Motion for the Assessment of General Education
Background
- CCSU is mid-way through our Self-Study for our next accreditation visit by NEASC
- NEASC demands that the General Education (GenEd) requirement “informs the design of all general education courses, and provides criteria for its evaluation, including the assessment of what students learn.” (Standard 4.16).
- Compliance with this standard involves three things:
- An explicit statement of learning outcomes (LO’s) for the GenEd requirement,
- A way to measure student achievement of the GenEd LO’s, i.e. “assessment,” and
- An ongoing process of improving teaching and learning in GenEd that considers the measures of student achievement provided by assessment, i.e. a “feedback loop”.
- Currently, Departments offering GenEd courses do explicitly state LO’s for (some of) their own GenEd courses, they do assess student achievement of those LO’s, and they have an ongoing feedback loop for their own GenEd courses.
- It is doubtful at best that this purely “local” approach to the assessment of GenEd will fully satisfy NEASC. Ideally, we should report to NEASC that in addition to our purely “local” approach, we have begun the process of establishing a more “global” policy.
Motion: the bylaws of the Curriculum Committee shall be amended by the addition of the following
5.3.6.The subcommittee has the primary responsibility on campus for overseeing the assessment of General Education. In particular, the subcommittee shall establish and periodically review (1) learning outcomes for the General Education requirement, (2) a way to measure student achievement of the General Education learning outcomes (“assessment”), and (3) an ongoing process of improving teaching and learning in General Education that considers the measures of student achievement provided by assessment.
- Amendment: The subcommittee has the primary responsibility on campus for overseeing the assessment of General Education. In particular, the subcommittee shall periodically review and make recommendations regarding (1) learning outcomes for the General Education requirement, (2) a way to measure student achievement of the General Education learning outcomes (“assessment”), and (3) an ongoing process of improving teaching and learning in General Education that considers the measures of student achievement provided by assessment.
Desiderata
- The assessment of GenEd should in no way usurp the authority of experts within a discipline to set appropriate academic standards for instructing students in their respective disciplines.
- The periodic review of GenEd assessment need not be yearly.
- Just as the periodic review of courses that have not been taught for several years proceeds with data provided by an external entity (i.e. the Registrar’s Office), the periodic review of GenEd assessment should proceed with assessment data provided to the subcommittee by external entities (e.g. the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment).