Annual Report of the Committee on Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness - Annual Report 2019-2020

To: Steering Committee, Academic Senate

From: Chair, Committee on Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness

Date: October 1, 2020

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Membership/officers

Raul Armendariz (Physics, 2021), Chukwudi Ikwueze (Social Sciences, 2022), Mi-Seon Kim (Library, 2021), Kevin Kolack (Chemistry, 2022, Secretary), Whan Ki Lee (Mathematics & Computer Sciences, 2020), Scott Litroff (Music, 2020), Manuel Martinez (English, 2022), Amos Orlofsky (Biological Sciences and Geology, 2021, co-Chair), Barbara Rome (Nursing, 2020, co-Chair), TBA (student representatives)

Liaisons

Ian Beckford (Director of Policy Analysis for General Education, Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning), Arthur Corradetti (Dean for Institutional Effectiveness, President's Liaison), Stephen Hammel (Committee on Committees designee), TBA (Steering Committee designee)

Membership Composition Changes

Scott Litroff (Music, 2020) replaced Bjorn Berkhout (Music, 2020) as of December 2019

Committee Meeting Dates

September 25, 2019, October 23, 2019, November 13, 2019, December 11, 2019, February 26, 2020, April 14, 2020, May 20, 2020

Committee Responses towards Steering Committee Charges

1. Review of reports of assessments forwarded by various units of the college.

• The committee examined and evaluated twelve 2018-2019 year-end annual reports submitted by teaching departments. The reports were evaluated using the rubric and checklist established by the committee in 2017-18 (see below). The results of this evaluation are as follows:
  

  Total	Total reviewed	Exemplary	Adequate	Needs improvement	Other
  14	12	4	6	1	1*

• *The rubric was not applied to one department that reported ongoing redesign of its assessment plan.
• The checklist and rubric for evaluation of teaching department annual reports, established in their current form in 2017-18, were added to the committee website, along with a direct link to the “Academic Department Reports” webpage, in which links to all of the departmental annual reports are collected.
• The committee discussed various approaches to facilitate the process by which teaching departments report assessment activity. The consensus of the committee was that in many reports there is opportunity for improvement with respect to (i) concision and clarity with respect to methods, results and evaluation; (ii) completeness with respect to follow-up of findings; (iii) attention to program outcomes. In particular, the reporting of follow-up to action plans responding to program review (section E2b of the report) was noted as an area of weakness. The committee discussed the possibility that the ongoing emergence of departmental assessment committees may provide a supporting element for restructuring of the reporting process. The committee also discussed potential means to improve communication from the committee to departments with respect to the goals and methodology of the reporting process.

2. The committee is charged with the review and evaluation of documents relating to assessments of institutional effectiveness from all non-academic units of the college. Accordingly, the committee discussed current plans to update the QCC College Assessment Handbook. Dean Corradetti discussed plans for revision of the handbook and the committee discussed items to be clarified, reorganized or added.
3. The committee is charged with reviewing assessment procedures and making recommendations concerning these assessment initiatives. The committee focused on two aspects of these initiatives:

• The committee discussed the potential benefit of an increased focus on program review as a driving component of the overall assessment process. It is anticipated that the ongoing development of curriculum maps, coupled with assessment timelines, will facilitate the integration of program and course assessment and the incorporation of program outcomes as assessable course components.
• The committee discussed the potential benefit of communication and interaction with departmental assessment committees. The committee gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Dr. Ian Beckford, who conducted a survey of the current state of development of departmental assessment committees. The survey found that 8 of 12 departments currently have such a committee, with two more committees in development.

Recommendations for Next Academic Year

1. The committee views the integration of program with course assessment as a promising area of opportunity for the College and will seek to facilitate this development.
2. The committee views the current format for departmental reports as an area in need of attention in order to optimize the transparency and clarity of the assessment process.
3. The committee views the creation of departmental assessment committees as a favorable development that deserves encouragement, and will seek to facilitate helpful interaction between the Senate committee and the departmental committees.

New Committee Members – newly elected Chair and Secretary

1. Thomas Byrnes (Admissions) and Biao Wang (Math) were appointed to the Committee, and Barbara Rome (Nursing) was reappointed to the Committee for terms to end in 2023
2. Chair: motion to elect Amos Orlofsky and Christine Kim as co-chairs, unanimously voted in.
3. Secretary: motion to elect Kevin Kolack, unanimously voted in.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kevin Kolack, Secretary