Cornell College Assessment Plan
During the 2008-09 academic year, the Reaccreditation 2012 Committee and the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment revised and began implementation of an institution-wide assessment plan for the College. The plan uses a 4-year continuous assessment cycle.The "steps by years" table breaks the work to be done into 4 steps that take place across 4 years. Based on consultative feedback, we divided the College into 4 groups (A, B, C, & D), with Group A members beginning Step 1 during the 2009-10 academic year. Each year, then, groups move forward in the assessment cycle. In 2011-12, Group C will be engaged in "identifying priorities/goals/outcomes" and "planning" their assessment strategy (Step 1); Group B will move into "gathering evidence" (Step 2); and, Group A will "interpret evidence" collected last year and "develop an action plan" for the year to follow (Step 3). In 2012-13, Group D will enter the cycle and, at that point, all areas of the College will be engaged in ongoing assessment work.
|
Steps |
Year One 2009-10 |
Year Two 2010-11 |
Year Three 2011-12 |
Year Four 2012-13 |
Year Five 2013-14 |
|
Identify Priorities / Goals / Outcomes Plan Assessment |
Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
Group D |
Group A |
|
Gather Evidence |
|
Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
Group D |
|
Interpret Evidence Develop Action Plan |
|
|
Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
|
Implement Change |
|
|
|
Group A |
Group B |
Set up as such, the cycle is intended to (a) reflect the ongoing nature of this work, and (b) help us "keep it small" (i.e., manageable). Our goal is to help departments / offices understand that this is an ongoing process of examining our priorities, raising questions, and collecting information to help us answer those questions and improve our practices.
To find out where your area falls in the College's cycle, see the Assessment Cycle Groups page.