Examples of Best Practices
From the January 2014 Graduate Program Assessment Reports
Note: This list is not meant to be exhaustive, but is intended to highlight positive
aspects of graduate assessment plans at Mines.
Applied Math
and Statistics
Faculty have defined sub-outcomes (which describe specific
skills and or types of knowledge) for each of the three Master’s
level outcomes, which facilitates measurement of students’
achievement of these skills. Faculty have mapped these specific
skills/bodies of knowledge to the courses.
Chemical and
Biological
Engineering
Faculty have convened periodic meetings and held a
departmental retreat to discuss graduate program/student
assessment issues.
Mining
Engineering
Faculty will utilize activities which are already embedded into
the program (such as the thesis defense, comprehensive
exams, and graduate seminar presentations) to assess the
outcomes, rather than creating assessment methods which are
not embedded into the program. This approach is characteristic
of a sustainable assessment plan.
Petroleum
Engineering
Use of rubrics to assess writing and oral presentation skills may
provide consistent, detailed, and objective measures of
students’ achievement of outcomes, both over time and across
groups of students.
Suggestions for Consideration

We strongly encourage faculty to utilize activities which are already embedded into the program
(such as the thesis defense, comprehensive exams, and graduate seminar presentations) to
assess the outcomes, rather than creating assessment methods which are not embedded into the
program. This approach is characteristic of a sustainable assessment plan. If you would like the
committee to provide sample rubrics to support this type of assessment, please let us know or
visit http://inside.mines.edu/assessment/Sample-Rubrics.

The Office of Graduate Studies conducts an exit survey of graduating students. Faculty can
request the survey results for their students and could use them as part of their assessment plan.
Faculty could track publication and/or citation rates, conference presentation rates, patent rates,
and external funding rates to demonstrate achievement of outcomes or objectives.

Programs could adopt the “Thesis Committee Reporting” form (see the assessment website) to
monitor students’ progress through the program.

Some departments rely on grades (which do not provide faculty with detailed information about
specific levels of knowledge or skill development) as part of their assessment plan. Grades
provide a global measure of achievement which are not necessarily standardized over time and
among faculty. Use of rubrics, which divide an assignment, project, etc. into specific, measurable
components, would facilitate assessment of outcomes based on consistent criteria.

While course passage and passage of exams contribute to program completion and success,
they are typically minimum expectations for continued enrollment. It would be most useful for
faculty to make a distinction between different types of skills/knowledge and students’
achievement of these skills in their courses, theses, etc. beyond these minimum thresholds. This
approach will enable faculty to track areas of strength and opportunities for improvement over
time and among students, which is likely to be much more useful information than just monitoring
the number of students who pass and fail the qualifying exams.

There may be a disconnect between faculty expectations for students’ knowledge as at the time
of the qualifying exam and use of this exam to demonstrate “exemplary” disciplinary expertise.

Faculty in some programs have defined sub-outcomes (which describe specific skills and/or types
of knowledge) for each of the outcomes. This facilitates measurement of students’ achievement
of these skills. Faculty have mapped these specific skills/bodies of knowledge to the courses, to
enable them to identify where students have the opportunity to develop these skills and
knowledge. While this approach is certainly not required, you may consider whether this strategy
would provide you with useful insights about student learning.