Components of the GCC Assessment Initiative

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Components of the GCC Assessment Initiative

• Notes on our History in Building a Culture
  of Evidence Together

(Updated March 2005)
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Guam Community Colleges institutional commitment
to assessment is based on 4 basic components.
PRINCIPLES
PRINCIPLES
PROCESSESS
RESOURCES
RESOURCES
STRATEGIES
STRATEGIES
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3 PRINCIPLES
At the core of all assessment activities at
GCC is the systematic collection and analysis
of evidence that demonstrate student learning in
terms of the following

• what students know (knowledge gained,
  understanding advanced)
• what they think and value (attitudes formed,
  dispositions developed)
• what they can do (competencies acquired, skills
  demonstrated)

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PROCESSES

• Year 1 (AY 2000-2001)
• Beginning the Conversation,
• Building a Culture/Infrastructure
• Year 2 (AY 2001-2002)
• Formulating Policy, Fueling Dialogue
• Year 3 (AY 2002-2003)
• Making Changes Internally,
• Modeling Assessment Externally
• Year 4 (AY 2003-2004)
• Aligning Mission and Assessment,
• Automating the Process
• Year 5 (AY 2004-2005)
• Proving Student Learning,
• Improving Programs Services

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PROCESSES

• Year 1 (AY 2000-2001)
• Beginning the Conversation
• Building a Culture/Infrastructure
• The GCC
  Comprehensive Institutional Assessment
• Plan was
  launched in Fall 2000 by the Office of the
• Vice President for Academic Affairs.

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STRATEGIES
Year 1 (AY 2000-2001)

• Committee on College Assessment (CCA) established
  in the Board of Trustees-Faculty Union contract
  equal number of members from faculty and
  administrators
• Comprehensive Institutional Assessment Plan
  disseminated campus-wide in Fall 2000
• Protocol, timeline and template development
  (assessment plan
• report) by CCA

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STRATEGIES
Year 1 (AY 2000-2001)

• Series of capacity-building workshops partaking
  of food to promote community and the
  development of an assessment culture through
  informal talk
• Annual institutional reporting of
• assessment activities and accomplish-
• ments through the GCCs Annual
• Institutional Assessment Report made
• available at Fall convocation
• (electronic version posted
• at the colleges website)
• Leadership by example survey
• of college presidents end-of-first year
• performance

Pres. H. delos Santos
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PROCESSES

• Year 2 (AY 2001-2002)
• Formulating Policy, Fueling Dialogue
• Policy 306 (Comprehensive Assessment of
  Instructional Programs, Student Services,
  Administrative Units, and the Board of Trustees)
  was passed by the Board.

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STRATEGIES
  Year 2 (AY 2001-2002)

• BOT Policy 306 (passage of institutional policy
  that mandates assessment processes and timelines
  for all programs, student services, and
  administrative units)
• Ritualizing assessment through two-year
  assessment cycle schedule college assessment
  taxonomy established (GROUP A all AS programs
  GROUP B all Certificate programs

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STRATEGIES
 Year 2 (AY 2001-2002)

• GROUP C student services and
• administrative units GROUP D special
  programs (includes GE, federal programs,
  secondary, and skill development milestone
  courses)
• Campus-wide compliance rates monitored and
  reported system of rewards and sanctions
  instituted (Recognition List, Probation List)
  certificates of recognition awarded to programs
  and units signed by the college president and
  the AVP

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STRATEGIES
 Year 2 (AY 2001-2002)

• Assessment issues integrated in Faculty
  Governance Meetings (six times/ semester)
• Highlights of assessment results disseminated and
  discussed in annual college convocation
• Assessment video produced
• Vocational Program Success Day staged (intended
  as a public dialogue with the community student
  artifacts showcased at the Micronesia Mall)
• Leadership by example BOT assessment

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PROCESSES

• Year 3 (AY 2002-2003)
• Making Changes Internally,
• Modeling Assessment Externally
• Curriculum revisited to integrate core
  requirements in General Education.

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STRATEGIES
Year 3 (AY 2002-2003)

• Preceded by a spirited campus dialogue, GE core
  curriculum established (no standard core of
  courses in prior years)
• Program guides revamped course guides
  re-written to reflect student learning outcomes
• Articulation of courses forged with the
  University of Guam through memorandum of
  agreement
• Programs integrated and consolidated

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STRATEGIES
Year 3 (AY 2002-2003)

• Assessment
  results utilized by
• faculty
  development committee to
• address
  training needs of various
• programs
  
• Community
  College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CCSEQ)
  administered to 638 GCC students results widely
  disseminated through presentations and guided
  Student Development Office in creating programs
  to meet student need
• Leadership at AAHE assessment conference CCA
  chair facilitated a special interest group
  meeting in community college assessment

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PROCESSES

• Year 4 (AY 2003-2004)
• Aligning Mission and Assessment,
• Automating the Process
• TRACDAT training to jumpstart entry into the
  online environment.

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STRATEGIES
Year 4 (AY 2003-2004)

• Monitoring implementation of assessment results
  at both the program and course levels
• TRACDAT, an assessment data management software,
  installed in the colleges server in June 2003
• TRACDAT user training for college constituents
  by groups, following the colleges assessment
  taxonomy (GROUP A-D) as basis for schedule

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STRATEGIES
Year 4 (AY 2003-2004)

• 
  Design and development of the
  colleges assessment website
• Mission
  statement review to
• integrate
  commitment to student learning as a core
• objective
• Full institutionalization of the
  colleges assessment initiative through the
  establishment of the office of ASSESSMENT
  INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (AIE) on February
  2004

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PROCESSES

• Proving Student Learning, Improving
  Programs and Services

Year 5 (AY 2004-2005)
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STRATEGIES
Year 5 (AY 2004-2005)

• 
  Assessment of General Education formalized
  through the creation of a faculty-driven GE
  Assessment Committee
• New mission
  statement adopted by the Board of Trustees
  on February 9, 2005 to be re- examined in
  January of each year.
• Continuous training in SLOs and TracDat
  for all GCC constituents assessment retreat
  for members of the Assessment Committee and
  the Board of Trustees.

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STRATEGIES
Year 5 (AY 2004-2005)

• Mentoring, Training, Engaging in Conversations on
  Learning

Assessment Shadowing Observers from College of
Micronesia-FSM (Aug 2004)
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RESOURCES
Institutional support given by

• College president (through
• Chachalani (college newsletter
• article), convocation remarks,
• formal and informal talk, and as
• "guinea pig" for first campus-
• wide assessment)
• Members of the Board of Trustees (through
  passage of Policy 306 and active participation in
  their own board assessment through surveys and
  focus groups)
• Academic Vice President (through leadership in
  "setting the stage" for assessment dialogue in
  Fall 2000, 2001 2002 convocations

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RESOURCES
Sources of institutional support (cont)

• also, through CCA ex-officio membership, Faculty
  governance remarks, formal and informal
  discussions with CCA chair)
• Deans (through discussion of assessment issues in
  monthly department chair meetings, reminder memos
  to faculty regarding their assessment
  requirements)
• Faculty governance leaders (through discussion of
  assessment agenda in governance meetings)

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RESOURCES
Financial support achieved through

• VEA (Carl D. Perkins III) funds program
  agreement written each year, with federal
  reporting requirements
• Year 1, AY 2000-2001 (no allocated funds)
• Year 2, AY 2001-2002 (73, 546.22)
• Year 3, AY 2002-2003 (84, 281.00)
• Year 4, AY 2003-2004 (122,807.47)
• Year 5, AY 2004-2005 (transferred to
• local funding)
• Full institutionalization of the assessment
  initiative through the creation of an Office of
  Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness,
  February 2004

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RESOURCESUnlimited Human Potential

• Shakers and movers of
• the colleges assessment
• initiative
• Assistant Director, Office of
• Assessment and Institutional
• Effectiveness
• Program Specialist
• Administrative Assistant
• Members of the Committee
• on College Assessment
• (CCA) AVP as ex-officio
• member
• Members of the Gen Ed
• Assessment sub-committee

Improvement is the key
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RESOURCESPHYSICAL FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT

• Two offices 208 sq. ft. and 160 sq. ft.
• Multimedia equipment (for workshop training
  sessions and presentations)
• VCR, scanner, digital camera, portable screen,
  easel board
• Laptop
• 2 computers
• 2 printers

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• Assessment is an on-going process. We dont
  get it done we get on with it.
• Outcomes Assessment, Miami of Ohio