IU South Bend ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE

Presented to the Academic Senate September 16, 2005

A. The IU South Bend Assessment Committee, in existence since 1995, is responsible for promoting, supporting and monitoring departmental assessment programs. The primary activity of the Assessment Committee is the Third Year Assessment Review. These are conducted each spring on a rotating calendar so that each academic program's assessment processes and data are evaluated every third year. The Assessment Committee also requests annual updates from each department, provides grants on a competitive basis, and maintains a website and resource center. The Assessment Committee is currently a joint committee of the Academic Senate and Academic Affairs. Five members are appointed by the Academic Senate and four members by the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. From the membership, the Committee selects a Chair who is appointed by the Vice-Chancellor.

B. The most significant change in the functioning of the Assessment Committee has been the move from a confidential reporting and evaluation process to an open system where all reports are available on the assessment website to provide examples and inspiration. Programs can review assessment plans and reports from other programs. Public availability of assessment information makes it possible for faculty members to review and discuss assessment with those in other departments.

C.
1. In 2005, the Assessment Committee developed and used a rubric to evaluate the Third Year Assessment Reviews. The rubric allows the Committee to provide detailed and specific feedback to academic programs which is directly related to the priorities and concerns of the Higher Learning Commission. One faculty member commented that it, "articulates specific, defined standards by which any unit can measure its own progress in fully-exploiting assessment for the improvement of programs as well as of student learning," making it, "clear to each department involved where they can and need to go."

As the rubric is used and improved, it will also provide valuable longitudinal information to the Assessment Committee on campus strengths and weaknesses in assessment. A copy of the rubric is available on the Assessment website.

Thirteen departments presented Third Year Reviews this spring. In each category, the Committee assigned a rubric score based on the following definitions: 1 - Undeveloped, 2 - Developing, 3- Established, and 4- Exemplary. The following categories were evaluated with the resulting average scores: Educational Goals - 2.7, Techniques - 2.6; Data - 2.3; Analysis - 2.3; Response - 2.1; Constituency Participation - 2.3; Record Keeping - 2.0. Total scores ranged from 9.5 to 27.5, with a median score of 16.5.

More detailed information on the Third Year Reviews and results are available.

2. The Assessment Committee distributed $17, 577 for seven assessment grants during 2004/05.

- The Graduate Studies Counsel will be developing and evaluating survey instruments t- assess and track graduates.
- SPEA will be developing and administering an alumni survey.
- The First Year Writing Program will be using their grant t- refine and use their exit goals as an assessment tool for evaluating students.
- The School of Education was awarded a grant for the refining the evaluation mechanism for stakeholder satisfaction with teacher education program candidates.
- The School of Education will als- be leading a project t- develop an assessment instrument for associate faculty. This project includes presentation of the information at tw- conferences.
- Two faculty members from the Informatics program will be attending an assessment conference.
- Computer and Information Sciences faculty members will be developing a web-based tool for conducting alumni surveys.

3. Significant changes have occurred in the scholarship and effective application of assessment since the departmental assessment plans were originally designed in the mid-nineties. In response, the Assessment Committee is requiring all academic programs to submit new assessment plans based on an outline developed from Higher Learning Commission documents. These assessment plans from several programs are already posted on the website.

4. The Assessment Committee is bringing Dr. Barbara Walvoord, Coordinator for North Central Association Accreditation, Fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, and Concurrent Professor of English, University of Notre Dame to conduct a workshop on September 9th 2005. She is a nationally recognized expert and author on assessment and reaccredidation. In the morning session she will be assisting academic units in writing and improving their assessment plans. Over lunch she will be working with the General Education Taskforce on assessment issues and plans. Later in the afternoon she will be addressing the leaders of the Reaccredidation Taskforce.

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