Project  Listen, Look & Learn---28% of the fall, new to higher education cohort do not return for the spring term and 50% do not return for the following fall term.  Act---The College participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) project to help better understand student engagement at SLCC.  Another Look---On four of the five CCSSE dimensions, SLCC was below the national index.  Share The News---CCSSE results were widely shared on all 3 campuses and within the College’s governance process.  Improve and Celebrate---CCSSE results are being used as part of division assessment efforts and to improve SLCC’s student orientation program.  Excel---Changes are being made and CCSSE data will be collected again in spring 2008

18. SLCC & National CCSSE Dimension Results

19. SLCC CCSSE Student Satisfaction Results

20. Division and Departments: Assessment Support (Campus) Projects  Liberal Arts Division: Embedded Classroom/Course Assessment Related To Gains In Students Critical Thinking and Writing Skills.  Math, Science, Engineering & Technology Division: Course To Course Assessment Related To Student Learning Outcomes In Science and Math Courses For Students Who Started In Developmental Math Courses.  Business, Human Development, and Nursing Division: Assessment of Graduate Skills Levels in Math and Reading for Information Using ACT WorkKeys.

21. Mission-Based Student Learning Outcomes Career and Technical Education  61 percent of the career graduates are employed in a related field within 6 months of graduation.  89 percent of employers say they are either more than satisfied or very satisfied with the overall job preparation of SLCC graduates.  92 percent of employers report that the preparation of SLCC graduates was the same or better than graduates from other colleges.

22. Mission-Based Student Learning Outcomes Transfer Education  One year after transferring, 90 percent of students who transferred reported a four-year GPA that was similar or higher than their SLCC GPA.  89 percent of the students who transferred reported that their transfer college accepted their 100 level or above SLCC courses.

23. Institutional Research and Planning’s Assessment Toolbox  The Assessment Information Toolbox helps identify data sources, collect assessment data, and interpret and share assessment results.  Data/information is available through static reports or dynamic queries using the Hyperion (BRIO) decisions support system tool.  The toolbox provides a common data source for faculty, staff, and administrators related to each mission area.

24. The “So-What” Institutional Assessment Model  Assessment Data Collection  Confusing Activity With Achievement Is Never A Good Thing!  Assessment Data Reporting

25.  Creates A Unifying, Central Theme For Assessment  Makes Assessment Everyone’s Business and Encourages Cross-Campus Sharing  Encourages Thoughtful Interpretation to: Improve Teaching and Student Learning Outcomes Improve Student Support Services Advance Institutional Effectiveness Document Appropriate Outcomes To Constituencies Value Of Mission-Based Approach To Assessment

26. Assessment: The President’s Role  Demand Mission-Based Assessment  Create and Support A Culture of Inquiry Based Upon Thoughtful Interpretation of Data  Create and Support A Culture of Action & Improvement  Recognize Accomplishments and Improvements

27. Assessment Requires Leadership and Action  Assessment is 90% mental and the other half is physical.  I wish I had an answer for that because I am tired of answering that question.  In your assessment process, when you come to a fork in the road—take it.  Assessment is like traveling, if you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.

28. You Can Observe A Lot Just By Watching

29. St. Louis Community College Assessment Resources  John Cosgrove, Director of Institutional Research, Planning & Assessment jcosgrove@stlcc.edu  League for Innovation in the Community College “Leadership Abstracts” (Oct 2006) http://www.league.org/publication/leadership /issue.cfm  St. Louis Community College Assessment Home page http://www.stlcc.edu/assessment/  “Assessment Tools to Improve Outcomes,” The Business Officer (May 2007) http://www.nacubo.org/x2443.xml