Department and Program Level Assessment Planning

Your department assessment plan details how your department or program will tackle all four steps of the assessment process. It is a multi-year, collaborative effort.

Step 1: Establish learning goals

Step 2: Create learning opportunities for students

Step 3: Collect (and analyze) evidence of student learning

Step 4: Closing the Loop: Use the evidence to improve student learning!

Don’t forget about collaboration

Enlist a team or groups of faculty to be part of the process. Assessment activities often spark stimulating and focused conversations about the curriculum and pedagogy—it is important to involve as many members of the department as possible!

Plan for the long-term

Establish a timeline that includes all elements of the process. The collection and analysis of the evidence usually takes place over a multi-year (and repeated) cycle. Be sure to include an explicit plan for communicating what you learn to the relevant audiences and making changes to improve student learning based on the evidence you have collected.

Use this assessment template (for download or print) or design a simple grid to report results and discuss what the department found and what your next steps are.

Suggested reading:

Middendorf, J., & Pace, D. “Decoding the disciplines: A model for helping students learn disciplinary ways of thinking.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning 98 (2004): 1-12.