COMMENTS

• Though I agree having a fresh set of eyes to look at the presentation in class can help to improve the quality of the product, assessment as it is applied is a joke. It is the illegitimate child of administration and its ego.
• I believe assessment can be valuable if there is a system in place that can accurately assess classes and student learning. The reporting that instructors do now fosters a fudging of the facts in order to make the instructor look good and programs seem viable. It's about a job, not students. When instructors know it is an exercise in growth and an analysis of what works and what may not, and that is appreciated as such, then it will work.
• We need time to do assessments. We need time to make improvements which assessments indicate need to be done. Assessment is more difficult when we have to do assessment for a large number of different courses. There is not enough time to think about the assessment process. A similar problem exists for people teaching more than one discipline.
• It's important if the accrediting agency says it is!
• Is there a body that can assess program that are stand alone or individualistic, other than themselves? That will make assessing of value (at a state level).
• Simplicity in assessment is most valuable and least intrusive and will provide the answers you and the institution needs
• Assessment should be an institutional priority.

54 responded to questions 1-3 while only 38 responded to questions 4-7 and there were 7 non-trivial comments.

Question 3 - "I think that assessment is a valuable process" - had the highest percentage of "Agree" or "Strongly Agree" responses and only a single response below "Neutral." This seems to indicate that virtually all staff have bought into the value, or potential value, of assessment.

While the first two questions regarding the understanding of assessment itself had 65% (66%) "Agree" or "Strongly Agree" responses, 35% (and 34%) answered "Neutral" or lower. These two questions also had the largest percentage responses of "Disagree" or "Strongly Disagree" of any of the questions. This indicates that more explanation, or at least more clarity, regarding the process and purpose of assessment is needed.

The last question had the lowest average agreement level which indicates the perception that institutional decisions are not tied to assessment findings.