Due June 15, 2008
Annual Assessment Report - Instructions
The purpose of the Annual Assessment Report is to provide an update on the assessment of student
learning outcome(s) identified in your 2006 Program Assessment Plan. You are not expected to provide
results for all outcomes included in your assessment plan, but you must report results and planned
changes/improvements for at least one.
Western Carolina University
Graduate Studies
English Department
Arts and Sciences
Annual Assessment Report for 2007-2008
Primary Contact Name/Info:
Laura Wright, Director of Graduate Studies
416 Coulter Hall, x3927
Student Learning
Outcome(s) Assessed in
2007-08
Method(s) of
Assessment
Results of
Assessment
Implementation Plan
State the learning outcome(s)
that the program assessed in
the 2007-08 assessment cycle.
1. Knowledge of
literature, professional
writing, ESL/TESOL, or
rhetoric and
composition, depending
on student’s
concentration.
Provide a summary of the
methods used to assess the
chosen outcome. Note
any changes in the
assessment measures from
the program’s official
assessment plan.
Results must include a
summary of major
findings, interpretation of
the results, and a
description of how the
results were disseminated
to key stakeholders for
discussion.
The protocol for
M.A. Comprehensive disseminating exam
results is as follows:
Examinations, given
1) Comp director
3x/year. The exams
contacts students with
are designed by the
test results (either
concentration
phone or
directors, currently
Dr. Laura Wright for email).
Literature, Ms. Deidre 2) Comp director
Elliot for Professional emails dept office
with test results.
Writing, Dr.
Chandrika Rogers for 3) Dept office mails
ESL/TESOL, and Dr. official test results to
each student and puts
Beth Huber for
a
Rhetoric and
copy in student file.
Composition.
4) Dept office
composes a memo to
Exams are
English Graduate
anonymously scored
Faculty with test
by two experienced
results.
faculty scorers who
score the exams. The 5) Dept office
composes letter to
exams are scored
Scott Higgins with
“pass,” “pass with
distinction,” or “fail.” test results.
6) Comp director
If there is a
brings exams to office
discrepancy between
for storage.
the two scorers, the
exam is sent to a third 7) Dept office stores
exams and letters to
reader.
graduate faculty and
graduate
Students enrolled in
school.
the MAT program
are not required to
thw
take comprehensive
exams.
Identify what
programmatic/curricular changes
or improvements you will make as
a result of the assessment.
Each recommended action must
be specific and relate directly to
the outcome and results of
assessment. A description of the
timeline for action and the
person(s) responsible must be
included. In addition, please
include a brief description of
resources that will be critical to
implementation of the actions
proposed, if applicable.
There are three changes that
I plan to make to the
comprehensive exam
structure before the next
time that comps are offered
(in September 08). The first
has to do with how scores
are reported to me, to the
department, and to the
graduate school. At present,
because there are several
program coordinators, there
is a lack of uniformity in
terms of how each
coordinator reports student
scores. As a result, I do not
have scores of the
ESL/TESOL exams (in part
because these exams are
given at times different from
the rest of the comps). At
the fall faculty meeting, I
will propose that all scores
from all program
concentrations be reported
directly to me so that I can
then relay all score to the
department secretary.
The second change has to do
with how the exams are
scored. At present, there is
no rubric for scoring exams.
take comprehensive
exams.
The material that is
covered on the exam is
from a reading list that is
included in the Guide to
Graduate Studies in
English.
For the 07/08 year, 14
students passed the
comps, 8 passed with
distinction, and 4
failed. These results
are for the Literature,
Pro Writing, and
Comp and Rhetoric
exams only; I do not
have the results for
the ESL/TESOL
exams,
Students who fail the
exam are allowed to
retake the exam one
more time. If the
student fails again,
s/he is dropped from
the program.
Scorers comment on the
strengths and weaknesses
of the exam, and the
program director then
relays this information to
the student. I plan to use a
rubric (created by Dr.
Brian Gastle) in order to
provide more feedback to
the student and to give
scorers more guidance in
terms of how to score these
exams. This rubric will
also help new scorers learn
how to score comps. I will
attach this rubric to this
assessment report.
In addition to these
immediate changes, I also
plan to work with the
graduate faculty to revise
the literature exam in order
to more adequately reflect
the content that is being
taught in our program.
Finally, in an attempt to
help MA-ED and MAT
students gain more content
expertise, I have made a
program change that
eliminates English 618, our
research methods course,
from the required English
courses. My thinking is
that MA-ED and MAT
students already get a
research methods course in
their education core
requirements and
eliminating this overlap
will allow these students to
take more content.