Assessment Resources

Park University is committed to providing "access to academic excellence." Assessment--at the university, degree program, and classroom levels--helps us know more about and improve student learning. This website serves as a central repository for information about assessment at Park University and resources supporting best practices in assessment.

Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves:

• Making our expectations explicit
• Setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning
• Systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards
• Using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance.

--Cecilia L. López.

Assessment Resources

Many of the links here were reprinted from North Carolina State University's exhaustive and well maintained clearinghouse:  Internet Resources for Assessment in Higher Education Outcomes Assessment

Topics

• General Assessment Resources
• Glossaries of Assessment Terminology
• Assessment Rubrics
• Classroom Assessment Techniques
• Developing Campus or Department Assessment Plans
• Distance Education Assessment

General Assessment Resources

9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning
From the American Association for Higher Education Assessment Forum. AAHE went out of business in summer 2005 and their website is no longer available.

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/bibliographies1/assessmentbibliography.cfm
Association of College and Research Libraries:  Assessment Bibliography

http://www.ccaurora.edu/assessment/DirectVIndirect.htm
Direct and Indirect Assessment Measures

• From the Maricopa Center for Learning & Instruction (Maricopa Community Colleges, Arizona)
• Topically-organized links to resources for outcomes assessment, assessment of learning, evaluation, and institutional effectiveness.
• Searcheable list of resources available at Center for Learning & Instruction.
• Links to assessment/institutional effectiveness plans at Maricopa Community Colleges and elsewhere.

Assessment Resources

• From the Association of College & Research Libraries: Online journal article with links to a wide range of assessment resources.
• From Florida Atlantic University: Extensive and well-organized lists of links to general assessment resources and resources for assessment in specific academic disciplines and in administrative and support units.

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Glossaries: Assessment Terms

• Assessment in Higher Education includes a list of glossaries.
• Assessment Glossary, from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
• Assessment Terminology: A Glossary of Useful Terms.
• Beyond Confusion: An Assessment Glossary, from Association of American Colleges & Universities Peer Review..
• Dictionary of Student Outcome Assessment. Searcheable. From James Madison University.
• Glossary of Evaluation Terms and Teacher Evaluation Glossary from The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University.
• Glossary of Assessment Terms, from SUNY-Potsdam (*.pdf document).

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Assessment Rubrics

• Washington State University rubric for critical thinking.
• Sites designed for K-12 education, but useful as models and adaptable for higher education performance assessments.
  • Assessment Matters! has lots of rubric examples, plus other K-12-oriented assessment links.
  • Assessment and Rubric Information: Examples of evaluation scales/rubrics for various student and faculty activities.
  • Rubric generators create rubrics for various topics.
  • Steps in creating an assessment rubric, from the WebQuest site at San Diego State University.

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Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATS)

• Hints, tips, techniques, and examples from:
  • Honolulu Community College
  • Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville
• Course-based Review and Assessment (University of Massachusetts Amherst, *.pdf document).
• FAST (Free Assessment Summary Tool), from Bruce Ravelli, Mt. Royal College.
  • Web survey for student feedback, for classroom assessment during the course of a term.
  • Fully anonymous, no way to tell who has submitted an evaluation, or how often. Not intended as an an end-of-term course evaluation whose data become part of the salary, promotion, and tenure process.
• Internet Resources for Classroom Assessment Techniques, from Sinclair Community College.
• Introduction to Classroom Assessment Techniques from Penn State University's Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.
• Online version of the Teaching Goals Inventory, from the University of Iowa's Center for Teaching.
  • See Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (Angelo & Cross, 1988, 1993, Jossey-Bass) for details on the TGI. The online version was created with the authors' permission.
• Technology Applied to Classroom Assessment, from the National Teaching and Learning Forum.
  • Links to online resources about classroom assessment and technology-enhanced classroom assessment.

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Developing Campus or Departmental Assessment Plans

• Academic Assessment Plan Submission Guide with overview and pros/cons of various assessment strategies (Kent State University)
• As Easy as Apple Pie: A Baker's Guide to Assessment Plan Development (Georgia Institute of Technology)
• Assessment: An Institution-Wide Process to Improve and Support Student Learning (College of DuPage, *.pdf file)
• Assessment Guidebook for Departments (Bridgewater State College)
• Assessment Handbook (Morningside College). Chapters are individual *.pdf files.
• Assessment Handbook (Skidmore College)
• Assessment Handbook and Assessment for people who don't have enough time to do assessment workshop (Concordia College)
• Assessment Process Handbook (Indiana Wesleyan University, *.pdf file)
• Assessment Workbook (Ball State University)
• A Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide (FLAG) for Science, Math, Engineering, and Technology Faculty.
• Busy Chairperson's Guide to Assessment (Southeast Missouri State Univ.)
• Course-based Review and Assessment and on-line handbook for Program-Based Review and Assessment (University of Massachusetts Amherst, *.pdf files).
• Developing Academic Program Assessment Plans (Western Kentucky University).
• Guidelines for Assessment (California State Univ., Chico)
• Outcomes Assessment Manual (Quinebaug Valley Community College).
• Practitioner's Manual (Texas A&M International University, *.pdf file)
• Six Steps to Continuous Improvement of Student Learning (Kent State University).
• Suggestions for getting started, from Student Outcomes Assessment: Opportunities and Strategies (Norene C. & Peter A. Facione). Posted by Insight Assessment (previously California Academic Press), which publishes instruments for and offers consulting on critical thinking assessment.

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Distance Education Assessment

• Project ADEPT (Assessment of Distance Education Pedagogy and Technology)
  • Surveys/instruments being developed & tested.
• Assessment resources for on-line courses, from the University of Texas at Austin Center for Instructional Technologies.

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