DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE
STUDENT OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT
PLANNING OUTLINE FOR FALL, 2006
In conjunction with college-wide efforts to establish a baseline plan for consistent and ongoing SOA
planning, the Department of Theatre will utilize the following procedures during the 2006-2007 Academic
Year.
I. PROGRAMS TO BE ASSESSED
a. Performance
b. Design and Production
c. Theatre for Youth/Drama Education
II. TARGETED GOALS/OUTCOMES BY PROGRAM (selected from larger list of outcomes for each
program.)
PERFORMANCE
1) Students will know and communicate how to analyze and interpret plays and other
theatrical events from acting and performance perspectives. (GOALTHREE FROM
PERFORMANCE GOALS/ALIGNMENT STATEMENT)
a. Students will develop an ongoing working knowledge of and ability to incorporate
acting techniques and theories. Included in this would be methodologies drawn
from the Stanislavski approach (Meisner, Strasberg, Adler), Suzuki techniques
and training in both Shakespearean and Commedia styles.
b. Students will apply historical and literary research to acting.
c. Students will recognize and apply techniques to free voice, body, mind and
emotions; they will apply voice, body, mind and emotions to inhabit a role.
DESIGN/PRODUCTION
1) Students will recognize and apply practical and theoretical knowledge of the processes
by which creative impulses are channeled into design and production projects for the
theatre. (GOAL THREE FROM DESIGN/PRODUCTION GOALS/ALIGNMENT
STATEMENT)
a. Students can create an original theatrical design for a play based on script analysis
and historical research.
b. Students can create the practical application tools necessary to execute a theatrical
design.
THEATRE FOR YOUTH/DRAMA EDUCTATION
1) Students will recognize the creative imagination and impulse and identify its
relationship to artistic collaboration, standards, judgments, ethics and discipline from
the youth theatre/drama education point of view. (GOAL ONE FROM YOUTH
THEATRE/DRAMA EDUCATION GOALS/ALIGNMENT STATEMENT)
a. Students will devise, implement and evaluate a creative drama/youth theatre
program(s).
b. Students will know and apply the basic elements, models and content of sequential
standards for youth theatre and drama programs.
c. Students will critique and analyze TFY/high school scripts based on elements of
dramatic literature.
d. Students will know a variety of creative drama and theatre for youth resources.
e. Students will select and use research in devised work and scripted production.
f. Students will perform, direct and teach activities, productions and roles intended
for youth theatre audiences or participants.
III. ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES TO BE EMPLOYED
PERFORMANCE
Students will develop an ongoing working knowledge of and ability to incorporate acting
techniques and theories. Included in this would be methodologies drawn from the Stanislavski
approach (Meisner, Strasberg, Adler), Suzuki techniques and training in both Shakespearean and
Commedia styles.

Information to be collected from some or all of the following areas:
 observation of student’s performance in Practicum/Theatre Production assignments where a
role is used for credit; the newly established Practicum grading guidelines that apply to these
situations should be considered for this purpose
 evaluation of student performance in Audition Techniques
 results of a formal jury/interview experience required of Performance Emphasis students

Applies to students who have completed one semester of Acting Studio

Nature of assessment process or instrument
 Mostly self-explanatory as outlined above. The assessment criteria for students using roles
for Practicum/Theatre Production credit include having each actor, upon receipt of their
role, present a written goal(s) statement to the director in which the actor outlines
specific acting skill goals they want to work on using their assigned role; also
submission to the director a written evaluation of their success at achieving their
acting goals in the production. This self-assessment process may include the acting
teacher.

Anticipated kinds of information to be received
 Since acting is a psycho-physical craft, intellectual knowledge will, with varying
degrees, precede actual mastery of skills which make up the craft. We will see how
well the students know the material and where each student is on the path to
mastering the skills that make up the craft. All will have different growth rates in
mastering the skills; concentration, imagination, emotional access, identifying and
playing an objective, observation, etc., but should have a more uniform knowledge
of the skills.
DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Students can create an original theatrical design for a play based on script analysis and
historical research.

Information to be collected from some or all of the following areas:
 Assessment will be embedded in the design courses (Design: Sets, Lights,
Costumes) that all Design and Production students are required to take.
 The presentation will be evaluated by the instructor of the course as well as the
Design and Production Committee.

Nature of assessment process or instrument
 Students will develop a portfolio presentation that demonstrates the ability to analyze
a script, develop an original design statement for the play, conduct appropriate
research to support the design concept and create designs based on that script
analysis and research. Students may choose a lighting design, costume design or
scenic design.

Anticipated kinds of information to be received
 Can students identify necessary elements required of a design in a play?
Can students translate an original design concept into a rendered design?
Students can create the practical application tools necessary to execute a theatrical
design.

Information to be collected from some or all of the following areas:
 Assessment will be embedded in the design courses (Design: Sets, Lights,
Costumes) that all Design and Production students are required to take.
 Package will be evaluated by the instructor of the course as well as the Design and
Production Committee.

Nature of assessment process or instrument
 Students will develop a package of tools required to produce a theatrical lighting,
scenic or costume design, including but not limited to: a materials and labor budget,
build schedule, pull/rent/buy lists, model and groundplan (scenic design), patterns
(costume designs), and light plot (lighting design).

Anticipated kinds of information to be received
 Can students translate a design statement and/or rendering into a practical plan for
executing the design
THEATRE FOR YOUTH/DRAMA EDUCTATION
Students will devise, implement and evaluate a creative drama/youth theatre program(s).

Nature of assessment process or instrument
 Assessment will be embedded in the course, Methods of Teaching Drama and Theatre,
which serves as a capstone experience for students in the Youth Theatre emphasis.
 Process will include the development of a portfolio of student work, based on the Teacher
Work Sample template currently endorsed and used by the College of Education, that
demonstrates student’s ability to research a topic, design a series of lessons that use drama to
teach that topic or skill, and create a rubric or other appropriate assessment tool for
analyzing student learning and development. It is anticipated that students will be able to
develop a portfolio showcasing their work for three very distinctive kinds of youth theatre
teaching environments: a “in-school” program, an “after-school” program and an
enrichment program.
 The portfolio will be scored using the established Teacher Work Sample provided by the
College of Education. Scoring will be both peer and instructor. It is anticipated/hoped that
1-2 reviewers from outside the department will score completed portfolio.

.
Anticipated kinds of information to be received
 Can students devise a unit of lessons that are aligned with selected drama and theatre
outcomes for learning and skill development
 Can students develop an approach for assessing student learning and program effectiveness