Introduction

Minutes

Members

Assessment Steering Team Meeting
March 9, 2004
2:30 - 4:00, J102

In Attendance: Brent Jameson, Phil Pepe, Mike Mitchell, Camilla Westenberg, Ann Roselle, Emily Lander, Kory Merkel, Jeremy Moreland, Liz O’Brien.

1. DSAAAC Update – DSAAAC held a district wide assessment forum on January 30. Pam Rogers held an information session on the ESL Assessment Committee’s work. Brent will be stepping down as chair of DSAAAC effective next year.

2. HLC/NCA Self-Study Process – The NCA Criterion Committees are meeting on a regular basis and gathering data for the NCA visit and self-study. The mission and goals for the self-study have been drafted. Mike stated that as Criterion 3 chair he will be looking for assessment data and documents soon.

3. Update on outcome committees:

A.     Occupational – Kristin. Brent reported in Kristin’s absence that Kristin is continuing to meet individually with program directors to discuss outcome two. Next year, the committee will continue to work on outcomes one and two and does not plan to add a third at this time.

B.     Numeracy – Kory. Kory continues to seek numeracy assessment samples from faculty via email. This method has been successful and she has been able to recruit additional faculty to participate. In addition, faculty are making improvements to their numeracy problems based on the committee’s rubric. The committee will be scoring samples in April.

C.     Writing – Mike. The Writing Committee has completed the report for last year’s assessment. As was shown last year, writing mechanics are not up to standards. As a campus, we will need to facilitate growth and make recommendations for improvements in this area. The committee is discussing how to do this and who will do it. Mike is looking for a new chair to start next Spring, but will continue to chair if a replacement is not found.

D.     Oral Presentation – Liz. The Oral Presentation Committee continues to review samples. They have finished scoring samples from Spring 2003. Liz will be on sabbatical next year and is looking for a new committee chair.

E.      Developmental Ed – Camilla. The committee has administered a study skills pre-test and exposed 12 developmental classes to a study skills workshop. A total of 28 sections took the pre-test this semester. A post-test will be administered at the end of the semester. The committee is looking to revise and perhaps narrow the survey questions for next year. The committee is also working on creating a mission/outcome statement.

F.      Critical Thinking – Phil. This semester the Critical Thinking committee continues to pilot the Test of Everyday Reasoning and the rubric they created. They will have close to 400 students completing the test this academic year. The Interpreter Preparation Program has decided to incorporate this test into their admissions process. The committee is considering what actions to take for next year.

G.     Information Literacy – Ann. The Information Literacy Committee has created five information literacy standards and outcomes for each standard. Ann created a flyer with these standards and will be sending it out. She is also looking to identify courses in which information literacy is taught, and will ask department chairs at the next chair meeting. The committee will be applying to participate in Project SAILS, a standardized information literacy test.

4. Assessment Newsletter. Brent would like to publish a 2003-2004 assessment summary by the end of this semester. The committee agreed that a paper publication from the Dean’s office would be the best format. It will contain a summary of committee progress from each chair and recommendations for improvement (if available). Each committee chair should submit their portion to Brent by April 15.

5. Other – Assessment Day. To follow the distribution of this publication, an Assessment Day will be held on April 22. Each chair (or committee representative) will present for 3-4 minutes on their committee. Because of low turnout last year, the committee decided to hold two sessions, one at 7:00 a.m. and one at 1:30 p.m.

6. Other – Program Assessment. Brent discussed the need to consider program assessment in addition to campus-wide assessment. Currently this is not being done on campus.