Assessment, Ratings, and Significant Items

CAS

Work Form A

Assessment, Ratings, and Significant Items

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step One: This work form should be completed following a review of the individual ratings of the team members. Examine the ratings of each criterion statement by the team members, and record the following in the form below:

Discrepancies: Item number(s) for which there is a substantial rating discrepancy (two or more ratings apart). These items will need to be discussed further by team members.
Strengths: Item numbers(s) for which all participants have given a rating of 4, indicating agreement that the criterion is Fully Met.
Needed Improvements: Item numbers for which all participants have given a rating of 1, indicating agreement that the criterion is Not Met.

Items not listed in one of these categories represent consensus among the raters that practice in that area is satisfactory, having been rated Minimally Met or Well Met. Items rated NR because of lack of evidence to support a rating should be listed in Needed Improvements.

Step Two (below): List the items needing follow-up action for improvement and indicate what requires attention. The team or coordinator should consider including any criterion measure rated as being not met by any reviewer, as well as those with significant discrepancies that are not resolved by team discussion.

Part

Number

Part

Discrepancies

Strengths

Needed Improvements

1 / Mission / 1.5
2 / Program / 2.10, 2.13, 2.15 / 2.1.1, 3
2.4
2.2.1-6,
2.5.3
3 / Leadership / 3.1.4, 9, 16, 17, 18, 20
4 / Human Resources / 4.5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 4.14.3, 4 4.15, 4.16.2 , 4.17. 4.18.3 4.2, 4.21, 4.22 / 4.19
5 / Ethics
6 / Legal Responsibilities
7 / Equity and Access / 7.2, 3, 5, 6
8 / Diversity / 9.7
9 / Organization and Management
10 / Campus and External Relations / 10.2.1
11 / Financial Resources / 12.6.1, 3
12 / Technology
13 / Facilities and Equipment / 13.2.1, 13.3.1, 13.3.2, 13.3.4, 13.4
14 / Assessment and Evaluation / 14.3.2-3
14.4-5
14.7

Step Two: List item number(s) for each Part determined to merit follow-up, and describe the practice weaknesses that require attention.

1. The mission statement needs to be created using a model that incorporates student learning outcomes.
2. Develop student learning outcome domains and their related dimensions as per the CAS guidelines.
3.
4. Salary levels and production rating need to be evaluated for national standards.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12. Technology policies need to be more specific and more available to students. The catalog is vague and incomplete. Additional links need to be added to the admission and technology sites.
13.
14. Once the mission statement and student learning outcomes are complete, establish qualitative and quantitative methods to measure them including students and relevant constituencies.
Develop methods to evaluate how the admission program complements the institutions mission, including enrollment, persistence, and degree completion.

CAS

Work Form B

Follow-Up Actions

INSTRUCTIONS:

The purpose of this work form is to begin the planning for action to be taken on practices judged to merit follow-up (Work Form A, Step Two). In the chart below, as Step Three, transfer short descriptions of the practices requiring follow-up and detail these items using the table format provided.

Step Three: Describe the current practice that requires change and actions to initiate the change

Practice Description / Corrective Action Sought / Task Assigned To / Timeline
Due Dates
The mission statement needs to be created using a model that incorporates student learning outcomes. / The mission statement needs to be created using a model that incorporates student learning outcomes. / Admission Team / July 1, 2012
Develop student learning outcome domains and their related dimensions as per the CAS guidelines. / 1) Learn how to create student learning outcomes.
2) Develop student learning outcomes / Director and Assistant Director of Admissions / Dec. 31, 2012
Salary levels and production rating need to be evaluated for national standards. / Collect salary data from 7 peer institutions and national professional organizations. / Admission Team / July 1, 2012
Technology policies need to be more specific and more available to students. The catalog is vague and incomplete. Additional links need to be added to the admission and technology sites. / Add links to the Admission website that refer students to the technology policies. / July 1, 2012
Once the mission statement and student learning outcomes are complete, establish qualitative and quantitative methods to measure them including students and relevant constituencies. / Establish qualitative and quantitative methods to measure outcomes including students and relevant constituencies.
Develop methods to evaluate how the admission program complements the institutions mission, including enrollment, persistence, and degree completion. / Establish methods to evaluate how the admission contribution to the institutional mission on mission, enrollment, persistence, and degree completion.

CAS

Work Form C

Summary Action Plan

Step Four:

This form concludes the self-assessment process and calls for action to be taken as a consequence of study results. Write a brief action plan statement in the spaces below for each Part in which action is required. (Note: If using the electronic/CD version, text boxes will expand with typing.)

Part 1: Mission

The Division of Enrollment Management is currently working on a new mission statement for the division. When that is complete the Admission staff will work together to create a new admission mission statement.

Part 2: Program

The admission staff will read materials on learning outcomes and develop outcomes that will demonstrate that students have successfully completed the admission process.

Part 3: Leadership

N/A

Part 4: Human Resources

Contact 7 peer institutions to determine salary levels of admission staff and compare with UAA staff members.

Part 5: Ethics

Part 6: Legal Responsibilities

Part 7: Equity and Access

Part 8. Diversity

Part 9: Organization and Management

Part 10: Campus and External Relations

Part 11: Financial Resources

Part 12: Technology

Work with IT services to add links to the Admission website that will refer students to the UAA technology policies.

Part 13: Facilities and Equipment

Create survey questions to send to students to establish qualitative measures of the admission process. Determine key point indicators for quantitative measures of the admission process.

Part 14: Assessment and Evaluation

Office of Admissions

Scope of Review

The scope of this review was to assess the Office of Admission at the University of Alaska Anchorage utilizing the standards set by the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS). The functions of the Office of Recruitment were reviewed separately according the division of responsibilities at UAA. This is the first review the department has undertaken utilizing the CAS standards.

Mission

The current mission statement of the UAA Admission Team is: “To provide students with efficient, accurate and confidential processing of admission applications.”

The mission statements for the Division of Enrollment Services and the Office of Admissions are currently in the process of being revised. The Admission mission statement will be rewritten to align with the changes made to the division statement.

Assessment Summary

The Office of Admissions was reviewed utilizing the CAS standards by a committee consisting of faculty, staff and administrators from within the division and external to the division. Evidence of current practices was gathered as the questions were reviewed.

This is the first CAS self-assessment to be performed by the UAA Office of Admissions. The review process was an educational experience for the entire committee from learning the standards themselves to applying them to admission processes. New perspectives will bring improvements to processes including documentation of those changes.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

The accumulated years of experience of a well-trained admission staff allow the team to be flexible in adjusting processes quickly as the number of incoming documents fluctuates during the year. Their knowledge of Federal, State, and University policies is important in processing international and domestic applications accurately.
The extent that technology is used to process applications for admission is formidable. UAA Admissions was the first UA system department to implement a completely paperless process utilizing electronic imaging and workflow programs.

Weaknesses:

The mission statement needs a complete review.
Student learning outcomes need to be written into the admission procedures and applied to the admission web site. This concept has been incorporated in the design of processes in years past however the outcomes have never been specific or written.
Approved task requests to improve processing need to be completed. The department is extremely dependent on technology as the number of staff has been reduced. With this in mind an investment in programming time and testing is critical to continue improving processing time.

Priorities for the Program

New changes to the admission letter processes utilizing the TOAD reporting tool will be implemented in the coming months.
Workflow changes to the Admission Recommendation process will be implemented.
The Admission staff will create a new mission statement in alignment with the Division of Enrollment Services.

Admission processes will be rewritten to incorporate and document learning outcomes that demonstrate a prospective student’s successful completion of the application process to be measured at multiple points in the admission process.

Contact will be made with 7 peer institutions to determine salary levels of admission staff and a comparison made between the number of applications processed per staff member and UAA statistics.