Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness

Assessment Plan

Albany State University institutional effectiveness plan called for the establishment of a new model of assessment of student learning and academic service delivery to occur in three distinct phases. The goal of phase one, which commenced in 2006, was to introduce the new model of assessment to academic, administrative, and academic support directors, faculty and staff. Beginning in spring 2006, ASU's Office of Accreditation in conjunction with the Office of Institutional Research Planning and Outreach initiated a series of institutional effectiveness and assessment workshops geared to educating faculty, staff and administrators on how to develop goals, objectives, learning outcomes and other key components of the Nichols model. Special emphasis was placed on training faculty and staff on how to use the new model of assessment to document use of results to improve student learning and service delivery among academic and academic support respectively.

Phase two, which began in the summer of 2006, was intended to serve as a pilot project geared to implementing the systematic development, monitoring and accumulation of unit assessment plans by all designated academic, administrative and academic support units for the 2005-2006 reporting year. ASU's Office of Accreditation in conjunction with Title III and the Vice President for Academic Affairs hired a project manager and a data analysts/web manager to monitor progress reports, provide ongoing training, develop and institutional effectiveness website as well as to provide technical and other support to academic and academic support units. As part of this implementation phase of the development of units assessment plan, each unit had to document that the goals and objectives of the 05-06 assessment plan grew out of faculty and staff deliberation and input, particularly with respect to selecting learning objectives rubrics, means of assessment and other measurement instruments . Phase two culminated in early fall 2006 with the review of unit assessment plans by Office of Accreditation and outside consultant. Recommendation and revisions were communicated to all units before final approval and submissions of assessment plans were finalized.

During Phase three, all academic, administrative and academic support units began collecting and evaluating their assessment data and closing the loop on their 2005-2006 assessment report. To help facilitate phase three of the implementation of this new assessment process, the university strengthened the Office of Institutional Research Planning and Outreach by hiring a new director with extensive experience in assessment data support and service delivery as well as a new data analysis assist unit with request for data, analysis, surveys results and other technical assistance. At the end of phase three in spring 2007, the Project Director of the Accreditation Office, the Office of Institutional Research Planning and Outreach, the Institutional Effectiveness Committee will conduct an analysis of the implementation to the new assessment model. A consultant was retained to make recommendation on the full implementation of assessment model.