Section 3: Assessment in Practice: General Education Assessment
Introduction & Overview
General Education (Gen Ed) Outcomes Assessment is the process that examines student
acquisition of general education competencies and proficiencies across certified general
education courses. The General Education Program is also assessed collegewide as a
special academic program.
Who participates in General Education Outcomes Assessment?
Only those disciplines with certified general education courses are required to perform assessment for general education competencies, as indicated below:
- Every course that is certified as a general education course must report outcomes assessment data and plans for improvement as part of the assessment process at Montgomery College and for course recertification by the General Education Standing Committee (GESC).
- Any faculty member who teaches one or more sections of any general education course is required to participate in assessing general education competencies.
*Current List of Gen Ed Certified Coursesnew window
Organizing & Completing Assessment Activities
In academic areas, assessment is intended to be a faculty-driven process. Each area at the College, however, differs on how they choose to organize and complete their assessment functions. Department activities are often dependent on several factors: the size of the discipline and the number of courses offered, the ratio of full-time to part-time faculty, and the leadership styles of the area’s Coordinators, Chairs, and Dean.
Below is the most common approach that disciplines use when completing assessment activities:
- In many areas, program coordinators or course coordinators act as the leads for general education assessment activities and will often form faculty workgroups to organize and complete reports for any major assessment activities for their discipline. Depending on the Dean and the makeup of the discipline, these workgroups and the discipline leads will either be determined by the Dean or the Dean’s designee (Chair, coordinator, etc.).
- The discipline lead(s) for general education assessment will be responsible for the
following activities:
- Submit assessment plan to determine student achievement levels based on the signature assignments and submit the completed form to the General Education Standing Committee (GESC) for approval as part of the certification or re-certification process.
- Consult with general education faculty to formulate a data collection plan for scoring and uploading results for all general education courses during years 1, 2, 4, & 5 of their respective assessment cycle.
- Submit the completed data collection plan(s) for all general education courses to the Office of Assessment for review, feedback, and approval.
- Organize and oversee the data collection process.
- Organize a workgroup or meetings with faculty from the applicable courses to discuss and reflect on the data indicating student achievement on specified competencies. Discussion from this meeting will inform the Year-3 General Education Integrated Reflection Report and the CAR Report.
- In conjunction with all workgroups, prepare and submit all required reports, to include:
- General Education Recertification forms (Year 2)
- Annual Data Collection/Assessment updates (Years 1, 2, 4 & 5)
- Year-3 Integrated Report for General Education
- Year-6 General Education Reflection Report (incorporated into the CAR report)
- Regardless of the organizational approach used, the following apply:
- The Chairs are responsible for providing support and guidance for faculty members (as needed) throughout the assessment process and may, in conjunction with faculty members, assist with assessment activities (when applicable).
- The Deans are responsible for ensuring that any assessment requirements for their areas are completed and submitted by the required due dates
Assessment Requirements for Certification & Recertification of Gen Ed Courses
Initial Certification
Any course that is newly certified as a general education course is required to submit
a general education assessment plan and data collection plan to the Collegewide Assessment
Team for review following satisfactory completion of the certification process through
the General Education Standing Committee (GESC)*
Recertification
Any discipline with a general education certified course will complete recertification
for that course when the discipline enters Year 2 of the discipline’s 6-Year assessment
cycle. This process is intended to confirm high impact educational practices in support
of general education competencies and proficiencies.
- After GESC approval, the program coordinator or course coordinator is required to submit any changes to the previous general education assessment plan or data collection plan to the Collegewide Assessment Team for review. *
- Any approved changes to the signature assignment or data collection plan as a result of the recertification process should be communicated to all faculty teaching the general education course and implemented into the discipline’s assessment activities immediately following the approval process.
For information on designing your assessment and data collection plan, please see section “Designing Your Gen Ed Assessment Plan and Data Collection Plan”.
*To access the required forms for creating or revising a general education assessment
plan or data collection plan, please access the Assessment Repositorynew window in Blackboard (Once in the Repository, click on the folder on the main menu to your
left titled “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates” and then click on “Assessment Planning Tools.”)
The Signature Assignment
During the general education certification process for any course, the discipline faculty that teach the course will be required to create, and submit for approval, a “signature assignment.”
- Signature assignments provide an important opportunity for students to demonstrate their attainment of certain competencies, proficiencies, or skillsets acquired through a particular course or program curriculum.
- The common features of a discipline’s signature assignment also create an important instrument that program administrators and faculty use to help assess the progress of students across all sections of that particular course. These results can also be aggregated with other Gen Ed course results to evaluate student performance in Gen Ed competencies across an entire program, or across the institution as a whole.
Disciplines are required to administer signature assignments consistently and regularly in ALL of their general education courses, EVERY semester. The assignment administered to students should be in accordance with the most up-to-date certification/recertification of that particular general education course.
Creating Your General Education Assessment Plan
Your Assessment Instrument
Assessment instruments represent the tools that will be used to collect data that reflect student performance. These may take many forms and depend on the discipline, course material, and the competencies or outcomes being measured. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: written exams, oral exams, practical exams/exercises, papers, course assignments, lab exercises, capstone projects, high impact practices, etc.
For general education assessment, the approved signature assignment for your general education course will act as the assessment instrument for measuring student performance. An important aspect of choosing an assessment instrument is ensuring that the instrument that is chosen is a valid instrument, meaning that it will actually measure what you intend to measure for any specific competency.
- Questions to consider when choosing an assessment instrument:
- Does the assignment or exercise truly reflect student performance for the specific outcome or competency you want to collect data for?
- How can it be measured? (Scale? Correct/incorrect answer? Rubric with defined parameters? etc.).
Benchmarking
Benchmarking refers to the process by which a discipline or program sets a standard of measurement (or benchmark) for evaluating or comparing student performance during and after the assessment and reassessment process. For instance, what percentage of students is expected to attain proficiency in a given competency, or possibly exceed expectations? What percentage of students may fall below standards of success?
Please see the quick tips below regarding benchmarking:
- Benchmarks should reflect a combination of the high academic standards of your discipline, tempered with a realistic expectation of success among your students. A discipline’s faculty may want 100% of their students to place in the “advanced” performance level for quantitative analysis, but while this unrealistic benchmark might be possible for some programs, it would realistically be an unprecedented event for most. Setting your initial benchmarks is like forming a hypothesis about student performance based on the information you have - your assessment will test that hypothesis and let you know how your students are actually performing.
- If students in your discipline knowingly struggle with writing skills, then the expected benchmarks that your discipline sets across the “advanced” and “proficient” levels of this competency might not be as high as some expected percentages in your other competencies. On the other hand, if your students normally exceed with oral presentations, then the oral communication benchmark might be set a little higher. Benchmarks should blend the academic rigor of your course with expected student performance levels.
- Purposely setting benchmarks low in an effort to make the results look good only hurts your students in the end – don’t try to manipulate the results beforehand. The purpose of assessment is to discover how students are actually performing; an important part of this is finding out where the strengths and weaknesses of that performance may be in order to act on those results to improve some areas to better support student learning, refortify areas that really shine, and let your students show how successful they can be.
- Faculty who are teaching the courses to be assessed know their students the best - a discussion should be initiated around benchmarks that reflect both desired and expected levels of student performance. It’s also important to remember that benchmarks are not set in stone and can be revised (through a planned action within the assessment reporting process or during the Gen Ed recertification process).
For the General Education program, rubrics have already been established that describe the criteria that will be measured during the assessment process. It is your discipline’s responsibility to determine the student performance benchmarks that will apply to your Gen Ed course.
These benchmarks should reflect the level of your students at the College (i.e., is this an introductory course or an upper-level course?). You may also want to keep in mind that MC is a 2-year institution, not a 4-year institution when considering levels of performance in a particular competency (a graduating student at MC obtaining an associate degree may not necessarily be expected to have mastered a given skillset that would be expected of a graduating student from a 4-year institution with a bachelor’s degree.)
After reviewing the criteria for the Gen Ed rubric for your course, your discipline will want to consider the following questions:
- What does it mean for our students to perform at the “advanced” level? At the “proficient” level? Etc.
- What do we think will be the percentage of students in our Gen Ed course that meet each of these levels of performance?
- Now, decide on a percentage range of performance that identifies these criteria.
Please see “Assessment in Practice” for an example of General Education benchmarking.
Practical Example: Benchmarking for your General Education Assessment Plan
| General Education Competency | The Best Aligned Course Outcome for the General Education Competency |
Benchmark Expectation (%) (See Rubric) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced | Proficient | Novice | Not Eviden | ||
| Technological Competency (Required) | Students will be able to prepare keys and cladograms using appropriate software or online tools | 25% | 55% | 15% | 5% |
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning (Required) | Students will be able to formulate a testable hypothesis, gather and analyze data to support that hypothesis, and assess the degree to which their scientific work supports their hypothesis | 10% | 55% | 25% | 10% |
| Written Communication | Students will be able to communicate scientific information through effective formal and informal writing and speaking in a format used by practicing scientists | 20% | 60% | 10% | 10% |
| Oral Communication | Students will be able to communicate scientific information through effective formal and informal writing and speaking in a format used by practicing scientists | 25% | 65% | 5% | 5% |
| Information Literacy | Students will be able to access the primary literature, identify relevant works for a particular topic, and evaluate the scientific content of these works | 10% | 50% | 25% | 10% |
| Scientific Reasoning | Students will be able to apply fundamental mathematical tools (statistics, calculus) and physical principles (physics, chemistry) to the analysis of relevant biological situations | 10% | 55% | 25% | 10% |
| Quantitative Reasoning | Students will be able to employ fundamental quantitative and statistical principles to present and critique scientific findings | 5% | 40% | 40% | 15% |
| Arts and Aesthetic Awareness | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Personal, Social, and Civic Responsibilities | Students will be able to take appropriate steps towards conservation of endemic and endangered animal species | 25% | 60% | 10% | 5% |
| Integrative Learning (Required) | Function effectively as an individual, and as a member or leader in diverse teams, and in multidisciplinary settings | 10% | 60% | 20% | 10% |
Evidence Gathering
Evidence gathering for general education courses at MC encompasses two main activities:
the gathering (or collection) of general education student performance “data.” The
results derived from these data are reported in both the discipline’s Year-3 Integrated Reflections Report and College Area Review (CAR) Report.
Creating Your Data Collection Plan
Collection of Signature Assignment Data
While the signature assignment itself should be administered to students every semester,
the process of gathering (or collecting) general education “data” refers to the actual
collection of student signature assignments to be “scored” in accordance with a given
discipline’s general education assessment plan. This collection of student performance
across each competency takes place during years 1-2 and years 4-5 of a discipline’s
defined assessment cycle and follows the data collection plan created by that discipline.
Once the data are collected, the act of “scoring” or evaluating student performance
takes place, to be uploaded to the MC assessment system for analysis (see “Scoring
& Uploading Your Collected Data” - next section.)
Since faculty are the experts for their specific courses and requirements, it is up to the discipline coordinator and faculty members teaching the general education course to determine the plan for collecting data within years 1-2 & 4-5 of their designated assessment schedule. The Data Collection Plan should be created with careful consideration of the following for each general education course.
When creating your data collection plan, you should:
- Examine when and how each general education course is offered (semesters, times, campuses, modality, etc.) in order to capture a diverse and rich sample of student performance for each course across different settings.
- Ensure that data collection encompasses an appropriate number of course sections and that the number of students per section is suitable for an assessment sample (see sampling below.)
- Take into consideration the faculty members who may be teaching multiple sections of a given course and weigh any potential effects that might be created from additional time requirements/duties regarding scoring responsibilities.
- Guarantee that the appropriate data will be collected, scored, and available for analysis/discussion in order to meet the requirements and deadlines for completing the Year-3 General Education Reflection Report and the 6-Year Reflection Report (incorporated into the CAR).
How much data do we need to collect?
*In addition to the information below, please also refer to the data chart in Appendix C for guidance on how much data may be appropriate for your discipline/program.
The amount of data to collect depends on the size and number of sections and students associated with each general education course. Some common data collection questions/answers have been provided below for guidance; however, when in doubt, please contact the Office of Assessment for assistance in determining the appropriate amount of data for your discipline.
Quick Answer:
*No. Although data are required to be collected/scored for each general education course during each of these 2-year
periods, determining when to actually do the scoring during these periods is decided by the individual discipline.
The requirement is that the appropriate data are collected and assessed before each
reporting period (before Year 3 & again before year 6) when data analysis and the
writing of reflections take place. Flexibility is provided to disciplines within these
2-year periods to determine the most useful schedule to meet this requirement.
*However, if your discipline happens to have a very small number of general education course offerings and the enrollment numbers within these sections are very small, data collection/scoring may be required each year. For example, if your discipline’s general education course is only offered during one semester each year and has less than 30 students enrolled, you would want to collect/score all students during both years of each 2-year data collection cycle to ensure that you have an adequate amount of student work to assess for your reflection reports in Years 3 & 6.
Quick Answer:
It depends on the number of sections and students in the general education course
for which collection/scoring is taking place. For instance, if your discipline only
offers 2 sections of a general education course with approximately 25 students per
section during your planned collection year, then you may need to assess all students
within both courses. On the other hand, if you have 28 sections of a general education
course being offered during your collection year with approximately 25 students per
section, your discipline could actually collect a “sample” of student work from across
all 28 sections (please see “sampling” below).
Quick Answer:
Yes, you can spread the data collection/scoring activities of your general education
courses across each 2-year data collection period if that works better for your discipline.
Using Zoology, with 6 general education courses as an example, the faculty might find
it beneficial to collect/score data from ZOOL 100 & 102 during the fall semester of
year 1, and to also collect/score data from ZOOL 201 during the spring semester of
year 1. For the smaller courses of ZOOL 240, 250 & 260, they may plan to collect/score
these courses all during the fall semester of year 2. This way, they accomplish the
data collection/scoring for all 6 general education courses for the 2- year period
but have planned the collection schedule to work best for faculty members and/or their
course offerings. After their analysis of their findings in Year 3, they would repeat
the collection/scoring process (reassess) during years 4 & 5.
Quick Answer:
*Yes (*but they should not be revised during a 2-year collection period without first
obtaining approval from the Office of Assessment). Data plans are intended to reflect
the most effective way to collect data for the individual discipline and should be
updated when necessary. There are 3 ways that data collection plans can be changed:
1) as an intended action that is incorporated into a discipline’s Year- 3 Reflection
Report or CAR Report; 2) as part of the general education recertification process;
or 3) with consultation/approval from the Office of Assessment.
Sampling
When assessing student performance across all sections of an entire course, the ability to collect and score a large sample of student work for that course (instead of scoring every individual student) can represent a useful and welcome alternative. The option of sampling is usually reserved for disciplines with a large number of general education students to ensure that there are enough data points (individual examples of student work) in the sample being collected in order to more accurately reflect the performance of the student population in that course.
If your discipline is interested in the option of sampling for general education assessment, please contact the Office of Assessment for more information.
Faculty from the Zoology discipline are completing their data collection plan. The discipline has 2 general education courses that need to be assessed. Please see the example below for their approach to collecting/scoring data during their data collection years of the assessment cycle. For a copy of the editable data collection planning sheet, please visit the resources in the Assessment Repository new windowin Blackboard (click on “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates” on the main menu to your left in the Repository.)
Note: This example is a basic representation for 2 general education courses. Programs that are assessing both program outcomes and general education courses, as well as disciplines with large numbers of general education courses, may require more planning.
Practical Example: General Education Data Collection Plan
*The graphic above is an example not actural data.
*Important Note: Disciplines who have general education courses are required to provide quick updates on their general education data collection and assessment activities each year by completing the Interim Data Collection Update/Annual Report (see the section on “Reporting and Planning for the Future” for more detail.) These quick reports are due by August 1st each year during Years 1-2 and 4-5 within a discipline’s defined 6-year assessment cycle.
Your Comprehensive General Education Assessment Plan
Once your discipline has completed the steps above (determining your assessment instrument, benchmarking measures, and data collection plan), you can document this information in an official General Assessment Plan format (see example below). The information above (collectively) comprises your comprehensive “General Education Assessment Plan.”
* For a copy of the editable General Education Assessment Plan template, please visit the resources in the Assessment Repositorynew window in Blackboard (click on “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates” on the main menu to your left in the Repository.)
| General Education Assessment Plan | Benchmark Expectation (Percent in each category-should total 100%) |
When Do You Plan to Collect Data? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Education Competencies | Advanced | Proficient | Novice | Not Evident |
Semester | Year |
| Technological Competency (Required) | ||||||
| Critical Analysis and Reasoning (Required) | ||||||
| Integrative Learning (Required) | ||||||
| Written Communication | ||||||
| Oral Communication | ||||||
| Information Literacy | ||||||
| Scientific Reasoning | ||||||
| Arts and Aesthetic Awareness | ||||||
| Personal, Social, and Civic Responsibilities | ||||||
Data Scoring & Analysis
Scoring & Uploading Your Collected Data
Before You Score...
Before any scoring takes place, it is strongly recommended that all participants in the scoring process meet to discuss how to interpret and evaluate the data and to know what is expected of them. There are often differences of opinion regarding what values to assign for a student’s work and it is imperative that all faculty members are in agreement to ensure consistency in scoring to produce the useful data. It is suggested that at least one piece of student work is scored together and discussed as a group before further scoring takes place to promote inter-rater reliability.
Scoring the Signature Assignment
Depending on the size of the discipline and the number of general education course sections, a group of faculty representatives from the discipline may be organized to complete the final scoring and uploading of assessment data.
Scoring (or rating) the performance of general education students is an important evaluation process to determine how well students are attaining general education competencies. This process not only reflects student performance at the course or discipline levels, but also reflects student performance across the entire college for the General Education Program (when these results are also evaluated collectively).
The scoring process for a general education course involves the use of a predetermined rubric to assess the levels of general education competencies that are demonstrated by students on the individual signature assignments completed for a particular course. The scoring criteria and benchmarks for student performance that are utilized during this process were previously determined by the discipline and approved by the General Education Standing Committee (GESC) when the discipline completed the general education certification/recertification process (see benchmarking above for more information.)
While scoring and grading can be interrelated, there are important differences between these two functions. All participants involved in the scoring process should be made aware these differences to ensure that the scoring process produces the most accurate data results possible for both the discipline and the general education program as a whole. For an explanation of how “grading” and “scoring” differ, please see “Why Grades are not Enough” on page 1 (recommended reading for all faculty involved in assessment activities).
Uploading the Data
- Once scoring is complete for a given data set, designated faculty members will enter the results into the MC assessment system to be stored for immediate and/or future analysis.
- Collectively, these data provide an important holistic view of student performance on Gen Ed competencies across the entire course curriculum.
- Statistical analysis will be performed on the data by the Office of Assessment and/or lead faculty members, resulting in aggregated results that are NOT identified with any instructors. These results should then be provided to all faculty members teaching the general education course for analysis (Please see next section “Data Analysis: Making Sense of the Results” for more information.)
Data Analysis: Making Sense of the Results
For many of us, the idea of combing through data sets can be a little overwhelming and many ask for guidance on what it means to “analyze the data.” First, it’s important to remember the basic purpose of data collection in assessment activities: to get an idea of how something is performing. As an educational institution, we are interested in learning whether our students, a course, a program, or the College as a whole, is achieving certain learning outcomes or goals. You already know the information you’re collecting to gauge performance (see “Your Assessment Instrument” above), and the benchmarks that represent the levels of that performance (see “Benchmarks” above), so now it’s time to look at what the data are telling you about that performance.
As you and your colleagues go through the data, be sure to make detailed notes (percentages, etc.) to aid in the discussion of how your students are performing. This will also help provide information for several areas of your reflection report (your reflection summary and planned actions for improvement).
Step 1:
Take a look at the performance results from a broad level: overall, what do the benchmark results look like? How did your students (or the course, program,
etc.) perform as a whole? Was the overall benchmark of proficiency met in each of
the categories/competencies? By how much? Are there any red flags that stand out with
the overall results?
Step 2:
Now begin looking at the performance results within each specific area, competency, or outcome that was measured. Is there a specific area where performance excelled? Is there
an area that indicated unsatisfactory results/where students appear to be struggling?
Step 3:
Next, compare the results from this performance assessment to the prior performance assessment. What changes are present? Did a category/competency show signs of improvement? Are
there any indications of weakness or decline in a particular category/competency?
Step 4:
Finally, based on the data summary provided to you, examine the data according to demographic information and any specific information that you might have requested for your summary (i.e.
male v. female, full-time students v. part-time students, online v. face-to-face,
etc.). Try to discover any obvious performance divisions, as well as nuances in the
data (meaningful differences that might be subtle, but important). For instance, try
to determine if there are any performance gaps that need to be addressed, and/or where
performance may be exceeding expectations.
Step 5:
Compile your notes and share/discuss the results with colleagues. This analysis will provide the basis for any upcoming assessment report summary
and for the planned actions that your group will create to address performance levels
to aid in student success. Everyone teaching the course that was assessed should be
informed of how students performed and be involved in any discussions for future planned
actions relating to assessment.
** Instructors of general education courses may be asked to reflect on student performance on general education competencies across all class assignments and activities for that course as a whole in a Faculty Feedback Survey to assist the General Education Standing Committee with their general education program assessment.
Summary Reflections & Planned Actions for Improvement
What is a Summary Reflection?
Faculty discussions of student data, and the notes that were taken in step 5 of the last portion of this document are used to complete an important part of the Year 3 summary report and the CAR report. Capturing this collaborative thinking is what makes assessment valuable and effective. These reflections will be revisited in year 3 and year 6, when there is new data to compare and when it is time to reflect on the effectiveness of changes to instructional practices that were recommended as part of the previous summary.
Courses certified under the General Education Program (Foundation or Distribution courses, courses designated as Institutional Requirements, or General Education Electives), follow a similar 6-year assessment cycle. Every three years, faculty that teach general education courses are required to reflect on student achievement data for each Gen Ed certified course. By reflecting on student achievement of Gen Ed competencies, faculty can determine effectiveness and sustainability of educational strategies and determine what changes should be made moving forward.
The reflection report includes the number of students assessed, the semester(s) that data was collected, a summary of the data including percentages and demographic results, and a comparison of results to previous data collection periods. This summary is repeated for each general education competency.
The last portion of the summary report asks you to reflect on planned actions from your most recent report (3 years ago) and determine if those recommendations should continue or be updated. After reflection and discussion, planned actions should be added based on the most recent data.
This report is then reviewed by the Collegewide Assessment Team (CAT) and feedback is provided to faculty members.
Creating Planned Actions for Improvement
Planned actions are actions created by faculty members to address any weaknesses or gaps that have been identified in student performance. These actions should be specific, measurable, and clearly defined. They should also be timely (promptly executed) within a reasonable time frame (i.e., starting next semester, etc.).
Please Remember that...
..specific and measurable actions are much easier to benchmark for future assessments.
The Collegewide Assessment Team will review planned actions and make suggestions for
revision if necessary.
VAGUE / GENERALIZED
“We plan to explore options that might increase student performance in quantitative
reasoning.”
“Faculty will help students during the semester with improving their communication
skills.”
SPECIFIC / MEASURABLE
“Faculty will develop and implement in-class exercises designed to increase student
performance in quantitative reasoning.”
“The course BIOL 101 will include a module designed to improve communication skills
in the area of scientific research.”
Please see the brief following examples of planned actions in “Assessment in Practice” .
Zoology faculty have analyzed the results from their general education signature assignments and have discovered that their students are excelling in many of the competencies but seem to be struggling in the areas of information literacy and quantitative reasoning.
Practical Example:
The discipline faculty have developed planned actions that they believe will support student improvement in these areas. Please see the examples below:
Faculty will develop four quick interactive exercises in the classroom that aid students in improving their quantitative reasoning skills. These exercises will be administered by all faculty beginning next semester. Two exercises will be administered to students before the midterm exam and two exercises will be administered after the midterm exam. This will help faculty assess how effective the exercises may be over the course of the semester in order to adjust the timing (if necessary) to align with specific content.
In consultation with librarians, faculty will create a library research guide for Zoology courses that students can access online. These guides will provide information and resources to aid students in developing information literacy skills and students will be required to complete the plagiarism tutorial each semester.
Faculty will set up a 1-hour session in the classroom for librarians to present information to students about conducting research online.
Sharing Results & Tracking Improvement
The Important Concept of “Closing the Loop"
While some faculty may associate the assessment process with data collection and writing reports, these activities represent only half of the process of assessing student learning. One of the most important aspects of assessment is the expectation that results garnered from the process will then be interpreted and utilized to initiate positive, measurable change for improvement.
This critical, final step of analyzing and implementing action to improve student learning, is known as “closing the loop” of the assessment/reassessment cycle. Closing the Loop takes place at MC as part of the Year-3 Integrated Report and as part of the College Area Review (CAR). These positive, measurable changes are represented in assessment reports as “planned actions” or “recommendations.” These actions are formulated through discussion by faculty and administrators and are intended to be “action plans” for immediate implementation (respectively). Feedback on proposed actions is then provided by assessment committees and administrative leaders.
The final step in “Closing the Loop” is to review the results (data collected) after these actions have been implemented to determine what impact they have had on student success, thus initiating the assessment cycle (or loop) once again for improvement.
Implement changes based on your findings
- TAKE ACTION
- CREATE A PLAN
- COLLECT DATA
- ANALYZE RESULTS
Reporting for General Education Assessment
The reporting requirements for the assessment of general education courses consist of annual updates by a discipline for its general education assessment activities, and a report every three years that analyzes student performance across the discipline’s general education courses. Although the assessment of general education competencies and the recertification of general education courses are interdependent, the individual reports discussed below are completed on an ongoing basis over the 6-year cycle. Subsequently, the activity and content of the reports contribute to recertification standards, but the reports themselves are completed independent of the recertification process itself. Assessment reports are evaluated by the Collegewide Assessment Team and also reviewed by the College Area Review Committee as part of a discipline’s CAR report in Year 6.
- Apply for Gen Ed Course Certification - Planning
- Devleop Signature Assignment - Planning
- Determine benchmark/expected achievement - Planning
- Collect data - (UPDATES)
- Reflect and report - YEAR 3 REPORT
- Implement actions for improvement - (UPDATES)
- Collect data - (UPDATES)
- Reflect and report - CAR REPORT
Assessment reports for general education consist of:
- Interim Data Collection & Assessment Updates
- Year-3 Integrated General Education Reflection Report
- Year-6 General Education Reflection Report (as part of the discipline’s CAR report)
*For detailed descriptions of information required for each report, please refer to the individual report sections below. To view a template of each report, please visit the Assessment Repositorynew window in Blackboard (Once in the Repository, click on the folder on the main menu to your left titled “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates.”)
Due Date: August 1st
Any discipline that has certified general education courses or has a degree/certificate program is required to complete an annual assessment update report at the end of years 1, 2, 4, and 5 in the assessment cycle (This report is not completed in Year 3 or Year 6). These reports are due by August 1st at the end of the assessment reporting year for that specific discipline or program. These quick updates (usually under 5 minutes to complete) provide information on whether the discipline or program has collected student learning outcomes data and provides information on any other assessment activities that the discipline or program may have worked on during the previous year.
This report is intended to act as a useful tool for faculty when they engage in their Year-3 Reflection report and their College Area Review report. The information recorded in these reports is ideally “pulled forward” and can assist discipline/program faculty by providing information and context for the assessment activities that have taken place over the past 3-year or 6-year period. These reports also provide important information on assessment activities across the College for the Office of Assessment.
What Questions make up the Interim Data Collection/Assessment Update?
NOTE: most questions on this report provide a drop-down menu for quick answer selection.
To complete the update report, you will need the information listed below. NOTE: the information listed with ** below relates to collected data – if no data collection took place, the blue bullet points will not apply.
- The academic assessment year for which the current report is being completed (i.e., 2021- 2022, 2022-2023, etc.).
- Remember that you are providing an update on the activities that took place over the past year (For instance, if the report is due by August 1st, 2022, then the reporting year would be 2021-2022).
- Remember that you are providing an update on the activities that took place over the past year (For instance, if the report is due by August 1st, 2022, then the reporting year would be 2021-2022).
- The name of your discipline and/or program.
- An individual report should be completed for each discipline and/or individual program
unless prior approval has been granted to combine reports (data collection and other
assessment activities may vary between programs in the same area and the information
provided needs to be accurate and complete for each individual program.)
- An individual report should be completed for each discipline and/or individual program
unless prior approval has been granted to combine reports (data collection and other
assessment activities may vary between programs in the same area and the information
provided needs to be accurate and complete for each individual program.)
- Your discipline/program’s cycle year for the report (i.e., Year 1, Year 2, etc.).
- This is the year of the cycle that your discipline/program was completing when the reported activities took place (within the overall 6-year assessment cycle). For instance, Year 1 is the year immediately following the CAR report; Year 4 is the year immediately following the Year-3 Reflection Report, etc. (See the combined schedule in Appendix A for your place in the cycle.)
- The type of update report to complete. Reports can include updates on Gen Ed assessment, program outcomes assessment, or both (depending on whether your discipline has Gen Ed courses and/or a degree or certificate program).
- If your discipline has both Gen Ed courses and a degree/certificate, update reports for both Gen Ed assessment and program updates
for each program are required by August 1st, but each report can be done separately, at different times (if desired).
- Whether your discipline/program collected data during this reporting period.
- Remember that this report is just an update on your assessment activities – your data
collection plan may not have your discipline/program scheduled for data collection
(scoring of data) during the reporting year that you’re completing. If not, indicate
that no data collection took place for this particular question, and move on to the
other questions on the update report (you will be guided past the additional data
collection questions.)
- Remember that this report is just an update on your assessment activities – your data
collection plan may not have your discipline/program scheduled for data collection
(scoring of data) during the reporting year that you’re completing. If not, indicate
that no data collection took place for this particular question, and move on to the
other questions on the update report (you will be guided past the additional data
collection questions.)
- *General data collection information (*only if data collection took place).
- ** Total number of students assessed (overall number of students across all sections of the course/program where data
collection/scoring took place). For example, you might indicate that 60 students in
total were assessed if you collected data/scored students across 2 sections of a particular
course with 30 students in each section, etc.
- ** The semester(s) when data collection took place (All that may apply: Fall, Spring, Summer, etc.).
- ** The campuses/forms of instruction where data collection took place (All that may apply: i.e., structured remote (Rockville), DL web fully online, face-to-face
Germantown, etc.).
- ** Individual courses where data collection took place (i.e., COMM 108, etc.).
- ** Total number of students assessed (overall number of students across all sections of the course/program where data
collection/scoring took place). For example, you might indicate that 60 students in
total were assessed if you collected data/scored students across 2 sections of a particular
course with 30 students in each section, etc.
- Information on any other assessment activities
- This question provides different ways for a discipline/program to indicate what assessment
activities they have been engaged in over the past year
- Several options are presented, and you can choose any (or all) that may apply:
- Implementation of previous planned actions
- Implementation of CAR recommendations
- Other (specify/briefly explain)
- This is an opportunity for your discipline/program to note any other assessment activities
that faculty have been working on in the previous year. These noted actions can also
be used later to help complete the Integrated Reflection Report in Year 3 or the CAR
Report in year 6.
- This is an opportunity for your discipline/program to note any other assessment activities
that faculty have been working on in the previous year. These noted actions can also
be used later to help complete the Integrated Reflection Report in Year 3 or the CAR
Report in year 6.
- Several options are presented, and you can choose any (or all) that may apply:
- This question provides different ways for a discipline/program to indicate what assessment
activities they have been engaged in over the past year
- A primary contact for the report
- First line contact for the Office of Assessment regarding the report that was submitted. This name does not act as a substitute for the number of people that provided input for the report – this is simply a person to reach out to, if necessary, to initiate contact.
Due Date: October 1st
The Year-3 General Education Integrated Reflection Report is completed during Year 3 of a discipline’s assessment cycle and is due by October 1st of the following year. A separate Year-3 Program Assessment Reflection Report is also required to be completed if a discipline has a degree or certificate program.
What types of questions make up the Year-3 General Education Integrated Reflection Report?
To complete this report, you will need to provide the information listed below. *NOTE: the information listed with ** below relates to collected data – if data collection did not take place, the blue bullet points will not apply. It is highly recommended that you complete your answers in a word document beforehand – you will be able to copy and paste your answers into the report, where applicable.
- The academic assessment year for which the current report is being completed (i.e., 2020-21, etc.).
- The name of your discipline (choose from a drop-down menu.)
- Did data collection for General Education take place over the last two years? (Yes/No).
- If no, the report will skip to question 4. If yes, you will need the following information:
- ** Number of total students, courses & campuses, and type of instruction where data collection took place
- ** A summary of assessment results for each Gen Ed competency in each Gen Ed course where data collection took place.
- ** Describe what you have learned about your students, based on the current results
of your general education assessment.
- If no, the report will skip to question 4. If yes, you will need the following information:
- Updates on the status of previous planned actions for improvement (from your last
reflections report).
- If data collection took place, you will also need the following information:
- ** Current planned actions for improvement:
- ** Indicate when newly created planned actions above will be implemented and how all faculty will be notified.
- ** Discuss how your Gen Ed assessment activities (planned data collection, data results, new planned actions, etc.) relate to your discipline’s goals & MC’s strategic goals.
- If data collection took place, you will also need the following information:
- Upload a completed CAR Recommendations Update Form. A copy of the form can be accessed on the Assessment Repositorynew window site in Blackboard (Once in the Repository, click on the folder on the main menu
to your left titled “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates.”)
- Enter a primary contact for the report
- First line contact for the Office of Assessment regarding the report that was submitted.
This name does not act as a substitute for the number of people that provided input
for the report – this is simply a person to reach out to, if necessary, to initiate
contact.
- First line contact for the Office of Assessment regarding the report that was submitted.
This name does not act as a substitute for the number of people that provided input
for the report – this is simply a person to reach out to, if necessary, to initiate
contact.
- List all individuals who participated in the completion of the report.
Due Date: October 1st (Incorporated into the CAR Report)
For the Year-6 General Education Reflection Report, disciplines will complete a reflection form which requires the information below (For a copy of the form, please access the Assessment Repositorynew window on Blackboard (Once in the Repository, click on the folder on the main menu to your left titled “Assessment Resources, Forms, Toolkits, & Templates.”)
This form should be attached to the discipline’s CAR report regarding their discussion of student learning outcomes assessment.
What types of assessment questions make up the Year-6 General Education Reflection Report?
- Complete a Summary Reflection for each competency in each general education course where data collection took place (See “What is a Summary Reflection” above.)
- Discuss updates on past planned actions for improvement from your latest reflections
report.
- Based on the last 2-year general education assessment period, discuss what your discipline
has learned about your students.
- Indicate whether your discipline will be continuing any successful planned actions
from the previous assessment and list/explain all new planned actions for improvement
pertaining to the data results of student performance for this reflection (see “Creating Planned Actions for Improvement” above.)
- Indicate when the newly created planned actions above will be implemented and how
all faculty will be notified.
- List all of the individuals who participated in the discussion for the reflection report and provide a contact person for the report.