Like all grand concepts, “assessment” is really an umbrella for
a broad range of different methodologies and approaches. These
include, but are not limited to, “classroom assessment,” “direct
assessment,” “embedded assessment,” “formative assessment,”
“indirect assessment,” “non-referenced assessment,” “qualitative
assessment,” “summative assessment,” and others. For those
interested in exploring the rich vocabulary of assessment methods,
there are plenty of guides and websites. But to be good at
assessment we need not be overly preoccupied with such detailed
schema. For now, we might focus on four distinct realms or genres
of assessment.
I. Classroom Assessment
This is when individual faculty reflect on what and how their
students learn in specific courses. Classroom assessment is focused
on course improvement and is less preoccupied with giving
grades. Obviously this doesn’t mean that faculty concerned with
classroom assessment don’t give grades; it just means that faculty
value dialogue with their students, exploring with them ways of
enhancing the course. This can include focus groups, one-on-one and
small group conferences, surveys, collecting student evaluations,
and assigning and reflecting upon student writing. It also means
faculty being in dialogue with their peers, sharing teaching
methods and best practices with colleagues in meetings and retreats
while keeping abreast of pedagogically relevant literature in the
field. Certainly many faculty already engage in such
activities—which illustrates the degree to which assessment has
always been a part of our professional work. What’s different now
is the need for faculty to document such assessment and how it
translates into enhanced teaching and learning. Here at St.
John’s, this means uploading data into WEAVE and
assessing students’ accomplishments via their electronic
portfolios and other means (more on these below).
II. Program Assessment
Just as individual faculty assess their own courses, so too do
departments need to annually reflect upon their programs. Every
year representatives from every academic program need to upload
ongoing assessment findings from their department or unit into
WEAVE, and also document what they are doing next in response to
that assessment. In this manner a program is continually reflecting
upon its strengths as well as areas it has identified for
development and review.
III. Licensure and Examination Passing Rates
For some professions, a major form of assessment takes place in
licensure and exam passing rates. A law school, for example, is
evaluated to a large extent on how well its students perform on the
bar exam. All departments that seek to prepare students for certain
licensing or certification exams—and, thus, base their own
effectiveness in part on how well their students do on such
exams--need to continually compare their students’ success
with benchmark institutions, establish targets, and develop
action plans to increase or sustain performance. Summaries of this
work are archived annually into WEAVE.
IV. Job Placement and Further Education
Are our students getting jobs related to their areas of study? Are
they getting into graduate programs? Are they winning awards, or
demonstrating other evidence of success? Departments are often the
first places that learn of their students’ ability to land jobs or
get into graduate programs. Departments need to keep records of
where their majors, minors, and graduate students are establishing
their careers or gaining admittance into other graduate programs.
Such information should be regularly posted within the Department’s
website.
Our goals:
- Understand some of the various ways assessment happens in
response to the local needs of departments and programs.
- Appreciate the need to continually document assessment
findings, as well as resultant action plans.