General Information for IRB Approval Of

General Information for IRB Approval of

the Texas Assessment Collaborative Pilot Project

This project likelyfalls in the Exempt Review Category as determined by the federal regulatory agencies because it involves research of negligible risks in the study of some educational practices.

Approval must be obtained before data collection is started. Because this project likely falls in the exempt review category, some institutions may not require IRB review. In those cases, a statement from the Chief Academic Officer stating that the institution considers the project to be exempt should be submitted to the project sponsor. If IRB review is required by the institution, specific Institutional Review Board (IRB) paperwork must be submitted to the IRB, approved, and submitted to the project sponsorbefore institutional participationmay be approved.

Here is the kind of information you may have to submit to your institution’s IRB:

• Title of Study: Texas Assessment Collaborative Pilot Project
• Subjects: Students at your institutionwith 42-72 completed semester credit hoursand/or are 75-100% core complete. Students must be between the ages of 18 and 65 to participate, and each participating institution will ensure these requirements.
• IRB Category: Exempt
• Project Sponsors: LEAP Texas, an official consortial partner of AAC&U’s LEAP state initiative.
• Abstract:This pilot project will involve Faculty from multiple Texas colleges and universities in assessing a sample of student work against the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics to reach the following goals:
• Better understand student attainment of Texas core objectives.
• Develop a state-wide interpretation of LEAP VALUE rubrics aligned with the Texas Core Objectives in order to inform local assessment methods and practices.
• Leverage collaboratively developed state-wide interpretation of LEAP VALUE rubrics to assess Texas Core Objectives, and interpreting local results within the broader context of Texas Higher Education.
• Methods:A sample of 75-100 pieces of student course work will be collected from each participating institution. Each participating institution will develop and present a sampling plan to the project sponsor for approval. A team of faculty from the participating institutions will assess a sample of 400 pieces of student work collected from the participating institutions using the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics. Faculty assessors will be trained and calibrated on the use of the rubrics.
• Multi-Institution Study: San Jacinto College, Stephen F. Austin State University, University of North Texas, University of Texas at Arlington, Weatherford College, and possibly other Texas institutions.
• Student Confidentiality: No individual identifiers will accompany students’ work.
• Protection of Data: The data for this pilot project will be held by LEAP Texas used to generate summary reports for institutions participating in the project, LEAP Texas membership, and other interested parties as LEAP Texas deems appropriate. The database of ratings of student work or student work samples will not be released to any party.
• Consent: If required by the Chief Academic Officer or institutional IRB, participating institutions may guarantee student consent to participate by:
• Contacting students’ whose work is selected in the institution’s sample and gaining consent for their work to be included in the project, or
• Publishing a notice concerning the project in the catalogue, bulletin, or class schedule with a description of opt-out procedures for students.
• Or another approach designed to respond to student consent.

Project Lead Contact Information:

Chris Duke, Ph.D.Larry J. King, Ph.D.

LEAP Texas Assessment FellowLEAP Texas Assessment Fellow

Office: 281-998-6128Office: 936-468-1260

E-mail: -mail: