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A mission statement has to be operational, otherwise it's just good intentions. -- Peter Drucker
This month's Nuts & Bolts comes to you in a mixed media format. In addition to the usual hard copy on paper (which computer geeks sometimes call a "dead tree" format), you're getting an e-mail message with a link to the electronic edition on SCI's assessment website. I need to pull some things together and point in what may be a new direction for some of us, and for that I want to use hypertext. If it brings more visitors to the website, that's a good thing, too.
In last month's newsletter, you read SCI's new statement of Common Student Learning Outcomes. They're important, for several reasons.
One reason, to put it bluntly, is that the North Central Association thinks they're an important criterion for re-accreditation. "Having clearly stated program goals and specific, measurable objectives to attain each of the program goals is critical to conducting an effective assessment program," says NCA's Cecilia López. As she explained it during a 1998 NCA conference in Chicago, this involves setting "explicit objectives for student learning derived from those goals that are publicly stated and linked to specific measures." That's what we've done with the outcomes statement.
Another reason the outcomes statement is important is that it takes the good intentions in our mission statement, as management expert Peter Drucker might say, and operationalizes them. While the outcomes are classroom learning goals, they affect they way all of us do business.
"A mission statement has to be operational, otherwise it's just good intentions," says Drucker, who has advised many schools and not-for-profit agencies as well as businesses in his 50-plus years of consulting. "A mission statement has to focus on what the institution really tries to do and then do it so that everybody in the organization can say, This is my contribution to the goal."
Here's how it's designed to work. SCI's mission statement reads as follows:
The mission of Springfield College in Illinois is to provide students the best liberal arts education in the Ursuline tradition of a nurturing faith-based environment. We prepare students for a life of learning, leadership and service in a diverse world.
(Link here or enter http://www.sci.edu/assessment/programgoals/index.html in your computer's browser field to see the mission statement.)
Fine. But so far it's just words. Nice words, uplifting words, inspiring words, noble words, even. But that's all. To flesh out the words, on Dec. 9 Eileen Kolich, associate provost for academic affairs at Benedictine University who is heading up SCI's re-accreditation effort, led an assessment workshop "focused on developing an understanding of how the College's mission serves as a framework, which guides and shapes how curriculum is taught and how co-curricular activities are selected." We were asked to "identify the skills that the College needs to nurture in order to prepare students for those enduring outcomes" of lifelong learning, leadership and service in the mission statement. "The participants addressed each of the Mission's enduring outcomes separately, and as a result of their work, student learning objectives were identified," Dr. Kolich reported. "These objectives will provide the foundation upon which the effectiveness of the curriculum can be assessed at the College, Program and Course levels."
(Link here or enter http://www.sci.edu/assessment/programgoals/workshop.html in your browser to read Dr. Kolich's report in full.)
Some of the language that educators like to throw around gets pretty dense, so I'm going to define a term or two. "Outcomes," in plain English, are what professional educators call the things our students need to learn. They're measurable skills, like the ability to solve a problem or support a point with factual evidence. Those are two we identified in December as relating to SCI's mission. Or they're specific attitudes and behaviors, like the ethical standards and habits of good citizenship we identified or an educated person's respect for other people's opinions and cultures. In the next few months, we will be working to align all the common outcomes we identified in December with specific courses, syllabi and even day-to-day assignments.
(Link here or enter http://www.sci.edu/assessment/learningoutcomes.html in your browser to read the full text. Please consider reducing it to a single page -- set your browser on the next-to-smallest type size -- and photocopying it for your students.)
I think we'll find as we get into it, that we already do a lot to translate the mission statement into daily classroom instruction.
In my mass communications courses, for example, I already ask my students to "[u]se technology to enhance learning" by evaluating media websites and posting their analysis to the online message board linked to my faculty webpage. In an era of new media and cross-platform communication strategies (like the one I'm trying out in a small way with this month's newsletter), technology is built into the curriculum. In my freshman English classes, I concentrate more on helping my students "[c]ommunicate effectively in oral and written forms." But the principle is the same. In many cases, relating assignments to specific points in the outcomes statement just takes what I already do and systematizes it. Other points, I expect, will be more challenging. How well do my students "[r]ecognize the importance of diversity of opinion, abilities and cultures?" How well do I, for that matter? I'll have to think about that.
Footnote: There's nothing new or startling about the basic concept here. As I was going through the Assessment Committee minutes for 1995 getting ready for the NCA re-accreditation process, I was reminded of one of the first faculty meetings I attended as a brand-new English teacher, when then-Assessment Committee chair Judi Anderson spoke on "syllabus content as it related to the mission statement of the school." Our new Common Student Learning Outcomes statement is a big step forward, but we couldn't take the step now without the contributions of those who came before.
ACT recommended for Illinois state tests
Interim State School Supt. Randy Dunn has recommended that the ACT college entrance exam continue as part of the Prairie State Achievement Exam taken by Illinois high schoolers. "It gives all students in Illinois access to a free college entrance exam, which for many kids is the only way they'll be able to take one," he said. In 2003, two years after the State Board of Education incorporated the ACT test into the Prairie State tests, the number of Illinois graduating seniors taking the ACT jumped by 51 percent, according to the Illinois School Board Newsbulletin, a publication of the Illinois Association of School Boards. If the State Board goes along, it will be a plus for SCI as we start using ACT data analyses this year to determine "value added" at the college level by comparing reading scores.
-- Peter Ellertsen, chair, Assessment Committee
Nuts & Bolts is an electronic newsletter published by SCI's Assessment Committee. Members are: Bob Blankenberger, history and philosophy; Brian Ferguson, chemistry; Amy Lakin, English; Matt Mogle, fine arts; Rick Rossetto, biology; Steve Stowers, math; Barb Tanzyus, math; and Pete Ellertsen (chair), English and mass communications. Kevin Broeckling, dean of students; and Jeff Mueller, dean of the college, serve ex officio. The newsletter is available on line at http://www.sci.edu/assessment/newsarchive.html
If you have information, comments or feedback, please contact any committee member or Nuts & Bolts editor Pete Ellertsen, in Becker L-16A on the SCI campus, 525-1420 ext. 519 or by e-mail at <pellertsen@sci.edu>.
