Danielle Duffourc, Ph.D.
Director for Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment
Xavier University
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Today’s workshop will focus on:
◦ Understanding the assessment results reported
annually and how they can be used to improve your
program/department.
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Who is going with us?
What time are we leaving and how long will
we be gone?
How much will the trip cost?
What kind of activities will we do on the trip?
Is there any car maintenance to be done
before leaving?
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Remember that measurement is not judgment.
When the gas tank tells you it’s empty, it’s not
judging you – just stating a fact.
It is your job to make the best decisions possible
with the information from that measure. You
need gas to make the trip, but you would never
have known that if you didn’t look at the meter.
Find your measures and don’t look at them as
failure indicators. Look at them as opportunities
to improve the program.
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Know what you are looking for:
◦ Why are we assessing X? Are we aiming to improve
our program or validate it? What decisions will this
assessment help us and our audiences make?
◦ Do we have a clear strategy in place to ensure that
we can achieve each of our major goals?
◦ Do the tools and techniques we’re using to measure
progress clearly correspond to our goals?
◦ Have we set targets against which to compare our
results?
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What about “Inadequate” findings?
◦ Are we certain that the results are inadequate?
◦ Does other evidence indicate a problem? (This is
why we use two means of assessment per outcome.
)
◦ What is the scope of the problem? (If only a small
percentage of total, may not be worth redesigning
the entire process or curriculum).
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In the academic
setting,
disappointing results
can usually be
attributed to:
◦ Learning Goals
◦ Curriculum
◦ Teaching Methods
◦ Assessment
Strategy and Tools
 In
the administrative
setting, disappointing
results can usually be
attributed to:
 Operational Goals
 Implementation
Strategy
 Assessment Strategy
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Two ground rules:
◦ 1.) Don’t try to brush disappointing results under
the carpet. The primary purpose of assessment is
improvement.
◦ 2.) Don’t be punitive. Punishing faculty/staff
responsible for area with disappointing results will
generally impede the assessment process.
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Focus on a making a limited number of changes.
◦ Departments that try to engage in too many initiatives wind
up accomplishing none of them. Focus on specific elements
that relate to their chosen outcomes.
Create sustained conversations about assessment
data and engage in sense-making activities. This is
akin to a campaign— not a series of reports posted
on a website.
◦ List the individuals, constituencies, and governance
structures that need to be engaged in discussions of
assessment evidence and then develop plans to engage
these constituencies in conversations for both making
sense of and developing responses to the data.
◦ Even before these groups get data, it is important to
consider engaging them in planning for what different
findings might imply.
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Communicate assessment results.
◦ Can faculty, staff, and students readily identify the
outcomes, measures, and recent findings of their
department’s assessment program?
◦ Would all faculty members in a department be able
to cite the same two or three things that their
department is doing well and the same two or three
areas for improvement along with evidence that
supports their assertions?
◦ If the answer to these questions is “no,” then it is
time for the department or program to revise how it
communicates about assessment.
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Get evidence into the hands of people who
are able and interested in using it to improve
student learning and student experience and
then support their efforts to understand and
use the data.
◦ Hiding data because they are too controversial,
sending out a report via email, or posting
information on a website without creating
opportunities for people to come together to reflect
on and make sense of the findings will ensure that
assessment evidence has little long-term impact.
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Sometimes assessment results suggest fairly
simple, low-cost, quick fixes:
◦ Only focus on certain goals in certain
courses/settings.
◦ Incorporate more exercises involving desired skills.
◦ Revise surveys and assessment tools for the next
year.
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Sometimes assessment results point to a
more significant problem:
◦ May need to find professional development and/or
campus resources that will help
students/faculty/staff learn needed skills outside
the classroom (software, expertise, etc).
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This requires considerable planning and
resource development. Campus leaders must
be engaged.
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TracDat has built in modules for Actions
Taken and Follow-up:
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It is also important to honor those results
that are positive.
◦ Ongoing incentives and rewards programs can be
developed. Appropriate rewards will depend on the
culture of the department.
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Assessment is a perpetual work in progress.
It is important to implement and refine as you
go.
There is no point in continuing assessment
strategies that are time consuming and are
not providing useful information.
Seek to fine-tune rather than dramatically
overhaul your assessment process.
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Blaich, C. and Wise, K. (2011). From
Gathering to Using Assessment Results:
Lessons from the Wabash National Study.
Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing Student Learning:
A common sense guide.