Section 1: Framing Concepts: Governance of the Process
Internal and External Assessment Roles & Accountability
The assessment of educational effectiveness is part of the culture of improvement at Montgomery College. The ultimate accountability for assessment and reporting lies with the area dean or program administrator of the area being assessed, but both internal and external entities govern the obligation and the process for assessment best-practices.
Internal:
Within the college, The Office of Assessment supports and archives all assessment reporting. The Office of Assessment maintains the schedule of reporting based on the MC Assessment Cycle and provides training and support for all assessment activities, including the gathering of data and assistance with assessment reports. The Assessment Document Repository on Blackboard is a central location for this manual, for forms and templates, and for accessing approved reports.
Specific committees at MC such as the College Area Review Committee (CARC), the Collegewide Assessment Team (CAT) and the General Education Standing Committee (GESC) review assessment reports and provide feedback and recommendations for further development or clarifications. Learn more about the roles of these committees on the Assessment Repositorynew window. (*Please sign in to MyMC to activate this link.)
The area dean or program administrator assigns and supports the process of assessment and reporting for programs for which they are responsible. That person establishes a lead and recruits members for the assessment report workgroup and supports the workgroup. These workgroups can include faculty, staff, department chairs, administrators and/or contractors, depending on the type of report. The program area dean or program administrator submits the applicable assessment report for comment and approval. Levels of comment and approval vary based on the type of report. The final approved report should be communicated to all stakeholders by the dean or program administrator, or their designee.
Like many other industries, all employees may be asked to participate in gathering and reflecting upon data and crafting meaningful planned actions in order to improve or to further the college mission. Course instructors participate in the data gathering process and use MC’s approved data gathering system to input student performance results based on their program’s assessment plans. Assessment and data gathering are specifically mentioned in both AAUP and SEIC contracts as one of the activities closely related to the essential duty of effective teaching and learning.
External:
The assessment of educational effectiveness is mentioned throughout the Middle States Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliationnew window, and Standard V is titled Educational Effectiveness Assessment. That standard calls for clearly stated educational goals, organized and systematic assessments, consideration and use of assessment results for the improvement of educational effectiveness. Periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of assessment processes utilized by the institution for the improvement of educational effectiveness is also required.
Periodic assessment, reflection and reporting are also required for compliance with some state laws, federal financial aid regulations, and may be required for external accreditation in some programs.