Assessment Plan
Plan for Assessment of Student Academic Achievement
IV. Plan for Assessment of Student Academic Outcomes
A. Introduction
The development of a University-wide Assessment Plan was initiated by the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in 1992. A University Assessment Committee was formed in response to a locally identified need for coordination of assessment activities as well as to mandates received from our accrediting body, N.C.A., and from the UW System Board of Regents' Academic Quality Program. The University Assessment Committee was charged with
- developing an institutional assessment program that complies with the requirements of N.C.A.
- assessing students' verbal and quantitative skills.
- developing strategies and suggested methods/models for departments to begin assessment in the major in 1994-95.
Very quickly the University Assessment Committee came to the realization that a good assessment plan, one that leads to enhanced student learning, must be formulated on the premise that assessment would be successful only if it provided meaningful results for faculty. Assessment activities must be guided by the faculty, and assessment data must be made available to those most closely responsible for the learning related to the data. Thus, the Principles of Assessment of Student Academic Achievement were developed; they form the foundation upon which the UW-Eau Claire Assessment Plan was built.
Members of the University Assessment Committee worked for many months reviewing N.C.A. requirements and assessment materials. In addition, the University Assessment Committee examined published materials received from many sources such as the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) and the American College Testing (ACT), organized and conducted workshops for university faculty, and generally developed a broad-based understanding of assessment and its good practices.
Simultaneously, the university was involved in a review of its entire baccalaureate program that was guided by a Commission for the Redefinition of Baccalaureate Degree and was chaired by the Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. This process defined 11 goals for the baccalaureate degree as an outgrowth of the university's mission. The goals were approved by the University Senate in spring 1994 and became the focal point of assessment discussions.
Also, each department and graduate program identified the primary goals within the majors. These goals formed the foundation of the assessment plans in the majors. Thus, assessment activities have been developed for the general education/baccalaureate experience as well as the activity within each major and all graduate programs.
The remainder of this report provides a detailed description of UW-Eau Claire's General Education/Baccalaureate Assessment Plan and its Plan for Assessment of the Major -- Undergraduate and Graduate. Encompassed within each plan is a discussion of the use of assessment data; the report concludes with a brief description of the process for review of the assessment plan.
