Assessment in the Division

Why do we have an assessment process in Student Affairs?

The information below comes from Assessment Practice in Student Affairs: An Applications Manual by John H. Schuh and M. Lee Upcraft and Associates, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 2001.

Assessment is any effort to gather, analyze, and interpret evidence which describes institutional, division, or agency effectiveness" (p. 3) ...."We have purposely omitted staff performance evaluations from our definition of assessment. In our context, assessment is limited to student services, programs, and facilities only, and should never include staff performance evaluations. (p. 4)

"Assessment is not another educational fad that will disappear when newer fads emerge." (p. 16)

"Effectiveness includes not only assessing student learning outcomes, but assessing other important outcomes, such as cost effectiveness, clientele satisfaction, meeting clientele needs, complying with professional standards, and comparisons with other institutions." (p.4)

Why Assessment in Student Affairs?

Survival - "Student affairs is under considerable pressure to demonstrate its importance and worth. In an era of declining resources and increased competition for what precious few resources there are, student affairs has come under the institutional financial microscope." (p. 9)

Quality – "We strongly believe that a fundamental responsibility of student affairs is to provide services, programs, and facilities that are of highest quality. Assessment can help determine if we have been successful in fulfilling that responsibility." (p. 10)

Affordability – " Decisions to eliminate services and programs based on their affordability may have to be made, but other affordability questions abound….Unfortunately, these decisions are often made without adequate assessment…" (p. 11)

Strategic Planning – "Strategic planning, according to Baldridge (1083), examines the big issues of an organization: its mission, purpose, long-range goals, relationship to its environment, share of the market, interactions with other organization… Assessment contributes to strategic planning by helping to define goals and objectives and pointing to critical issues or problems that must be resolved successfully if the organization is to achieve its goals. Assessment is especially important in the early phases of strategic planning to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for the future. It is also critical in the later stages of planning, when evaluation of policies and programs occurs." (p. 11)

Policy Development and Decision Making – "Assessment can provide systematic information that can be critical in helping policy makers and decision makers make valid judgment about policy, decide on important issues, and make decisions about resource allocations." (p. 11)

Politics - Sometimes we must do assessment because someone or some institution of importance wants some information, which makes it politically important to produce." (p. 11)

Accreditation – "According to the Commission on Higher Education’s Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education (1994), one of the criteria of accreditation is outcomes or institutional effectiveness…." (p. 12)

But even without these pressures, assessment must be done because if it is conducted properly, it is the best way to ensure our commitment to high-quality student services, programs, and facilities. (p. 16)

A Comprehensive Assessment Model (p. 12-15)

Tracking (keeping track of who uses student services, programs, and facilities)
Needs Assessment (assessing student and other clientele needs)
Satisfaction Assessment (assessing student and other clientele satisfaction)
Student Cultures and Campus Environments Assessment(assessing campus environments and student cultures)
Outcomes Assessment (assessing outcomes – Of those who use our services, programs, and facilities, is there any effect on their learning, development, academic success, or other intended student learning outcomes, particularly when compared with nonusers?)
Comparable Institution Assessment (comparable institution assessment – How does the quality of services, programs, and facilities compare with ‘best-in-class" comparable institutions?
National Standards Assessment (using nationally accepted standards to assess)
Cost Effectiveness Assessment (assessing cost effectiveness)

Steps in the Assessment Process (p. 18-24)

Step 1: Define the Problem
Step 2: Determine the Purpose of the Study
Step 3: Determine Where to Get the Information Needed
Step 4: Determine the Best Assessment Methods
Step 5: Determine Whom to Study
Step 6: Determine How Data Will Be Collected
Step 7: Determine What Instruments Will Be Used
Sept 8: Determine Who Should Collect the Data
Step 9: Determine How the Data Will be Analyzed
Step 10: Determine the Implications of the Study for Policy and Practice
Step 11: Report the Results Effectively

Methods

Qualitative
Quantitative