Dean/ Department Chair Role in The Assessment Initiative

1. Dean/ Department Chair Role in The Assessment Initiative Norena Norton Badway, Ph.D. University of the Pacific January 17, 2006 — Grossmont College

2. Why This Matters • Dialogue makes explicit what has been implicit: expectations, assessment methods, standards, content • Reduces inconsistency among sections of a course • Fosters peer review by faculty within a department

3. Why This Matters 4. Gives adjuncts outcomes around which to design instruction and assessment 5. Includes adjuncts in peer review of outcomes 6. Recognizes role of student support staff in meeting instructional outcomes 7. Targets professional development

4. Evaluation Concerns Faculty should not be evaluated on student learning outcomes in their courses; Faculty should be evaluated on participation in the entire process of collaboratively authoring and collectively accepting outcomes, assessment and improvement strategies.

5. Useful Leadership Practices a) Plan for purposeful dialogue during regular department/ division meetings b) Take stock of what exists: course objectives, assessments, content, student values and motivation, faculty attitudes and knowledge about assessment

6. Useful Leadership Practices c) Begin incrementally with a few gatekeeper courses d) Complete an entire cycle of expectations, assessments, criteria, reflection/ peer review, improvement, assessment, criteria… e) Use social learning to build faculty capability for other courses, programs and institution goals

7. Useful Leadership Practices f) Keep it simple: use forms and processes that can be easily understood g) Don’t get hung up on terminology — use everyday language h) Participate, don’t just observe i) Find resources- be creative: release time, release from committees, better use of meeting times, scheduling of classes

8. Implementation Guide The Assessment Initiative at Grossmont College

10. 1. Purposeful Dialogue Regular meetings focus on changing needs of students, how course outlines differ from syllabi, what are shared expectations for students, what assessment methods are now in place, when “norming” now occurs. Record this dialogue as PART of the process.

11. 2. Set Year 1 Priorities As part of regular meeting or as part of planning session/ retreat, faculty set priorities for Year 1 Assessment Plan. • Faculty collaboratively identify ONE learning objective from existing Course Outline of Record as Year 1 Priority.

12. 3. Set Year 1 Assessment(s) As part of regular meeting or as part of planning session/ retreat, faculty agree upon what evidence of learning to accept: what assessment(s) is/are acceptable to program faculty. • Faculty set acceptable criteria for “average” [C]: What does an average outcome look like? How do you know it when you see it?

13. 4. Implement Year 1 Assessment During first semester of Year 1, faculty teach course and implement assessment. All faculty teaching the Year 1 Priority Course gather assessment evidence at the end of the semester and store it in an agreed upon location.

14. 5. Peer-Review Student Learning Outcomes In February, all full time and adjunct faculty meet to review prior semester’s learning outcomes. A samples are put in a stack (anonymous); B samples in a stack; C samples in a stack, etc. • Faculty review a sampling of each stack, and discuss how or if this sample meets agreed upon criteria. [%?]

15. 6. Reflect on Progress As a group, full time and adjunct faculty discuss if this rate of progress for students is realistically sufficient: • Is there a great deal of variation within samples of each scoring/ grade? • Do evening and day students differ? • Are there other observable differences among groups of students, given anonymity of samples?

16. 7. Set Improvement Strategies Based on a shared understanding of which students learned what, faculty collaboratively identify strategies to improve student learning outcomes.

17. 8. Teach, Assess … During Spring semester, faculty implement improvement strategies, or develop plans for improvement strategies to be implemented in the next Fall semester. At the end of that semester, faculty again assesses student learning outcomes, to determine if progress is sufficient or requires further improvement strategies.

18. Getting Started WHERE is not nearly as important as STARTING because this is continuous professional learning to improve student learning. Ready, Fire, Aim as you gain experience.

19. Norena Norton Badway nbadway@pacific.edu 3841 Petersburg Circle Stockton, CA 95219 209-601-7121