Assessment Primer: Assessment Planning

• Planning may occur at the institutional, division, and department levels
• Institutional planning may be involved with general education assessment, campus-wide assessment activities, and establishing requirements for unit plans
• Elements of an assessment plan – should include such things as purpose for assessment, methods that will be used, the timeline for administration, the framework for using the assessment information, and provisions for administering the plan.  Assessment plan outline:
  • Departmental Goals – describe what the department intends to accomplish, how the department’s goals relate to campus mission, and purposes for assessment
  • Learning Objectives – describe what students must know, do, and value
  • Techniques and Target Groups – indicate how you will determine whether learning objectives have been met, including methods, target groups, and any impact on students
  • Time Line – indicate when data will be collected and analyzed, when reports will be available, and when recommendations will be made
  • Provisions for Administration – indicate who has responsibility for seeing the plan is carried out, who will conduct and analyze data, and who will summarize/report results
  • Use of Information – describe provisions for sharing information with internal and external audiences, and for making recommendations and decisions
  • Assessment Evaluation – indicate how the assessment program itself will be evaluated

(Assessment Essentials: planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education by Palomba and Banta 1999)

Components of an Assessment Plan
(Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education by Allen 2004)

Program or Course Assessment Planning Matrix*
(Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education by Allen 2004)

*Modified from Olds, Barbara & Miller, Ron (1998).  “An Assessment Matrix for Evaluating Engineering programs”, Journal of Engineering Education, April p. 175-178.