University Assessments
Institutional Level
The Office of Strategic Planning, Institutional Research and Effectiveness (OSPIRE) conducts a number of surveys and polls that measure satisfaction, knowledge, behavior, cognitive, and social development, and programmatic outcomes at an institutional level. Each year OSPIRE administers surveys and standardized assessments that provide Shaw University with a comprehensive picture of student and program level outcomes. Shaw University continues to enhance its culture of assessment and evidence. The University recognizes that assessing student and program learning outcomes should not be restricted to a single day each year. As a result, assessment scheduling and activities are conducted at appropriate times throughout the academic year.
The institution implements the following yearly standardized assessments; National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) given every other year, College Student Inventory (CSI) given at each New Student Orientation, Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), College Senior Survey (CSS), Student Instructional Report (SIR II), Major Field Test (MFT), and the Area Concentration Achievement Tests (ACAT). The institution also implements several survey’s using Qualtrics to include; Student Engagement, Support Program Effectiveness, Program Level Senior Exit Survey’s, Academic Advising, and other survey’s as deemed appropriate by Academic and Non-Academic Programs.
Results and analysis are provided to the University Community by OSPIRE in the form of written reports, oral presentations, data hearings, folders on the institution’s intranet site, and via the campus Learning Management System.
OSPIRE has recently engaged Taskstream to help maximize the assessment process. Taskstream provides avenues for programs to conduct program reviews, it provides portals for accredited programs to prepare their annual reports as well as accreditation visit reports and provides a portal for the University to complete assessments on the General Education curriculum and the QEP as well as SACSCOC reporting.
Resources
Assessment: Divisional Level
Each program and unit within the University is required to submit an end-of-year report following an approved format. This format is utilized so that the reports uniformly address specific topics (goals, student learning/operational outcomes, measurement of success, evaluation of the measurements, and plans for improvement (if needed).
Each program and unit within the University, with assistance from OSPIRE, is responsible for conducting their own assessment system. As a result, there are a variety of assessment instruments and activities that are used at Shaw University. Examples of these instruments are the ETS® Major Field Tests, Area Concentration Achievement Test, ETS Proficiency Profile, Student Instructional Report II, Student Satisfaction Inventory, National Survey of Student Engagement, College Senior Survey and other standardized assessment instruments.
In order to help synthesize assessment information across the institution, OSPIRE produces an annual report that summarizes programmatic changes that occur due to the usage of assessment results. The report is intended to be comprehensive and provide an accurate picture of the assessment activities/findings and use of results within the University.
Resources