A Primer on Plans: Strategic, Assessment, and Quality Enhancement

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A Primer on Plans Strategic, Assessment, and
Quality Enhancement

• Engaging the Spirit
• August 18, 2006
• Retta E. Poe and Dennis K. George

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Goals

• Distinguish between strategic (action) plans and
  assessment plans.
• Describe WKUs Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP).
• Clarify expectations for program faculty re
  assessment plans.
• Explore approaches to incorporating QEP outcomes
  into assessment plans.

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Activity

• Suppose one of your program graduates won the
  Powerball lottery immediately after graduation
  and never worked in the field. How would he or
  she be a better person, citizen, neighbor,
  spouse, parent, etc., as a result of having
  completed your program?

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Universitys Mission

• Western Kentucky University prepares students to
  be productive, engaged leaders in a global
  society. It provides service and lifelong
  learning opportunities for its constituents. WKU
  is responsible for stewarding a high quality of
  life throughout its region.

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Strategic Planning

• Establishes objectives, intended activities, and
  performance indicators for achieving universitys
  mission
• Organized around five strategic goals
• Occurs at unit or departmental (not program)
  level
• Future-oriented
• Tied to resource allocation

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Strategic Planning

• Progress is evaluated (assessed) each year
• Does not involve assessing student learning
• Purpose is institutional improvement and growth

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Strategic Plan as Driving Force
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Activity 2

• Name one skill or knowledge topic that you would
  be absolutely embarrassed to learn that your
  program graduates couldnt do or didnt know.

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Assessment Planning

• Provides data for making program improvements
• Organized around student learning outcomes (what
  students should know, think, or be able to do at
  the end of a program)
• Occurs at program level
• Present-oriented

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Assessment Planning

• Success in achieving student learning outcomes
  (SLOs) is evaluated annually
• Focused entirely on whether SLOs are being
  achieved
• Purpose is program improvement
• Results may lead to program changes (admissions,
  instruction, curriculum, etc.)

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Assessment Planning

• Should include
• identification of SLOs,
• one or more means of assessing each SLO,
• criteria for determining whether the outcome has
  been achieved,
• a summary of the data collected, and
• a description of the use of results to make
  program improvements (closing the loop).

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Strategic Planning

• Strategic Planning
• Question What actions should we take to
  implement the WKU Strategic Goals?
• Purpose To chart a course for the future and a
  means of developing priorities and determining
  actions necessary to achieve intended goals.
• Time Frame Future

• Assessment
• Question How well are students doing with
  respect to program learning outcomes?
• Purpose To determine whether we are currently
  achieving program learning outcomes.
• Time Frame Present

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Caution!!!

• Increase and improve are future-oriented
  words.
• Perfectly appropriate for Action Plans.
• Should be used cautiously in Assessment Plans.
• The result of assessment may lead you to the
  conclusion that something may need to be
  increased or improved.

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Relationship between Strategic Plans and
Assessment Plans

• Results of assessment plans especially if SLOs
  are not achieved may suggest activities for
  inclusion in the units strategic plan.

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SACS and Planning

• SACS and strategic planning
• Core requirement 2.5 The institution engages in
  ongoing, integrated, and institution-wide
  research-based planning and evaluation processes
  that incorporate a systematic review of programs
  and services that (a) results in continuing
  improvement and (b) demonstrates that the
  institution is effectively accomplishing its
  mission.

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SACS and Planning

• SACS and Program Assessment (Institutional
  Effectiveness)
• Comprehensive standard 3.3.1 The institution
  identifies expected outcomes for its educational
  programs and its administrative and educational
  support services assesses whether it achieves
  these outcomes and provides evidence of
  improvement based on analysis of those results.

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What is a QEP?

• Excerpt from SACS Principles of Accreditation
• The Commission on Colleges expects institutions
  to dedicate themselves to enhancing the quality
  of their programs and services within the context
  of their missions, resources, and capabilities,
  and creating an environment in which teaching,
  research, and learning occurs.

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SACS and Planning

• SACS and Quality Enhancement Plans
• Core requirement 2.12 The institution has
  developed an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan
  and demonstrates the plan is part of an ongoing
  planning and evaluation process.

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What is a QEP?

• Planning for future v. reporting on past
  (windshield approach v. rear-view mirror
  approach)
• Addresses an issue or issues that contributes
  to institutional quality, with special attention
  to student learning

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What is a QEP?

• Based upon a comprehensive and thorough analysis
  of the effectiveness of the learning environment
  for
• supporting student achievement and
• accomplishing the mission of the institution
• Outlines course of action for institutional
  improvement in the area of student learning over
  5-7 year time-frame.

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WKUs QEP Theme and Learning Goal

• Theme Engaging students for success in a global
  society
• Goal Students will engage with communities
  other than their own in purposeful learning
  activities that explicitly address their capacity
  and responsibility to contribute to society in
  positive ways.

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QEP SLOs

• Students will demonstrate the capacity to apply
  knowledge and training to address relevant
  concerns in community or society.
• Students will demonstrate respect for diversity
  of peoples, ideas, and cultures.
• Students will demonstrate awareness of their
  opportunities as responsible citizens living and
  working in a global society.

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Expectations re Planning Activities at WKU

• Each unit (i.e., department) must submit a
  strategic plan annually, and report success
  annually.
• Faculty in each program (i.e., academic majors)
  must develop an assessment plan annually, in
  which three to five SLOs are evaluated.
  Assessment results must be reported annually.

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Assessment Planning

• Should include
• identification of SLOs,
• one or more means of assessing each SLO,
• criteria for determining whether the outcome has
  been achieved,
• a summary of the data collected, and
• a description of the use of results to make
  program improvements (closing the loop).

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Expectations re Planning Activities at WKU

• Beginning in 06-07, faculty in each program must
  include in the assessment plan one of the three
  QEP outcomes (may be re-worded slightly).
• In 07-08, each assessment plan must include two
  QEP SLOs.
• In 08-09, each assessment plan must include three
  QEP SLOs.

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Integrating QEP SLOs into Program Assessments

• In what ways does your program prepare students
  to be productive citizens in a global society, as
  indicated by the SLOs?
• What does your program do to try to accomplish
  this, and where in the program does it happen?
• How could your students demonstrate that they
  have learned it?

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Outcome

• Students will demonstrate the capacity to apply
  knowledge and training to address relevant
  concerns in community or society.

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Societal Concern

• Noise induced hearing loss suffered by workers
  when exposed to excessive noise on the job.

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Engagement Activity

• Measuring the personal noise exposure of workers
  in a local industrial setting.

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Relevant knowledge, skills, attitudes and/or
behaviors

• Ability to correctly utilize the instrumentation
  that measures personal noise exposure
• Ability interact with workers and supervisors at
  the worksite
• Ability to interpret noise exposure data
• Ability to recognize the personal and societal
  implications of hearing loss

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First means of assessment and criteria for success

• Using a rubric designed to score the disciplinary
  preparation aspects of this activity (e.g.
  utilization of instrument, interpretation of
  data, etc.), the average score will be no less
  than 75 and on no individual rubric category
  will the average be less than 60 of the possible
  points.

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Second means of assessment and criteria for
success

• Students will write a three to four page essay on
  the engagement experience, reflecting upon what
  it would be like to work in a job with excessive
  noise exposure, the effect of hearing loss on
  quality of life, the societal impact of hearing
  loss in a significant portion of the population,
  their contribution in hearing loss prevention as
  occupational health professionals
• 30 of the essays will be collected randomly and
  scored by a team of faculty using a rubric
  developed for this purpose
• The average score will be no less than 75 and on
  no individual category will the average be less
  than 60 of the possible points.

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Important!!!

• This is more than just engaging students in an
  activity.
• We must document the learning that takes place as
  a result.

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Questions and Discussion
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Resources

• The Departmental Guide and Record Book for
  Students Outcomes, Assessment, and Institutional
  Effectiveness, Third Edition, James O. Nichols
  and Karen W. Nichols, Agathon Press, New York,
  2000.
• Assessment Essentials, Planning, Implementing,
  and Improving Assessment in Higher Education,
  Catherine Palomba and Trudy Banta, Jossey-Bass,
  San Francisco, 1999.

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Resources

• Implementing Institutional Effectiveness, A Step
  by Step Guide to Assessing Educational Programs,
  Michael J. Hester, Office of Academic Affairs,
  Saint Augustines College, Raleigh, NC, 1996
• Planning for Assessment Success, Linda Suskie,
  SACS/COC Annual Meeting, 2001

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Reference

• Information extracted from
• The Department Heads Guide to Assessment
  Implementation in Administrative and Educational
  Support Units, James O. Nichols and Karen W.
  Nichols, Agathon Press, New York, 2000.