Assessment Framework

While there are many important reasons to engage in assessment, the following are most fundamental from the Providence College perspective:

• Identifying Purpose — determining how actions help to  fulfill institutional and departmental mission

• Building Evidence — generating evidence-based answers to questions such as: "Are we doing what we say we do?" and "Are we doing well what we say we do?"

• Formal Linking of Mission, Goals, and Outcomes — connecting purpose and performance

• Regional Accreditation/Governmental Mandates — responding to external demands; e.g., NEASC identified assessment as an area for significant improvement during the College’s 1997 accreditation review and an area for continued improvement during the College's 2007 comprehensive visit

• Competition — providing constituents with evidence of success and positive outcomes

Assessment Process

1. Develop/articulate mission (based on College Mission)
2. Develop outcomes (based on mission)
3. Develop measurements (based on outcomes)
4. Conduct measurements
5. Evaluate, interpret, and report results/Identify necessary improvements
6. Execute improvements
7. Repeat steps 4-7, continuously; review steps 1-3, periodically

Assessment Methods

The following is a list of some commonly used assessment methods:

• Examinations, commercially-available or self-developed, that test general knowledge or abilities
• Formal evaluations of work (e.g., presentations, papers, personal vision statements, reflections, other) determined using standards that reflect intended outcomes (e.g., rubrics)
• Portfolios
• Focus groups and/or interviews
• Surveys/Questionnaires
• Alumni surveys
• Document analyses
• Statistical analyses
• Service Counts
• External Consultants/Reviews
• Benchmarking

Frameworks for Synthesizing Data

• Strengths - Challenges - Directions
• Foundations - Transformations - Outcomes