Updated to include actual years in strategy timeline and web resources for presentation to Manager's Council by Deborah Travis
May 7, 2003

Student Learning Outcomes Assessment at Sacramento City College
Background Purpose and Benefits
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and SLO Assessment
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Student learning outcomes: Student learning outcomes are generally defined as measures of changes in students' knowledge , thinking processes, and ability to apply their knowledge. SLOs are one of the most direct measures of the primary mission of
Sacramento City College and our core values.
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Student learning outcome assessment: The degree to which our students are achieving their goals can be determined by assessing the cognitive and behavioral changes that occur as a result of their experiences at SCC. Of all the good practices for SLO assessment, the essential elements include the following:
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A primary role for faculty and/or staff in the development of course and program level SLO assessment efforts.
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A clear identification of and alignment between course or program objectives, the activities designed to facilitate those objectives, and associated learning outcome measures.
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An emphasis on direct measures of student learning.
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Utilization of SLOs for ongoing curricular or program enhancement (i.e.
Close the loop).
Overall Purpose & Benefits of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment
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Student success : Student success is the main goal of all our efforts here at SCC and understanding how well our students are achieving their goals is critical to our mission. SLO assessment provides critical feedback to students, faculty, staff and administration that can be utilized in efforts to increase student success.
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Curricular development: SLO assessment is a valuable tool for curricular development. It provides insight at the course level on pedagogical methods that have a positive influence on the cognitive and affective development of our students.
Additionally, SLO assessment efforts can provide direction for curricular enhancement by identifying areas where course objectives are not achieving desired student learning.
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Instructional and student services program development: SLO assessment is important at the program level as well as the course level. Program level SLO measures can help assess the impact of program design issues such as course sequencing and prerequisite skill requirements among others.

Current Status of SLO Assessment at SCC
Our recent efforts at SCC to develop a cultural focus on SLO assessment has occurred in two stages. The first stage involved developing a foundational knowledge base and set of resources necessary to implement a program of professional development in this area.
This stage was supported by the college as a whole in the hiring of the faculty researcher position and the research office, in particular by providing the stewardship of implementing initial SLO assessment efforts.
The products of this initial stage include:
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The compilation of a resource library of information on SLO assessment theory and practice.
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The development of web references for a large variety of assessment initiatives.
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The development of a "toolkit" for classroom assessment and student learning outcome assessment that is soon to be released on the research website and in the public folders.
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The opportunity for the faculty researcher to gain valuable training in the area of student learning outcome assessment by both attending and present papers at state and national assessment conferences.
The second stage of this process began in Spring, 2001 with the first of a number of meetings, workshops and presentations focused on SLO assessment conducted with the participation of a variety of faculty and staff across the disciplines.
The goals of these activities were to 1) increase awareness of the value of student learning outcome assessment, 2) demystify the jargon and misconceptions associated with this process, 3) provide a venue for uncovering and highlighting the SLO assessment efforts that already exist at SCC, and 4) encourage a number of individual projects in both instructional and student service areas that include a focus on systematic measures of student learning.
Our initial efforts and their "outcomes" are detailed below.
Spring, 2001
Flex workshop on Classroom Assessment, "Why are they sleeping…"
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This "hands-on" workshop was attended by 20 faculty and student services staff from various areas of campus and included a general introduction to various classroom assessment techniques. Utilization of assessment results was discussed in terms of diagnosing student learning strengths and weaknesses and enhancing curriculum.
Meeting with vocational and technology representatives and technology Dean
 Discussed examples of course and program outcomes linked to student achievement that could be utilized as key performance indicators in unit plans.

Spring, 2001(continued)
Meetings with Service Learning coordinator (Continued through Spring, 2002 )
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Worked with Megan Seely, Service Learning Coordinator to facilitate the development of assessment instruments for the service learning program.
These instruments included direct and indirect measures of student achievement in civic and affective domains.
Spring, 2002
Presentation to Academic Senate
 Presented brief overview of SLO assessment and its benefits to students, faculty, and the college as a whole. Proposed development of an assessment team. Constructive feedback was generated and 2 senators agreed to lend their support to these efforts.
Presentation to Deans council
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Presented brief overview of SLO assessment and its benefits to students and faculty. Requested deans to each identify one department in their division to be involved with pilot projects on SLO assessment.
Follow-up to Deans council meeting: Individual SLO assessment outreach meetings with representatives from Biology, Anthropology, and Reading depts.
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Introduced concept of systematic SLO assessment, discussed models and tools for course objective-learning outcome alignment, and facilitated pilot projects.
Fall 2002
Flex workshop-“Reading student’s minds”
 This workshop was attended by 14 faculty from a variety of disciplines.
Various classroom assessment techniques were presented, including a specific student learning outcome component on how to develop clear course objectives and align such objectives with measurable learning outcomes.
Feedback from workshop surveys indicated a number of faculty are now in the process of developing customized assessment instruments.
Course-embedded assessment workshop-Dr. Larry Kelley of the Consortium of
Assessment and Planning Support (CAPS)
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This full-day workshop was attended by 12 SCC faculty members, 1 SCC administrator and several faculty and administrators from other CC districts in the region. Various models for student learning outcome assessment at the course, program and institutional levels were reviewed and “hands-on” activities were conducted to facilitate the development and use of rubrics for learning outcome assessment. Ideas for specific SLO assessment projects (see history pilot below) were generated.

Spring, 2003
Meetings with History department SLO liaison
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Worked with Sherri Patton, Assistant Professor of History to assist in the design and implementation of a pilot project to develop a SLO assessment process for selected course objectives for History 17. Collaboration between history faculty has been facilitated and initial results are forthcoming.
Follow-up meeting with Anthropology department representative
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Met with Nancy Garr, Assistant Professor of Anthropology to discuss design and implementation of SLO assessment project ideas that were initially generated in Spring, 2002 outreach meeting.
Research project development meetings with Counseling representative
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Worked with Richard Erlich to incorporate direct learning outcome measures into his current research project focused on assessing the impact of a career development intervention program. Initial results are expected for Fall, 2003.
Assessment instrument development meetings with Service Learning Coordinator
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Worked with Ellis Jones, Service Learning Coordinator to design a service learning assessment instrument that includes direct, performance-based measures of the affective impact of service learning experiences.
Research development meetings with child development center coordinator
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Worked with Laurie Perry, Assistant Professor of ECE and child development center coordinator in the design of a multimodal learning outcome research project. This project will assess the alignment between ECE course objectives and multiple learning outcome measures, including direct assessment of student lesson plans and direct measures of children's behavior from statemandated evaluations. Initial implementation is scheduled for Summer, 2003.

General Strategy for Achieving the Cultural Change focused on Student Learning
Outcomes
The strategy for the necessary cultural change in focus on the importance of student learning outcomes has involved a number of important steps detailed above and many yet to come. A general outline of this strategy is provided here:
Year 1 (2000-'01): Develop a foundation of materials and relationships needed to move forward
Year 2 (2001-'02): Cast a wide net to increase awareness and initiate dialogue
Year 3 (2002-'03): Focus on willing participants and local champions of SLO assessment
Year 4 (2003-'04): Facilitate individual projects and increase access to practical tools and resources
Years 5-6 (2004-'06) Develop ongoing, systematic mechanisms to share successes and build discipline-specific models
Years 7-9 (2006-'08) Coordinate and integrate efforts and models in order to promote an institutional commitment to an SLO assessment culture

Objectives for the Enhancement of SLO Assessment at SCC
The success of the general strategy will require specific objectives to be met in the near future. These specific objectives include the following:
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Increase efforts to identify and highlight unsung champions of SLO assessment at
SCC and share their ideas and resources.
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Recruit assessment team members and develop a structural mechanism to "house" the team.
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Continue to increase awareness and use of SLO assessment through college-wide workshops and training, unit-specific project development efforts, and classroombased research toolkit housed on research website.
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Implement an annual training "institute" with follow-up components that facilitate individual SLO assessment projects across disciplines.
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Work with instructional and student services management, academic senate, department chairs council and administration to formulate coordinated outreach mechanisms for dissemination of the value and results of SLO assessment activities.
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Increase the integration of SLO measures with KPIs and accomplishment sections of the unit plan via a collaborative process that includes unit-level faculty, staff, management and, possibly members of the planning committee or assessment team.
 Integrate student learning outcome assessment in broad program initiatives, such as
Service Learning, Learning communities, Beacon, MESA, and specific counseling efforts.

***LRCCD Resources for the Assessment of Learning, LRCCD e-Search library This site is a component of the LRCCD e-Search library and serves as a portal to a variety of resources on student learning assessment from theoretical papers to websites that detail efforts at specific colleges. http://irweb.losrios.edu/esearch/assess-learning-res.htm
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American Association of Higher Education: Assessment Forum – The leading national organization for higher education has a substantial focus on learning assessment theory and practice and has evolved to include issues at the community college level. The assessment forum is an excellent resource for assessment plan development, up-to-date research in a variety of institutions, and information on workshops and conferences on assessment practice. http://www.aahe.org/assessment/
California Academic Press - Student Outcomes Assessment: Opportunities and
Strategies. Suggestions for Getting Started - A great source for an introduction to student outcome assessment. Answers the "Why" and "What is it good for" questions .
http://www.calpress.com/outcome.html
California Assessment Institute - "The California Assessment Initiative is intended for faculty and staff, administrators, research and assessment professionals, and policy makers interested in promoting the practice of assessment in higher education in general, and in the California Community Colleges in particular." The student learning link provides access to a variety of resource materials directly related to SLO assessment.
http://www.ca-assessment-inst.org/StudentLearning.htm
Cabrillo College Learner Outcome Handbook – "This handbook contains 14 project reports from participants in the first year of a Learner Outcomes institute at Cabrillo college. Each report contains information on the project goals, background, procedures, results, student achievement and retention data, effective strategies for defining and assessing learner outcomes and a list of effective new strategies… " http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/instruct/learneroutcome/intro.html
Educational resources information center (ERIC) site on assessment and evaluation http://ericae.net/nintbod.htm
A Handbook on Assessment for 2-year Colleges, Ed Morante, College of the Desert -
This handbook provides a very accessible overview of Assessment in general, definitions of student learning assessment jargon, and specific analysis of assessment in key areas of student learning, including basic skills, general education, program/major and student support services. http://www.ca-assessment-inst.org/Fall2002Institute/2002/Morante.html

League for Innovation in the Community College, 21 st Century Learning Outcomes
Project. – " Sixteen community colleges are participating in the League’s 21 st
Century
Learning Outcomes Project with the goal of increasing the capacity of community colleges to define and document student achievement of learning outcomes necessary for success in the workplace, in transfer education, and in today’s society." http://www.league.org/league/projects/pew/index.htm
St Cloud University, St. Cloud, MI, "Ten Step Plan" for developing assessment
initiatives Excellent rubric for the development of a customized assessment plan that is meaningful and program-specific. Also includes the American Association of Higher
Education’s "Best Practices for Assessment". http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~assess/guidelines.html
University of Colorado, Boulder Undergraduate Outcome Assessment – A comprehensive sampling of assessment methods used by various departments and programs. http://www.colorado.edu/pba/outcomes/ovview/mwithin.htm
The Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education:
Collaborative learning handbook. VERY comprehensive resource on different techniques of student assessment with a special focus on assessing collaborative learning.
Great resource for Learning Community assessment. Includes practical insights from a variety of assessment "users". http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/resources/acl/index.html