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All undergraduate programs are asked to develop three to six learning goals.
For each learning goal, the program’s faculty are expected to:
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Ensure that all students in the program have the opportunity to achieve this goal.
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Assess student achievement of this goal. (Middle States requires that all assessments be linked to specific goals.)
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Use the assessment findings to help students.
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New programs are asked to develop plans
for assessing three to six learning goals.
For each learning goal, the program’s faculty are expected to have written plans to:
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Ensure that all students in the program will have the opportunity to achieve this goal.
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Assess student achievement of this goal on a regular basis.
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Why do the University Assessment Council (UAC) and the Subcommittee on Undergraduate Programs Assessment (SUPA, formerly MARS) require annual assessment reports from each program?
Annual reports serve several purposes:
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They help UAC and SUPA ensure that all assessment activities meet Towson’s expectations for assessment, as articulated in its guiding principles for assessment.
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They enable Towson to identify and celebrate outstanding efforts in assessment.
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They help the Office of Assessment & Institutional Research to maintain a repository of good assessment practices and make those resources available to other programs.
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They help faculty improve their assessment efforts through feedback from SUPA and the Office of Assessment on strengths and weaknesses.
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They help keep assessment systematic.
If assessment reports were required only once every three or five years, it would be tempting for some faculty to suspend assessment activities in the intervening years.
Towson would then fail to meet Middle States’ accreditation standards, which stipulate that assessment be systematic and ongoing.
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They give the University the information on assessment activities needed to fulfill external reporting requirements, including reports to the Maryland Higher Education Commission every three years and to the Middle States Commission on Higher Education every five years.
If SUPA asked for an assessment report only once every three or five years, the report could be overwhelming for departments to prepare and might be incomplete.
What assessment information must be reported annually?
Programs are asked to list and report on three to six learning goals.
(UAC and SUPA ask for information on no more than six learning goals in order to minimize both report preparation time and feedback time.)
For each learning goal, UAC and SUPA ask:
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How the program ensures that all students in the program have the opportunity to achieve this goal.
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How the faculty are assessing student achievement of this goal. (Middle States requires that all assessments be linked to specific goals.)
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What the faculty have learned to date from the assessment activity.
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How the assessment findings have been used to help students.
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New programs (those not yet enrolling students) are asked to list and report on plans
for three to six learning goals.
For each learning outcome, UAC and SUPA ask:
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How the program plans to ensure that all students in the program will have the opportunity to achieve this goal.
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How the faculty plan to assess student achievement of this goal.
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When and how frequently the faculty expect to begin collecting assessment information.
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Assessment coordinators for new programs and SUPA collaborate to set the date on which a new program transitions from an annual report on assessment plans
to one on assessment goals
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The date depends on when the program enrolls and graduates its first cohort, the number of graduates expected in initial cohorts, and the type of assessment activities planned.
What information should be including in assessment reports?
Visit
www.towson.edu.assessment/assessment_in_undergraduate_programs.htm for information & templates on what should be included in assessment plans and reports.
Templates are sent to program assessment coordinators as e-mail attachments, and assessment coordinators are asked to return completed forms as e-mail attachments.
The Office of Assessment & Institutional Research saves the reports electronically, and in subsequent years it sends the prior year’s report back to the assessment coordinator for an update, minimizing report preparation time.
When are assessment reports due?
Each program has a choice of two dates: April 1 or November 1.
Is feedback on assessment plans and reports provided?
SUPA provides written feedback on each assessment plan and report within six weeks of receipt.
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Page maintained and updated by: Robert Wingfield
Last updated: 1/28/05
 Please send comments or concerns about this site to
rwingf1@towson.edu
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