Editor's note -- The original electronic copy of the following article was inadvertently deleted during preparation of the October newsletter, and we replaced it with this one for archival purposes. Our thanks to library assistant Kelly Brock for retyping it from a copy of the hard copy edition that went into faculty and staff mailboxes at the time of publication. The links at right in the archived copy are from the Oct. 26 issue.

Here's what NCA approved

As school reopened for fall semester, we learned that the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools has accepted our most recent progress report on implementing SCI's 1996 Assessment Plan. Because the report was drafted at the end of a period of relative inactivity, it took on the nature of a call to action and plan for further action. Its acceptance by NCA in effect commits us to the plan, and that in turn commits us to a lot of hard work over the next few years.

"Assessment at SCI remains a work in progress," said NCA associate director John A. Taylor in a staff analysis dated Aug. 28. "The College attributes its lack of great progress in an institutionalized assessment commitment to administrative changes in personnel and to changes in the direction and foci of the assessment program. However, assessment of student learning is now an administrative priority."

If turnover in Brinkerhoff has been a problem, Taylor noted some measure of continuity among faculty members who have worked over the years to make assessment happen.

"The College reports that a core group of faculty are committed to develop a College-wide assessment process to (1) enhance and improve student learning; (2) assess learning outcomes; and (3) provide assessment data for the College planning and budgeting processes," he said. "The College has made least progress in this last area. However, to fulfill #1 and #2 above, the College is working to build 'a culture of assessment' to help faculty take ownership of these assessment process and to recognize its value to their programs."

While the term "culture of assessment" may seem like a prime example of bureaucratic bafflegab, it grows out of a term of art in the field of organizational psychology that has specific implications for us at SCI.

The term is "organizational culture." Edgar Schein, a management professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, defines it as: "A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems." Changing such pattern, he says, is difficult.

As we drafted our NCA report, several Assessment Committee members decided one reason earlier assessment efforts at SCI didn't flourish was because our organizational culture hasn't yet embraced assessment. If it is to flourish, we believe, SCI's culture will have to adapt itself to new assumptions while retaining long-held values. We are betting that this can be done, because SCI's classroom teachers already double-check what they do in the classroom and because we already have a model for successful assessment on campus. Taylor took note of it as well.

"SCI provides an example of the uses of assessment to enhance student learning in its report from the Languages/Literature Division." Taylor said, "This single example portends the potential of a fully implemented assessment plan. For the majority of programs, however, assessment remains a classroom-based activity."

Taylor closed his analysis on what committee members interpret as a note of encouragement - and an implied warning.

"The ground work has been laid for the changes that must occur if assessment is a faculty owned-and implemented program." he said. "Results should be quite evident at the time of the next (accreditation review) team visit."

That's in the 2005-06 school year.

We've made copies of NCA's staff analysis available to committee members and others who have begun working to make our assessment plan a reality. If you want one, I'll be happy to give you a copy - the more people in the SCI community who are familiar with it, the better.

-- Pete Ellertsen, outcomes assessment facilitator

September 25, 2001
Vol. 2 No. 2

• CAT scan: An Introduction to Classroom Assessment Techniques by Diane M. Enerson, Kathryn M. Plank, and R. Neill Johnson of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at Penn State.
• Here's a nuts-and-bolts primer on Primary Trait Analysis, which can turn grading into an assessment tool. At Raymond Walters College, University of Cincinnati.
• Here's THE nuts-and-bolts guide to practical classroom assessment -- one that tells you what to do and how to do it. Go to the SIU-Edwardsville site on CATs (classroom assessment techniques).
• For background on assessment at California State-Chico, on which we're modeling SCI's program-level assessment strategy, read James Jacobs' report, "A Simple and Effective Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan That Works" (italics in the original).
• Edgar Schein's thoughts on organizational culture, on which much of the conceptual framework of our assessment plan is based, are summarized and quoted in a British website. Visit Schein's website at MIT, too.
• There's a very good profile of ACT Inc., the standardized test vendor with whom we're working in Gen Ed testing, in the June 13 issue of Education Week. We're phasing in ACT's COMPASS test this year.
• To see the context for SCI's strategy for implementing our 1996 assessment plan, and we are expected to be doing by 2005-06, read NCA's Five Criteria for Accreditation.
• American Association for Higher Education. This Washington, D.C., advocacy group's Web site includes a FAQ page and a universally accepted set of Nine Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning.
  

Assessment Committee
Pete Ellertsen, chair
Barb Bernardi
Bob Blankenberger
Nadine Elchlepp (student)
Susan Full
Alice Gutierrez
Jim Harris
Dave Holland
Jeff Mueller (ex officio)
Kenneth Broeckling (ex officio)