Assessment and Evaluation
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.
CAS Standards: A
Matter of Strategic Planning The Division of
Student Affairs uses national standards for practice in Student Affairs created
by the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education
(CAS). CAS collaborates with specific professional associations to create
national best practice guidelines in each area. We use these best practices as
one way to judge our work.
Learning Plans: A
Formative Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
"Sure, the students like your programs and services,
but what evidence do you have that what you are doing is making a
difference?" (Terenzini and Upcraft, p.217)
This quote by P. T. Terenzini and M.L.
Upcraft illustrates why Longwood’s Division of Student Affairs uses learning as
a critical feedback mechanism. Each department engages in a 7-step
Learning Plan process to 1) define our philosophy toward learning, 2)
incorporate Longwood’s six student development goals, 3) outline desired
learning outcomes, 4) design activities and interactions that encourage
achievement of the learning outcomes, 5) assess whether or not the learning
occurred, 6) examine the results, and 7) plan future actions based on the
results. Learning Plans and their outcomes also serve to provide evidence of
what should be done to improve delivery and to modify planning.
Upcraft, M. L., & Schuh, J.H.
(1996). Assessment in Student Affairs: A Guide for Practitioners,
Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, CA.
Student Affairs Learning Plan Assessment
Participation numbers The Division of
Student Affairs at Longwood University is committed to sustaining an
environment that offers a comprehensive array of student learning
opportunities. Student Affairs values tracking participation numbers at its
programs because this information helps student affairs professionals and the
students with whom they work with decide how to provide quality educational and
entertainment programming that meets the needs of the Longwood student.
Customer Service The Division of
Student Affairs at Longwood University is committed to providing first rate
customer service to its students. Student Affairs desires to assess and
continually improve customer service because a student that has had an
excellent experience with a particular department will be more willing to
direct their peers to take advantage of the services of that department and
will use the services again.
Training Evaluations The Division of
Student Affairs at Longwood University is committed to providing effective and
professional training for our student and professional staff. By assessing
current training practices, such as content, applicability, and ease of use,
student affairs professionals can consistently improve the effectiveness
student and professional staff training.
Program Evaluations The Division of Student Affairs is committed to evaluating the effectiveness of department sponsored programs. The information gathered about learning, effectiveness of presenter, and content will help the department review the aspects of the program should continue and the areas need to be reevaluated.
Satisfaction The Division of
Student Affairs is committed to evaluating the various services that we provide
to our constituents as a measure of effectiveness. What our primary
stakeholders, students, report has value in the evaluation of individual
services and is a critical part of the feedback mechanism.
Content area specific evaluations The
departments within the Division of Student Affairs use a variety of content
area-specific assessment and evaluation tools such as surveys by Educational
Benchmarking, Inc,, the National College Health Assessment, and others. These
tools allow the department to compare their areas with national standards
developed for their department’s content area. The results of the assessment
and evaluation will assist the department in program changes and/or
improvements.