A Comparison of Assessment Plans and Reports
The UNI policy for assessment of student learning requires program areas to create assessment plans and annual
reports of assessment activity and file these documents with the Office of Academic Assessment, to provide a
university-level archive of assessment activity. The table below is intended to show similarities and differences among
assessment plans and assessment reports.
Assessment Plan
Description
•
•
Purposes
•
•
•
•
•
•
Format
Archiving
•
•
•
Frequency
of Updates
•
Assessment Report
Explains how student learning in a
program is measured—what outcomes
are measured and how, by whom, and
when
Contains no data or discussion of specific
assessment results
•
Provides and analyses assessment data
and findings, along with information on
how the information was collected, for an
academic year
A “roadmap” for conducting assessment
activities
A tool for explaining program assessment
activities to new faculty or administrators,
external reviewers, and other
stakeholders for the program
A way to track progress and change in
program assessment activities across
time
A springboard for future assessment
activity
A timesaver in writing program reports
Document program learning outcomes
and assessment methods for the
university assessment archive
•
Offer evidence of the strengths and
weaknesses of students in a program with
respect to the earning outcomes for the
program
Provide department faculty with
information that will be useful as they
make decisions about program curriculum
and related student activities and services
Allow comparisons of the performance of
student cohorts over time
Support potential changes to program
learning outcomes and/or assessment
strategies
Include areas outlined by the UNI policy
for the assessment of student learning.
(See the outline available from the
Assessment Office the website at
http://www.uni.edu/assessment/document
s/soacriteria.pdf.
•
Sent to the Office of Academic
Assessment in electronic format to be
included with the files in the university
assessment archive
Archived with program area department
and/or college Dean’s office as required
by department and college
•
Plans should be reviewed annually and
revised as needed. Plan documents
should include the year of the
review/revision in the document and in
the document label.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Department/program areas determine
formats for detailed program-area
reports, including data tables and
analysis.
A form for the summary report sent to the
Office of Academic Assessment can be
found at
http://www.uni.edu/assessment/document
s/annualreporttemplate9-2809handout.doc.
The summary report is sent electronically
to the Office of Academic Assessment
annually by November 1.
Detailed program-area reports are
archived as determined by the
department/program area and the
College.
Assessment reports should be compiled
annually, although not every student
learning outcome needs to be assessed
every year. The assessment plan will
indicate how often a given outcome is
assessed.