ASSESSMENT RESOURCES
The following pages contain information related to assessment activities. There are many sources for assessment activities, in professional associations as well as individual universities and colleges. Instead of trying to copy all of them, the links below have already been collected (no use reinventing the wheel). This page will be updated as more sources are identified, and as users let me know what should be included. We hope the user will realize that over time links get broken, changed, or otherwise don't work. Please advise this office of any bad links and feel free to suggest sites for inclusion via the address links at the bottom of the page.
SACS ASSESSMENT RESOURCES
SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS (SACS)
The SACS Commission on Colleges is the accrediting agency within SACS, the primary accrediting agency for Texas and the southern states. This site contains the specific information about SACS activities and resources.The SACS website is: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
At the annual SACS Commission on Colleges meeting in Orlando, Florida, December 3-6, 2011, SMU's accreditation was reaffirmed.
SACS accreditation
documents available on the SACS COC website may be accessed by clicking on the links below:
The basic SACS document is the
Principles
of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement, the most recent
version is dated 2012.
The Handook for Institutions Seeking Reaffirmation August 2011 edition, "is for use by
institutions engaged in the process of review for the purpose of reaffirmation
(continued accreditation)." This book outlines the requirements and the
supporting documentation required. VERY IMPORTANT!
Also recommended is the
Resource Manual for the Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality
Enhancement..
It has been completely updated to address all the
revisions to the Principles as adopted by the membership in December
2011. It is a rich resource for the academic community when preparing materials
for Commission review.
NEW OR MODIFIED POLICIES AND SIGNIFICANT UPDATES
DISTANCE EDUCATION: Two additional documents have been added for assisting
institutions in evaluating the quality of the distance and correspondence
programs.
1. A policy statement entitled
Distance and Correspondence Education
2. A new document titled "Guidelines
for Addressing Distance and Correspondence Education: A Guide for Evaluators
Charged with Reviewing Distance and Correspondence Education". This document
is intended for evaluators reviewing distance education programs would also be
useful for guiding institutions in their analysis of their programs.
OTHER ITEMS OF NOTE
Credit Hours
policy. Adopted in June 2011, this policy includes the federal definition of
"credit hour" and provides guidelines for institutions and the Commission in its
application.
The Quality and Integrity of Undergraduate Degrees this policy defines the
characteristics of an undergraduate degree and outlines the responsibilities of
institutions awarding these degree.
SUBSTANTIVE CHANGE:
The
Substantive Change Policy Statement was updated: August 18, 2011.
The SACSCOC staff made a presentation on
Substantive Change at a recent meeting. This presentation includes specifics
of required substantive change reporting as interpreted by the relevant SACSCOC
staff.
RECENT ADDITIONS:
Some
recent additions to this resource page:
WEAVE User's Guide
Texas College and Career Readiness Standards, from the Texas State
Coordinating Board
WEAVEonline is
the
system used by Southern Methodist University for managing Institutional Effectiveness reporting. To
access the WEAVEonline system, click on the button above. You must have
your log-on ID and password to use the WEAVE system.
For more information on the
product, WEAVEonline,
click here:
WEAVE - this link goes to the corporate
site, not to an SMU specific site.
User's guide for WEAVEonline: An SMU WEAVEonline User's Guide has been updated with some guidelines for preparing an Institutional Effectiveness response. Please review these guidelines if you would like some instructions to guide your preparation of a response.
Click on the image for an
Institutional Effectiveness Resource manual
(this link is
not to the SACS Principles of Accreditation manual)
Click here for a WEAVE 4.5 User's Guide
COUNCIL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION ACCREDITATION (CHEA) A wealth of information about accreditation activities from the national umbrella organization for accreditation activities. The CHEAnews link contains articles and up-to-date information on what's new in accreditation. Of particular interest is the information on the recent congressional actions
UNIVERSITY ASSESSMENT SITES AND
RESOURCE LINKS
There are many universities that have excellent assessment
sites. Some found to be particularly useful are listed below. If anyone has other
sites to recommend, they can be added as resources. Please notify
me [jmkalb "@sign" smu.edu] of any you feel would be useful for
others These pages contain links to numerous topics and university sites
related to Institutional Effectiveness. Two sites with specific examples of
program and learning outcomes are at the University of Central Florida and the
University of Texas - Arlington. At the time these links were entered, they
worked. Over time, this may have changed. These are verified periodically, but
not frequently.
STUDENT LEARNING AND PROGRAM OUTCOMES FOR ASSESSMENT
WRITING STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt_help/writing_learning_outcomes.pdf
WRITING PROGRAM OUTCOMES
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt_help/writing_progm_outcomes.pdf
DEVELOPING RUBRICS
GENERAL EDUCATION RUBRIC EXAMPLES
http://www.csufresno.edu/irap/assessment/rubric.shtml (California State
University, Fresno)
GRADES AS ASSESSMENT MEASURES
Do grades make the grade for program assessment?
http://www.abet.org/Linked%20Documents-UPDATE/Assessment/Assessment%20Tips4.pdf
Why not Grades?
http://www.odu.edu/ao/ira/assessment/topics/notgrades.shtml
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS ASSESSMENT METHODS http://www.uta.edu/irp/unit_effectiveness_plans/assets/AssessMethods.pdf
DIRECT AND INDIRECT METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt/methods.htm
COMMON LANGUAGE OF ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt/common_language.pdf
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY OUTLINE
This is the original Bloom's Taxonomy.
This is the updated Blooms' Taxonomy from the 1990s
And an expanded version of the original taxonomy
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY Comprehensive Resource
Listing: (http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/assmt/resource.htm)
Additional resource listing:
http://www.uta.edu/irp/unit_effectiveness_plans/assets/Resources.pdf
SUGGESTED READINGS FOR ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/resources/booklist_2008.pdf
GOOD EXAMPLES OF STANDARDS FOR ENTRY
LEVEL COURSES:
Texas College
and Career Readiness Standards - a publication of
the Texas State Coordinating Board that contains good examples of standards for
basic college level courses.
"The goal of the Texas CCRS
(College and Career Readiness Standards) is to establish what students must know
and be able to do to succeed an entry-level courses offered at institutions of
higher education."
The areas contained are: English/Language
Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Cross Disciplinary.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS - ARLINGTON: (Successfully completed SACS Review in
2007)
UT-A UNIT EFFECTIVENESS PROCESS (http://www.uta.edu/irp/unit_effectiveness_plans/uep.htm)
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS ASSESSMENT METHODS
http://www.uta.edu/irp/unit_effectiveness_plans/assets/AssessMethods.pdf
LIST OF ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
http://www.uta.edu/irp/unit_effectiveness_plans/assets/Resources.pdf
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
ASSSESSMENT RESOURCES (http://assessment.tamu.edu/resources/index.html#instruments)
DIRECT AND INDIRECT METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt/methods.htm
COMMON LANGUAGE OF ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt/common_language.pdf
WRITING STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt_help/writing_learning_outcomes.pdf
WRITING PROGRAM OUTCOMES
http://assessment.tamu.edu/asmt_help/writing_progm_outcomes.pdf
SUGGESTED READINGS FOR ASSESSMENT
http://assessment.tamu.edu/resources/booklist_2008.pdf
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
ASSESSMENT SUPPORT (http://oeas.ucf.edu/assessment/assess_inst_effec.htm)
OTHER
RESOURCES FROM TEXAS A&M, GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, THE UNIVERSITY OF
CENTRAL FLORIDA, AND NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
A particularly good and thorough reference site is located at the Texas A&M
University Office of Assessment web page. It includes these links (credit to
TAMU for these copied links):
Assessment Resources
Texas A&M has a particularly good annual assessment conference. For more
information:
12th Annual Texas A & M Assessment Conference information, February
19-21,
2012
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia
Tech Office of Assessment The Reports, Guidelines, Workshops and
Presentations path provides links to specific information.
University of Central Florida
UCF has an office of Operational Excellence and Assessment
Support that provides support for Assessment activities at UCF. This office has
many good examples of processes at a university that has established a
state-of-the-art linkage between institutional research, planning, and
assessment.
Assessment plans and results for UCF units are displayed through a Visitor site for academic and administrative units. This link goes to the index for academic and administrative units for 2006-07 and previous years. They are good examples from an established program of Institutional Effectiveness.
UCF Survey Inventory An example of an extensive survey process.
North Carolina State University
NCSU
Outcomes Assessment reference page
General assessment resources by category, national, regional, state and
institution.
The First Year
Experience web page:
National Resource Center for the
First-Year Experience and Students in Transition
SMU'S OUTSTANDING 'QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PLAN'
VIDEO ON YOUTUBE
"Engaged
Learning Beyond the Classroom"
And what the term "Unbridled" means to SMU: "Unbridled"
POLICY & PROCEDURES REFERENCES FOR UNIVERSITY
RELEVANT ACCREDITING
AGENCIES:
SOUTHERN ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND SCHOOLS
The 2010 edition of the
SACS Principles of Accreditation: Foundations for Quality Enhancement
document
ABET POLICY MANUAL The Accreditation Policy and Procedure Manual of
the Engineering accrediting agency, ABET, Inc.
SMU schedule for SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation activities
Previous Reaffirmation: December 2000
2006-07 IE plans are entered into the WEAVEonline system, reviewed, updated;
2007-08 Cycle one of updated process;
2008-09 Cycle two of updated process; begin work on Reaffirmation report.
2009-10 Cycle three; Reaffirmation report is written.
SACS Schedule:
2009 (Year One):
June 8: Orientation of Leadership
Team in Atlanta
Committees appointed, begin
work on Requirements and Standards
2010 (Year Two):
Compliance Certification
submitted
September 10
Off-site review conducted November
1-4
Report of the Off-site review
received November 19
2011 (Year Three):
Focused
Report in response to the Off-site review submitted to the On-site team,
February 25
Quality Enhancement Plan,
"Engaged Learning Beyond the Classroom" submitted with the Focus Report
On-site review conducted -
April 5-7, 2011; included SMU-in-Plano site visit
Responses to On-site review
findings submitted September 2, 2011
Review by the
Commission on Colleges - December 3-5, 2011
SMU Accreditation reaffirmed, December
5, 2011
FIFTH YEAR INTERIM REPORT
There will be a five year review to look
at the status of the QEP, and other relevant topics, five years after the reaffirmation.
Links to documents to be used in preparation of the Five Year Review are
included on the page
THE FIFTH-YEAR INTERIM REPORT:
INFORMATION, FORMS, AND TIMELINES. The document "The
Fifth-Year Interim Report" contains the required
documentation with the requirements and standards to be reviewed.
University Committee on Institutional
Effectiveness and Accreditation
On January 30, 2007, Provost ad interim Tom Tunks appointed a new university
standing committee, the University Committee on Institutional Effectiveness and
Accreditation. This committee changed membership over time as people changed
responsibilities. The following
list is the current and proposed membership of the SACS Institutional
Effectiveness committee. This replaces the previous Institutional Effectiveness
committee as established in 2007, although those originally appointed are not
off the hook, there is still work to do, so please continue as before in
management of the activities for the units/entities/departments.
The last iteration of the committee was constructed for the SACS Reaffirmation of Accreditation activity. The names listed here were largely responsible for the IE report and activity submitted for the SACS review. (Some were more active than others)
Patty Alvey, Chair of the
SACS Subcommittee on Institutional Effectiveness
Alma Alvarez-Smith, Dedman College
Tom Barry, Executive Vice President
Dennis Cordell, Dedman College
Ruth Cross, Dedman School of Law
Bill Detwiler, Business and Finance
Jim Dunham, Lyle School of Engineering
Liz Foster, Treasurer
John Gibson, Development
Kathy Hargrove, Simmons School of Education and Human Development
Ellen Jackofsky, Office of the Provost
Bruce Levy, Dedman College
Mary Logan, Student Affairs
Raul Magdaleno, Meadows School of the Arts
Alice McKenzie, Perkins School of Theology
Gary Moskowitz, Cox School of Business
Mary Ann Piepenburg, Development and External Affairs
Marty Sweidel, Meadows School of the Arts
Samantha Thomas, Institutional Access and Equity
Paul Toprac, Guildhall
Michael Tumeo, Office of the Provost
John Kalb, Office of the Provost, Ex Officio
PowerPoint
Presentation, March 1, 2007
PowerPoint Presentation,
January 17, 2008
PRESENTATIONS OF VALUE AT
SMU BY INVITED PRESENTERS DR. ROBERT NELSEN
PRESENTATION TO STUDENT AFFAIRS, MARCH 2009
DR. JOSEPH HOEY VISIT, JANUARY 25,
2006, POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS:
IE LEADERSHIP
PRESENTATION AT SMU
INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS AT SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY (10:00 AM
SESSION)
PROGRAM LEVEL INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS PLANS AT SMU (1:00 PM SESSION)
ADMIN &
SUPPORT SERVICES ASSESSMENT (2:30 PM SESSION)
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
BOOKS:
Assessing Student Learning, A Common Sense Guide, Linda Suskie, Anker
Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 1-882982-71-1 (Available
through Amazon.com for $35.60 plus the usual shipping and handling rip-offs.)
Assessment Clear and Simple, Barbara E. Walvoord, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-7879-7311-4. Available through Jossey-Bass books.
Introduction to Rubrics, Dannelle D. Stevens and Antonia J. Levi, Stylus Publishing Co. ISBN 1-57922-115-7 (Available through Amazon.com for $16.15 plus the usual shipping and handling rip-offs.)
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS:
Annual Texas
A&M Assessment Conferences; Presentations
and handouts from the recent conference. Also available through the above link to the TAMU Assessment office.
Xitracs is the software purchased by SMU to manage its reaffirmation of accreditation activities. SACS Steering Committee and Sub-committee chairs have access to this software for entering information and related documents. Your SMU ID log on in required, and an assigned password.
For additional information contact John Kalb at the Office of Institutional Research via jmkalb "@ symbol" smu.edu or at 768-3895. Comments, updates welcomed.
The links were working when this page was created. If any are not found to be working, please notify me at jmkalb('at' symbol)smu.edu