TSJC Assessment Survival Guide

What is Assessment? FAQ

"Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It involves making our expectations explicit and public; setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards; and using the resulting information to document, explain, and improve performance."
American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 11/95, pp. 7-9

Assessment generally follows steps like:

1. Set objectives, goals, competencies, i.e., course syllabus (linked templates: MS word or HTML). All course information sheets are located at cccns.cccs.cccoes.edu/cccns_menu.asp)

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2. Decide which objective(s) you will investigate. Plan and write assessments accordingly. See Assessment Instrument Ideas below.

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3. Implement your assessment activities while teaching the course. Because assessments are an ongoing effort, we encourage you to do your assessments prior to finals. Some assessments only make sense at finals, e.g., pre-/post-testing.

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4. Analyze, in writing, the results of the assessment instrument(s).

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5. Submit your results, including recommendations. Online form at www.trinidadstate.edu/AISL/reports/asp/form.html

• Course grades are NOT acceptable because too many factors enter into their determination and so they do not measure any specific element of student learning.
• Portfolios or capstone projects
• Presentations, projects, experiments; in-class or elsewhere
• Papers, reports, electronic productions (Powerpoint, spreadsheet, etc.)
• Exams - written, oral, standardized, quizzes, pre/post, ...
• Participation, discussion,
• Surveys, interviews, questionairres
• Anything that collects information from students or observers which tells about the quality of student learning.
• Check out Classroom assessment techniques : a handbook for college teachers by Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross, located in the TSJC library (LB2822.75.A54). This book is a terrific source.
• More ideas at Classroom Assessment Techniques
• try searching for assessment instruments on google or other search engine