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Why Do We Assess
and Evaluate?
The Division of Student Affairs at Longwood University
assesses student learning and evaluates programs for many reasons.
Student Affairs administrators employ assessment and evaluation to
better understand the needs of a constantly changing student
population. In addition, assessment and evaluation are used to foster
student learning, such as identity and skill development. Assessment
and evaluation are also used to improve the quality and affordability of
programs and services. Furthermore, assessment helps Student Affairs
administrators develop effective university policies and procedures,
contribute to strategic planning, and demonstrate to external
constituents their commitment to continually change to meet various
student development needs and learning styles. In short, we use
assessment and evaluation to determine and reinforce what we do well and
improve what we do not.
What is the Difference between Assessment and Evaluation?
Evaluation appraises the strengths and weaknesses of
programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve
their effectiveness.
Assessment
is an on-going process aimed at improving student learning, programs,
and services that involves a process of 1) publicly sharing
expectations, 2) defining criteria and standards for quality, 3)
gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence about how well
performance matches the criteria, and 4) using the results to documents,
explain, and improve performance.
The Division of Student Affairs at Longwood University uses both
evaluation and assessment to guide our work. Evaluation is to determine
significance or worth or judge the effectiveness of educational
programs. Assessment is to determine a rate or amount and is used as an
activity to measure student learning and other human characteristics.
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