Assessment is Not "On Hold"

Howdy! As the new Dean of Arts and Sciences, I am excited to be at CMC and see so many wonderful things happening. In fact, this blog is just one great innovation that everyone at CMC can be involved in to get the word out. I decided to talk about a subject that I know often causes moans and groans from faculty and administration across the college. Having only done a preliminary search of files, I discovered CMC began work on assessment several years ago at multiple levels. This was great news to me as I have been asked to provide leadership and direction for assessment in the coming years. Yes, I said years! Why, you are wondering, are we still talking about assessment and we can't be done with it? Because the Higher Learning Commission will not provide accreditation without proof of ongoing improvement at a college. CMC must continue to move forward with assessment activities!

I have talked with some terrific faculty and administrators about their views on assessment and what they were doing a year ago. Because nobody asked for assessment reports this year, it is a common viewpoint that assessment was "on hold." Much work was done on writing course outcomes, developing rubrics, implementing common writing assignments, and even changing common practice to improve instruction. Hey! Hey! way to go faculty! You have always been doing "assessments" within your courses to determine if students were learning the outcomes that you deemed important within the AA, AS, DevEd, and CTE programs. Now we need to move forward to develop a simple but effective reporting procedure followed by improvements.

Assessment basics are not difficult to comprehend when explained in simple terms. Assessment is a cyclic process for educational improvement. An effective assessment program can be used to improve student learning, facilitate institutional improvements, and validate institutional effectiveness (HLC likes this one). CMC's commitment to assessment enables the College to realize its core values of Learning.

Assessment of student learning is a systematic attempt to...

1) Understand what students are/aren't learning
2) Provide feedback to reinforce student learning
3) Improve student learning!

Assessment is NOT...

1) Solely an administrative activity
2) A means of punishment. It is for improvement only!
3) An intrusion into a faculty member's classroom or an infringement on academic freedom.

Many people's immediate reaction to assessment is bewilderment. I plan to use several electronic media to talk about assessment in the coming weeks. I look forward to a healthy dialogue with faculty about how to make the process simple but effective. My goal is to develop a collaborative process and positive working relationship across CMC.

Sunny Schmitt