When I talk with colleagues new to assessment or work with institutions, I am often asked about what resources are available. I have aggregated the list below to answer some of those questions. Each resource serves a different purpose so I encourage you to review each item on the list to see how it may be helpful to you.
Continue reading “Essential Assessment Resources (Updated May 2018)”
NOTE: This was originally posted to ACPA Developments Volume 13, Summer 2015 Issue (June 2015)
Please visit ACPA Video On Demand where I discuss this concept in a video interview.
On a Friday night in late April in 1987, during the spring of my sophomore year, I was attending a movie with friends in Brody Hall at Michigan State University. Back then, the Residence Hall Association screened movies in select lecture halls across campus. We didn’t have Netflix back then. We didn’t even have cable.
After the movie an event happened that changed my life forever.
On my way out of the lecture hall I ran into a friend of mine, Stacy Huffman, from my hometown of Saginaw, MI, who had also attending the movie. As friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while (it was a 21 acre campus of 30,000+ students), we caught each other up on our lives. As the semester was nearing an end, we discussed our summer plans in Saginaw. Stacy said that she was going to be staying on campus working for the Academic Orientation Program. She continued that they were looking for one more male orientation leader and encouraged me to apply. The interviews were the next day and there was an opening at 8am.
Wiping sleep from my eyes I got early, ate my Wheaties, and headed to the interview. A few days later I was notified that I had been selected as an orientation leader. Serendipity opened the door to my first student affairs job and my career – although I didn’t comprehend it at the time.
Fast forward to June of 1993. Frustration and anxiety was setting in because I had recently graduated with my master’s degree from MSU and, unlike my classmates, was still job searching. And searching. And searching. There had been a few phone interviews and even a couple of campus interviews, but nothing panned out. Self-doubt became all-consuming as I wondered why no one wanted to hire me despite what I thought were excellent grades and extensive experience.
When hope was waning, serendipity struck again.
I received a call from the Department of Residence Life at the University of New Hampshire for an on-campus interview. A hall director job at UNH was my “perfect” job from the start of my search. Unfortunately for me, a few weeks before, shortly after the phone interview, I was told that they had hired other individuals for their open spaces. However, a residence hall director had decided to leave UNH in June, opening up a position. I jumped at the chance for a campus interview. Two months later I was packing up a U-Haul to make the trip Durham, New Hampshire for my “perfect” job. This position created the foundation of who I am as an educator today. Plus, UNH was where I met my current partner. Call it destiny. Call it kismet. Or maybe it was just chance. But, it this result was certainly not intentional.
The orientation leader position began my career in student affairs but working for the Department of Residence Life at the University of New Hampshire changed how I approached my job. While I learned many things during my six years in residence life, one word has stuck with me and was the concept that compelled me into assessment work. That word is “intentionality.” During numerous staff and supervision meetings hall directors discussed how we were being intentional in our outreach to students and in our programming. Intentionality became a mantra for my work then and the driving force for the assessment work I have been undertaking the past 15 years.
Synonyms for serendipity include chance and accident while synonyms for intentional include designed, deliberate, and planned. While not antonyms of one another the concepts of serendipity and intentional are opposed to each other. I think serendipity vs. intentionality is a tension we continue to struggle with today in regard to learning in higher education. All too often we assume or think that learning is happening outside of the classroom and we aren’t doing as much as we can to intentionally foster it. We can no longer rely on serendipity to ensure student learning and success.
External demands for accountability are increasing the need for intentionality. The completion agenda dominates the national discourse of higher education. Students, parents, and legislatures are questioning the return on investment of a college education and want to known what students are learning after paying exorbitant amounts of money. College administrators are questioning the value of student affairs in an era of service provision where students are customers and clients. During a program session with college presidents at ACPA15, when asked what the priority should be for student affairs, all panelists stated that college student educators need to be able to demonstrate how they and their work positively contributes to student learning and retention. The completion agenda at the federal and state level is a major thrust behind the current accountability movement in higher education. This emphasis on retention is not simply because of the individual benefits for students who graduate but because of the financial impact of tuition revenue and state appropriations for colleges and universities.
More important than external calls for accountability are the internal calls for accountability that originate from inside each one of us as college student educators. We chose this profession for our careers because of the want and need to positively impact lives of college students. Thus, we strive to do the best job we can to assist students. As a field, we need to make intentionality an interwoven thread in the fabric of everyday practice to ensure student success, both academically and personally.
Intentionally isn’t rocket science. It can be explained in a four-step process outlined by Linda Suskie (2009). The first step is to begin with what you want students to achieve (aka outcomes which an be learning, operational, or program). Once outcomes are identified, existing literature and other evidence are used to identify strategies to foster those outcomes in step 2. Step 3 is to collect and analyze data to determine if the outcomes are achieved and how outcome achievement can be improved. The final step is the most important – closing the loop by making improvements. Intentionally is a process, not a destination.
Figure 1. Assessment cycle by Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide (2nd Ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
How Can ACPA Help You Be More Intentional
ACPA’s focus is student learning. As stated in our mission “ACPA supports and fosters college student learning through the generation and dissemination of knowledge, which informs policies, practices and programs for student affairs professionals and the higher education community” (ACPA, 2015). There are many ways ACPA can help you foster student learning, development, and success.
Individuals can leverage ACPA to help foster and support student learning by accessing the scholarship that is generated through various outlets. ACPA’s signature publication is the Journal of College Student Development. There are articles in each issue pertinent to faculty and practitioners alike. Previous issues include scholarship regarding experiences of Asian American and Latino/a students at an HBCU, the academic performance of Black emerging adults, a method to increase the grade point averages of fraternity members, and others.
About Campus is a scholarly publication directed towards practitioners. This bi-monthly magazine provides insights to improve practice in higher education. Past issues include articles addressing positive psychology, long-term success in work and life, as well as high impact practices.
In addition to these publications, and Developments which you are reading now, ACPA also sponsors books and monographs. This past year ACPA published Job One 2.0: Understanding the Next Generation of Student Affairs Professionals which focuses on the first jobs of college student educators as well as Working With Students in Community Colleges: Contemporary Strategies for Bridging Theory, Research, and Practice which provides approaches to help community college students be successful. Additional publications can be found here. ACPA books and monographs coupled with our other publications provide faculty and practitioners a library of research and scholarship to inform further research and practice.
Another major way that ACPA supports student learning, development, and success is helping college student educators across the spectrum of higher education bridge theory to practice. Some of this work is done through our acclaimed professional development events. Most of our activities are driven by curricula rooted in research. Upcoming events include
You can find additional professional development events here.
Theory to practice is also addressed in other venues including ACPA On Demand and Student Affairs Live, sponsored by ACPA. ACPA On Demand is collection of pre-recorded videos covering a variety of topics relevant to college student educators. Student Affairs Live is a weekly talk show viewed via GoogleHangouts covering critical emergent issues in higher education. Recorded versions of the shows are available the Student Affairs Live website and podcasts are available in iTunes.
As college student educators, we need to be much more intentional in how we cultivate student learning and development. While learning may happen by serendipity, we can’t rely on that. Our students – our future – are too important to rely on chance. ACPA is your go-to source for research, scholarship, and proven practices for fostering student success. Tap into the resources now!
References
ACPA (2015). Mission, vision, and values. Retrieved on April 8, 2015 from http://www.myacpa.org/values
Suskie, L. (2009). Assessing student learning: A common sense guide (2nd Ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
NOTE: This was posted as part of the ACPA President’s Blog for May 2015
Please visit ACPA On Demand for an interview of me discussing this topic.
Regardless of the news source one turns to, the completion agenda is in the headlines of the higher education section. It’s also the hot topic on the radar screens of policymakers’ and college presidents. While many higher education officials are concerned with the impact this federal policy has on higher education at the national, state, and local level, we as college student educators can actualize the opportunity the completion agenda presents. This policy provides a chance to demonstrate the impact we have on the success of college students.
In February of 2009, President Obama outlined his completion agenda with the goal of attaining the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020 (Kanter, Ochoa, Nassif, & Chong, 2011). According to 2012 data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United States ranks 19th out of 28 countries studied (Weston, 2014). There is some work to be done on this front.
President Obama presented three reasons supporting this policy. The first was that a college degree is required for 60% of jobs. In addition to being a requirement for the majority of jobs, an individual with a college degree earns 40% more over a lifetime than those without. This is a significant financial benefit. Finally, President Obama believed that an educated citizenry was needed for an engaged democracy (Kanter, Ochoa, Nassif, & Chong, 2011).
Future of Higher Education Funding
This policy position has influenced conversations regarding state funding for higher education with a new focus on program-based budgeting. With this budgeting model state allocations are based on results, in this case completion rates, rather than the number of students enrolled, which has been the traditional model. As of January 2015, 34 states had some form of program-based budgeting for higher education funding although the percentage of overall funding based on graduation percentages does vary (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015).
We can debate the pros and cons of this form of program-based budgeting, but it appears to be the future higher education funding model. With continued financial issues impacting colleges and universities including Louisiana State University (O’Donoghue, 2015), student affairs budgets are in jeopardy requiring vice presidents to not only advocate for more resources but also defend current resources.
At ACPA16 in Tampa, ACPA sponsored a panel of five college presidents who came up through the ranks of student affairs. These presidents included Joe Bertolino from Lyndon State College, Marybeth Cooper from Springfield College, Tom Jackson from Blackhills State University, Steve Tyrell from North Country Community College, and Karen Whitney from Clarion University. During this panel each president emphatically stated the need for college student educators to demonstrate their impact on retention and graduation. The continued that support of retention and graduation is the key to demonstrating value within a college or university.
Turning Crisis Into Opportunity
Some may view the issue of declining resources and centralized focus on retention as a crisis facing college student educators – a crisis that shifts to a financial bottom line, not students. However, a focus on retention actually centers on students and how educators can help each individual graduate. When one takes a moment to reviews the literature regarding retention and graduation, college student educators play a key role many of those success factors.
John Braxton, William Doyle, Harold Hartley, Amy Hirschy, Willis Jones, and Michael McLendon published Rethinking College Student Retention in November of 2013. (For a review of the book in the Journal of College Student Development 55(6), visit https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_college_student_development/v055/55.6.henning.html) In this text, the authors discuss their theories of retention for residential colleges and commuter institutions explaining how they tested each. The factors influencing retention in residential colleges include:
The components in the theory of retention at commuter colleges include the following:
Upon reviewing these two theories, it’s clear that college student educators play a major role in retention. Here are just some of the roles we play:
What Can We Do and How Can ACPA Help
First, college student educators must become familiar with retention theory. As professionals it is our responsibility to bring theory into practice. When we use theory, we build and hone our practice on research rather relying on anecdotes and ideas of what “might work.” Being familiar with theory also permits college student educators to better tell the story of our impact on student success. And, in language that faculty are familiar – research and scholarship. And perhaps more importantly, we will be able to describe the outcomes of our work in the words of university leaders and educational policy makers – retention and graduation.
The focus on completion presents college student educators with an opportunity to be more intentional in our work but to also demonstrate our impact beyond housing students, feeding students, and helping them have fun.
ACPA is here to help you leverage this opportunity. Review the research and scholarship that ACPA generates and disseminates in the Journal of College Student Development, About Campus, Developments, as well as ACPA sponsored books and monographs. Bridge theory to practice by attending a professional development institute such as the Student Affairs Assessment Institute or the Residential Curriculum Institute. Connect with colleagues doing similar work. ACPA’s state chapters, coalitions (formerly standing committees), commissions, and newly created communities of practice provide these connection opportunities.
We have an opportunity in front of us. Rather than seeing it as a crisis or obstacle, we should leverage it to demonstrate our impact, but more importantly to help students succeed. ACPA can assist you in your journey. Tap into the resources now!
References
Donoghue, J. (2015). LSU drafting ‘academic bankruptcy’ plan in response to budget crisis. The Times-Picayne (2015, April 22). Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/04/lsu_academic_bankruptcy.html
Kanter, M., Ochoa, E., Nassif, R., & Chong, F. (2011). Meeting President Obama’s 2020 college completion goal. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/meeting-president-obamas-2020-college-completion-goal.
National Conference of State Legislatures (2015, January 13). Performance-Based Funding for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/performance-funding.aspx
Weston, L. (2014). OECD: The US has fallen behind other countries in college completion. BusinessInsider (2014, September 9). Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/r-us-falls-behind-in-college-competition-oecd-2014-9 .
I entered the Indianapolis Marriott Ballroom on Tuesday evening, April 1st to watch the Pecha Kucha sessions at the 2014 ACPA Annual Convention. The room was packed and everyone was enjoying the fast-paced 6 minute and 40 second presentations using 20 slides with each slide changing every 20 seconds. These presentations were fast, fun, and engaging. I, too, was captivated.
But this isn’t the focus of my story. What was going on around me is.
In between presentations I observed the crowd. People were talking and laughing with those sitting or standing close by – old friends, new friends, and ACPA acquaintances alike. With a backdrop of “edutainment,” people were connecting.
In a row near the back, I spotted two colleagues I knew sitting next to each other. They weren’t talking to each other like other folks were. I then realized that while I knew each of them, they likely didn’t know one another. One of these friends was Kristin Carpenter, a colleague from the University of New Hampshire Department of Residential Life. The other friend was Kristin Skarie from Teamworks who I have known through ACPA for a number of years.
The moment I saw them sitting together, I knew I had to connect them. Not only because they had the same first name (even spelled the same!) but also because they have a common interest. Kristin C. loves the outdoors, the environment, and intentional living. Kristin S. recently wrote a book entitled A Year of Nothing New: Tools for Living Lean and Green where she discusses how her life changed when she decided to stop shopping as a hobby which resulted in a renewed focus on deliberate, responsible, local living (check out the book here: http://www.betterteams.com/store.htm). Based on these interests, I figured Kristin and Kristin would hit it off right away. I went up to them, said hi, and introduce them to each other and suggested that Kristin S. tell Kristin C. about her book.
As I headed to another event later that night, I was reflecting on the connection that I made between Kristin S. and Kristin C. That connection reminded me of a concept I learned many years ago as a hall director at UNH. Ruth Abelmann, Associate Director of Residential Life, talked about residential life staff as Tinkertoys because they connect people to each other. The analogy is perfect for any student affairs professional.
If you aren’t familiar with Tinkertoys or Fiddlesticks (their generic kin), it is a set of wooden hubs and spokes that allow the user to create a variety of constructions. The hub has many holes around its circumference into which spokes can be inserted. In the Tinkertoy Postulate, each of us is a hub and we have connections to other hubs via spokes. Thus, I had a connection to both Kristins individually. But they didn’t have a connection to each other.
When I connected Kristin with Kristin they created a bond. In this case people are similar to molecules. A molecule is stronger if the atoms that comprise it have many bonds to the other atoms. People are also stronger if they have more connections. They feel integrated and that they matter.
Now, imagine if everyone were to be a hub making intentional connections between other people. We would have a constellation of connections that were integrated and interconnected.
That would be an almost unbreakable net of relationships. Be the hub and connect others.
There has been recent buzz regarding the awarding of higher education degrees based on demonstrated competence of knowledge and skills rather than the traditional acquisition of a set number of course-based credits. In April 2013, the U.S. Department of Education approved the eligibility of Southern New Hampshire University to receive federal financial aid for students enrolled in a new, self-paced program (http://bit.ly/17IHbJ2). Then in May, the U.S. Department of Education notified colleges and universities that they could apply to provide federal student aid to students in competency-based programs and identified a process for that application (http://bit.ly/HCZvGW). Later this year (2013), Wisconsin’s extension system will start a competency-based program where students with experience and program-specific skills may be able to test out of courses (http://bit.ly/17cV4Js).
I am enthusiastic and optimistic regarding the possibility of competency-based education. There are benefits for all constituency groups involved. Here are a few of the benefits I envision. What benefits to you see?
Currently, colleges and universities award a degree essentially based on seat time. A student satisfactorily completes 120 credits and receives a diploma. While there is an assumption that satisfactory completion of coursework suggests learning has occurred, the degree itself is not awarded based on demonstrated skill or knowledge. Aren’t the knowledge and skills what college and universities should be focusing on?
If the focus shifts from completed credits to demonstrated skill and knowledge, then it seems logical that college students will be better prepared than they currently are as they transition from these institution. Federal reports, international rankings, and books such as Academically Adrift decry the academic preparedness of today’s U.S. college students. Competency-based higher education can re-center degree attainment on what really matters to everyone – skill and knowledge.
As I talk with colleges working in career development, they discuss the inability of seniors to articulate what they have learned during their undergraduate careers. Yes, they can list off all 1.3 million items on their resume (that they actually started developing in kindergarten). However, they cannot explain what skills and knowledge they acquired from these experiences no how they can apply what they learned to different situations. Developing competency-based educational program would require clearly defined sets of skills and knowledge that would have to be demonstrated to graduate. This delineation would make it easier for students to describe these knowledge and skills. This explanation would also make it easier for employers and graduate schools decipher resume’s to determine what students know.
Competency-based higher education is student-centered. Rather than making students conform to an antiquated, mode of education most appropriate for the industrial age, this model focuses solely on competencies and acknowledges the real fact that students can acquire these competencies multiple ways. This model honors the multiple journeys students take to achieve their degree. Students can swirl between institutions to acquire the skills and knowledge required to graduate. They can also double-dip by attending two institutions at the same time. Students may acquire skills and knowledge when they stop out of college because they are developing skills on the job or in other settings. As the number of diverse paths to a college degree increase, a model for degree completion is needed to align with these myriad journeys.
Competency-based education would be cheaper for most higher education stakeholders. If the focus is competence, students wouldn’t need to take courses at the same institution and articulation agreements wouldn’t be needed. In addition to coursework, students could also acquire skills in a variety of ways including working a job, volunteering, or serving in the military, etc. All of these options could decrease the cost of degree attainment for students. With decreased costs for a college education comes a reduced need for financial. A reduction in need for financial aid would ease fiscal burdens for individual institutions as well as federal aid programs. It is important to note that a shift to a competency-based model would include an initial investment at the institutional and possibly federal and state level for development and implementation.
It also seems that assessment would be easier in a competency-based system, or at least much more clearly focused. Right now, it seems challenging for many academic departments and institutions to identify learning goals and outcomes and find ways to document their achievement. In this new model, goals and learning outcomes would have to be clearly articulated (which would take time of course). Competency milestones on the path to degree would need to be developed to help a student know if she was on track. The assessment process wouldn’t be easy. However, the end result for student learning would be much clearer that it currently seems to be.
While there are benefits to competency-based higher education, the process to implement this model nationally would be a long, challenging road. It would require agreement that this model is the best for students and the U.S. higher education system. Once that understanding was reach, the conversation regarding which skills and knowledge would need to be demonstrated for each discipline would begin. This discussion couldn’t be resolved during a weekend retreat. It would take longer. But, that conversation has started and I am interested to see where it leads.
What benefits and challenges do you see to competency-based higher education?
As we know, there is increasing need to assess programs and services within student affairs. Not only do we need to determine how effective and efficient these initiatives are, but we also must document the achievement of the goals, especially learning goals. In the pursuit of documenting goals and identifying opportunities for improvement, any assessment is worthwhile. However, much assessment is ad hoc or happens in isolation across a program, department, or division. Student affairs professionals need to work to systematize assessment.
The plan below can help you achieve this systematization. While the focus is systematizing assessment across a division, this plan can be used to systematize assessment across any type of unit. The plan is composed of three domains: foundation, implementation, and support. Each domain has five components.
Foundation
Implementation
Support
This 3×5 plan to systematizing assessment isn’t’ easy. It is culture change that takes time, energy, and patience. The change requires the investment across the organization both horizontally as well as vertically. While not an easy task, systematizing assessment has tremendous benefits for the unit, for staff, and ultimately for students.
What steps would be in your plan to systematize assessment?
As the semester has come or is coming to an end for most of us, it is time to think of the intellectual stimulation we didn’t quite have time to during the year. It is challenge enough trying to balance student needs with our personal life, let alone make committed time for one’s one professional development. There are many self-directed professional development opportunities out there including blog posts, Twitter feeds, and video series such as TED Talks. These may be easier to partake of during the academic year because of the small amount of time needed. However, books provide a more in depth exploration of a particular topic. Here is a list of 15 books to consider placing on your summer reading list from a variety of categories including education, business, leadership, and philosophy.
What would you add to this list? Share your thoughts and keep the list growing.
I have said this in other venues including blogs, presentations, discussions, and my classes – “Assessment isn’t activity. It’s a state of mind.” Many people think assessment is something you do at the END of a program or delivery of a service. I argue it is something that you must consider BEFORE you even begin. Without thinking about assessment from the get go, you won’t be as effective or efficient as you can OR should be.
I have been out of the full-time student affairs assessment game for about 18 months, and upon reflection, I have realized that not only is assessment a state of mind, it is actually a particular way of thinking. Because of my assessment work over the past decade, I see the world in a particular way. And it is not just how I see higher education. It is the way I see all corners of my world. I have the same perspective if I implement a project on campus, teach a class, go grocery shopping, or deal with a flat tire on the highway 150 miles from home at 10pm at night. This way of thinking is Assessment Thinking.
Assessment Thinking is a way to conceptualize or approach an issue or problem that views assessment as a process with the following 6 steps:
The six steps above are not just an assessment process. They describe a thinking process that we should use in everything we do in higher education. We cannot impact the student experience and student learning if we are not intentional and use logic and data to inform our work. As you continue to use this thinking process, it will move from conscious to unconscious. It will become seamlessly integrated into your daily work.
I would love to hear what you think. Take a moment to share your thoughts.
Gavin W. Henning 