Assessment is the vehicle through which faculty members can demonstrate and document that we as educators do what we say we do.  It is an opportunity to identify ways to improve our effectiveness as a learning college and to clarify any need for more resources and development. Ultimately, assessment is directly linked to budgeting as we strive to create an environment that enhances a student’s potential to learn.

Every regional accrediting body requires assessment of student learning outcomes by institutions. Accrediting agencies are not themselves seeking to measure what or how well students are learning at any institution or at the discipline/program level. These agencies, nonetheless, want to ensure that each institution knows how well its students are learning. Institutions, then, are requiring disciplines and programs to develop plans that will answer the questions, "How does the institution know what students are learning?" and “How do you prove that you know it?"

Assessment is an exercise of professional judgment. This judgment is exercised collectively, using explicit criteria, by the discipline/program faculty. Indeed, assessment is increasingly becoming faculty-owned, much like the creation and revision of a discipline or program’s curriculum.  Accrediting agencies (like NCA) expect faculty to:

1. be aware of any coordinated effort within the college to assess student academic achievement
2. be able to describe the key elements of the college’s assessment plan how the assessment program functions at the institution

• what role faculty play in its operation
• what measures and standards have been proposed and adopted for assessing student learning
• how the results of assessment are to be used to identify changes that may be needed if student learning is to improve in their respective programs.

(Lopez, C., 1996. Opportunities for Improvement: Advice from Consultant-Evaluators on Programs to Assess Student Learning. Staff Paper: North Central Accreditation Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.)

At its best, assessment is a collective endeavor to establish goals for student learning (student learning outcomes), set performance measures (decide how outcomes are demonstrated, when, and to whom), and act on findings to improve student learning where measures demonstrate deficiency. Add to that a system for documenting this exercise of professional judgment, and you have assessment.

For more information on assessment, see Assessment FAQ's on this site.