Revised by APRC Fall, 2007
The assessment and program review process consists of (a) the completion and submission of a regularly scheduled assessment report to be completed by departments and academic programs on an eight year cycle, and (b) the completion and submission of brief, annual updates to the regularly scheduled assessment report.
The Assessment and Program Review Committee is charged with reviewing the regularly scheduled assessment reports of all departments and programs. To this end, the committee reads all assessment reports, asks questions for clarification, and makes suggestions in the interest of improving the assessment and evaluation and report. It should be clear that the committee is not tasked with evaluating the department or program, but validating the assessment process and final evaluation report. The required External Evaluation Team (see attached External Visit Guidelines) will be instrumental in providing an evaluation of program and department structure.
Note that the term “department” will be used throughout the following as a synonym for “program” simply to ease readability. Also, in some cases isolated cases, items listed in the assessment and evaluation guidelines might not apply to a specific department or program.
It is understood that a critical attribute of the assessment report is the assumed participation of all members of the department in the assessment and evaluation process. If the completion of the report is to serve its full potential, it is mandatory that all members of a department be actively involved in the construction of the report.
APRC has adopted the guidelines (linked below) for cyclical, major assessment reports. The intent is to promote an analytical evaluation of departments, not simply a description of departments. Emphasis is placed on strengths, concerns and issues for the future for each department. It is important to note that these guidelines will allow individual program reviews to flow directly into the assessment of the College for future North Central accreditation evaluations. More importantly, this self-assessment will help departments to build upon their strengths and make plans to remedy areas in need of improvement or strengthening.
In most general terms, the APRC is looking for clear articulation of (a) the department’s mission statement and goals, (b) departmental goals in relation to the college’s mission statement, and (c) a data-driven evaluation of goals attainment. Two overarching themes that should be integrated through the report: What has been learned by the department from previous assessments and how have changes arising from that previous assessment been implemented since that assessment?
Factual data about the department should appear in an addendum to the document, most of which will be supplied by administrative offices and all of which is to be reviewed by the department chair and department members. It is assumed that assessment reports will reflect a careful analysis of this data.