Assessment Associates and Peer Review of Annual Assessment Reports:
An Overview
How and why was the annual report peer review process developed?
Annual program assessment reports are intended to serve both departments and the university as a
whole, as increased emphasis is placed on assessment of student learning and accountability to a variety
of stakeholders. The Office of Academic Assessment has been approached by department heads and
others requesting increased support for the annual report system.
During the fall semester of the 2011-2012 school year, a subcommittee of the University Student
Outcome Assessment Committee worked on developing a plan for faculty-based review of annual
program assessment reports for undergraduate programs at UNI. Members of the subcommittee were
Jerilyn Marshall (Rod Library), Jerry Smith (College of Business), Gayle Pohl (College of Humanities, Arts,
and Sciences), and Donna Vinton (Director of Academic Assessment). This document will provide an
overview of the peer review program.
What are purposes and outcomes for the peer review process?
The overall purpose for the peer review process is to provide a system to support the creation of annual
assessment reports that are useful and meaningful and provide an archive for tracking program
performance and growth over time with respect to identified program learning outcomes. Peer review
of annual assessment reports will be conducted by faculty called Assessment Associates, who have been
selected by their Deans and department heads and prepared to take part in the review process.
Within this overall purpose for peer review are the following intended outcomes:
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Greater faculty familiarity with the format and expectations for the annual report;
Ongoing development of resources to support programs as they develop their annual reports;
Enhanced value of annual assessment reports for program areas and the university as a whole;
Increased opportunities for conversation and interaction among faculty and program areas on
topics related to the assessment of student learning.
How are Assessment Associates selected and prepared for the review process?
Assessment Associates are faculty from the four colleges at UNI who are nominated to their college
Deans by the department heads for their program areas and named by the Deans to a time-limited
term. It is expected that associates will be nominated based upon their previous involvement in
assessment activities, preferably within the program area in their department, and their support for the
assessment of student learning.
The first set of terms will be staggered, with terms of one, two or three years with the goal of having
associates serve three-year terms and, after the first year of peer review, having associates with review
experience on the Assessment Associate team at all times. The initial group of Associates will be named
by the last full week of January 2012 and receive training and guided practice in review of reports by
January 2012
mid-February. Preparation of Associates will consist of independent reading of selected resources
available on the Internet and as electronic files and a three-hour group training session held on a
Saturday or other arranged time that can be attended by all Associates.
How are annual assessment reports reviewed?
Each Assessment Associate will be assigned about six annual program reports to review. There will be
two readers for each annual report, one from the college or discipline area where the program resides.
Each reader will have approximately a month to review his/her assigned annual reports individually.
Readers will be provided with a form to use for the evaluation process. The form will include ratings and
opportunities for comments on each required section of the annual report.
After Associates have completed their assigned reports, they will confer with the other reader for the
same reports, with the goal of creating a single evaluation of the annual report for each program area
reviewed. Final evaluation reports are to be completed before the week of spring break. Program
evaluations will be sent to the department head for the program area and to the Office of Academic
Assessment. Department heads can forward the program evaluations to the College Dean and/or
Associate Dean at his/her request.
What is expected of Assessment Associates and how is their service recognized?
It is anticipated that service as an Assessment Associate will involve approximately 10-15 hours of time
during the spring semester, including the group training session. Assessment Associates will be
expected to
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Be informed and knowledgeable with respect to the review process;
Work to provide supported and supportive reviews of program annual reports;
Keep their ratings confidential and discuss reports/evaluations only with Assessment Associates
or faculty involved with a specific program area report.
Associate Associates will be paid $225 for their service, with that amount provided by the Office of
Academic Assessment and added to Associates’ paychecks no later than May of the school year. The
Director of Academic Assessment will provide each Assessment Associate with a letter thanking him/her
for the service provided. Department heads will also be encouraged to recognize the peer review work
of Associates by providing a letter for their professional files.
How will the annual report peer review process be evaluated?
Perspectives on the review process will be collected from departmental programs and from Assessment
Associates through the use of surveys. Assessment Associates will also meet for an hour session in late
March or early April to discuss how the report evaluation process worked and make suggestions for
improvements to the process for the 2012-2013 school year.
It is anticipated that review of annual reports from graduate programs will be added to the report
evaluation process no later than Spring 2014.
January 2012