Assessment for Improvement

Mission

The mission of the Office of Assessment is to support and assist programs across the university as they seek meaningful and continuous improvement annually.

Objectives

The key elements of continuous improvement through assessment at West Texas A&M University include:

1. Transparency in practice as we strive to transform students into upstanding citizens and forward thinking leaders.
2. Peer collaboration to create stronger, bolder student learning initiatives.
3. Strong focus on student learning which in turn drives student success.
4. Continuous program improvement focused on fulfilling the unit, program, department, and institutional mission.

Outcomes

The Director of Assessment will have a direct and annual impact on the following:

1. University assessment will strive to be flexible with regard to requirements, processes, and structure as programs, whether academic, non-academic, or student support centered, seek out continuous improvement.
2. The University Improvement Committee (UIC) as they strive to be strong visionaries and ambassadors for an ever growing culture of evidence and betterment at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU);
3. UIC members and other programs of influence who are banner participants in best practices for improvement on an annual basis.
4. Development of Executive Summary reports to be distributed to the Deans of Colleges for their individual colleges as well as to the Provost and President's offices that include the Core Curriculum (CORE) and General Learning Outcomes (GLOs) as part of Improvement for General Education coursework, and Academic Program Assessment.

Program Assessment and Improvement

To fulfill WT’s objectives for “Improvement in Action” , WT faculty create and maintain student learning outcomes for each academic program that offer an explanation of what students should know and be able to do as they graduate the university and begin their careers. Student learning outcomes (SLOs) for each academic program are listed in the Weave Portal where analysis for improvement can be conducted and recorded. The faculty assess student achievement of these outcomes and report the results annually to the Director of Assessment in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.

The program faculty provide their program assessment data in their annual reports. Faculty analyze the SLO results, and use them to examine the effectiveness of their programs. They then make changes as needed in an effort to improve student learning The Director of Assessment offers all programs feedback annually that also is stored in the Weave Portal with the hope that improvement of each program’s SLO’s can be achieved through analysis of measured results.

Definitions

Student Learning Outcome (SLO). A statement of what students should know and be able to do by the time they graduate from WT and/or complete an academic program.

Benchmark/Threshold of Acceptability. This is the acceptable percentage of students, who achieve a Student Learning Outcome, for faculty to consider the outcome met successfully. The Director of Assessment and the WT Improvement committee seek an initial suggested minimum threshold of 70%. As this benchmark is met, in an effort to continuously seek improvement, program faculty set higher percentages in place for the succeeding year.

Improvement. “Demonstrated increases in student knowledge, skills, and attitudes due to changes in the learning environment.” (Fulcher and Prendergast, 2021)

Methodology

Assessment Workbook. The purpose of this workbook is to assist Direct Supervisors, Program Coordinators, and other stakeholders in developing an assessment plan for an academic program, summarizing the assessment data results, and determining improvement points to implement.

Weave Assessment Management. Learning Assessment reporting is stored in the Weave Portal. Each program at the university has an annually assigned active folder for reporting purposes.

Weave Step-By-Step Guide. After receiving credentials, this guide will take direct supervisors and faculty through the process of recording annual assessment reporting in their active folder.

Fulcher, K.H. and C.O. Prendergast (2021). “Improving Student Learning at Scale; A How-to Guide for Higher Education”, Stylus Publishing, Sterling, Va

General Education

West Texas A&M University’s views the core curriculum as integral to its students' success. The competencies of the University’s general education program are comprised of the Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB).

THECB Texas Core Curriculum (TCC)

Every graduate of an undergraduate degree program at a public higher education institution in Texas must fulfill the Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) requirements established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). WTAMU’s Core Curriculum adheres to these requirements by providing students with opportunities to develop intellectual competence in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking that are "essential to the learning process in any discipline."

During 2011, the THECB revised the Texas Core Curriculum in an effort to incorporate 21st century competencies into the required components. In doing so, the Coordinating Board replaced the basic intellectual competencies and essential educational objectives with six Core Objectives:

• Critical Thinking Skills (CT) - to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information;
• Communication Skills (COM) - to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and visual communication;
• Empirical and Quantitative Skills (EQS) - to include manipulation and analysis of numerical data or observable facts resulting in informed conclusions;
• Teamwork (TW) - to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal;
• Social Responsibility (SR) - to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global communities; and,
• Personal Responsibility (PR) - to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making.

The TCC requires a minimum of 42 semester credit hours (SCH) of coursework in nine Foundational Component Areas that are mapped to the Core Objectives, as all courses in the TCC must be at the freshman or sophomore levels.

In preparation for implementation of the revised TCC in fall 2014, the University underwent a rigorous curricular review of its Core course offerings. At a policy level, the University sought to maintain the requirement that all students take a three-hour Communications course during their Core coursework. In order to fit within the newly adopted structure, the University shifted the second English course previously required to the Component Area Option. The University also increased the number of optional courses for students in the Component Area Option and raised the number of "elective" hours in this option from 1-3 under the previous Curriculum to 6 SCH in the new Core Curriculum.

As part of the curricular review process, a Core Curriculum Revision Committee was created in spring 2012 to review proposals for each course that would be included in the Core Curriculum, ensuring that each course complied with the new THECB Foundational Component Areas and required Core Objectives. The committee met during the spring and fall semesters in 2012, completing their recommendation of courses to be included in the core in November 2012. For each proposed course, academic programs were required to submit a common Core Curriculum Revision: Course Application Form, along with a syllabus for the course. The Course Application Form required programs to specify course learning objectives and applicable TCC Core Objectives, and to provide assessment methods to be incorporated. Internally approved courses were submitted to the THECB, as 95 courses were approved and comprised the current University Core Curriculum. New courses seeking approval for inclusion in the University’s Core Curriculum must follow the same documentation process when submitting formal requests to the Core Curriculum Committee for approval.

The Coordinating Board’s Table of Foundational Component Areas summarizes the interrelationship between the Foundational Component Areas and the Core Objectives, indicating which Foundational Component Areas must address specific Core Objectives. The alignment of the University’s Core Curriculum to THECB’s Core Objectives demonstrates, in part, that these general education outcomes are deemed to be at the college level.

To facilitate the transition to the new TCC, the Office of Learning Assessment has developed a schedule for assessing each of the six Core Objectives. With 2014-2015 serving as the first year of implementation for the revised TCC, WTAMU aligned the schedule of assessments with expectations expressed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Based on information provided by THECB, the Coordinating Board expects four-year public universities to assess each of the Core Objectives on a three-year rotation. The schedule outlined below conforms to, and exceeds the design by THECB, performing assessments of these outcomes over two-year cycles. Results of this assessment is recorded on an Institutional Effectiveness dashboard each semester. Depending on results of assessments conducted in accordance with this schedule, assessment may occur more frequently if data indicate areas of deficiency that need to be addressed.

Schedule of Assessments for Texas Core Curriculum

After the outcomes were vetted and consensus reached, the ad-hoc committees modified the appropriate VALUE rubrics that had been developed by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) for each core objective. These committees used the structure provided by the VALUE rubrics that are designed to assess student learning at the introductory, developing, and mastery levels.

Due to the far-reaching nature of the core objectivess, the University’s impact on student attainment of these learning outcomes is being measured through academic program assessments, as well as intentional and systematic efforts conducted by academic support and student services units on campus. Direct assessment methods being used with the SLOs include course-embedded assessments, portfolios, and licensing exams at the discretion of the faculty. Indirect methods incorporated into the assessment of core objectives include results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), service learning activities, participation in study abroad, exit surveys, and employer feedback. 

 Other Assessment Resources

WTAMU General Education (Core) Rubrics

A Toolkit of Assessment Methods: Multiple Approaches for Collecting Meaningful Data - Campus presentation made by Dr. Nathan Lindsay in September 2019

Building a Culture of Learning and Improvement - Campus presentation made by Dr. Nathan Lindsay in September 2019

A Toolbox of General Education Assessments - Campus presentation made by Dr. Nathan Lindsay in September 2019

Pushing Beyond Compliance: Seeking Meaningful Learning Improvement - Presentation made by Dr. Dan Stroud and Jarvis Hampton at IUPUI's Assessment Institute, September 2020

Building the Basics of a Program Improvement Narrative: A Simple Step by Step Guide - Campus presentation made by Dr. Dan Stroud in March 2021

Riding the Pig; Learning Improvement in a Post-Pandemic World - presented by Dr. Dan Stoud at TxAHEA, October 2022

Improvement in Action; Influencing an On the Go Data Culture - presented by Dr. Brooke DePue, Dr. Dan Stoud and Jarvis Hampton at SACSCOC, December 2022

Intervention and Improvement: Leveraging Feedback-Driven Assessment through Technological Innovations and Other Best Practices - presented by Dr. Dan Stoud and Jarvis Hampton at the Assessment Institute, October 2024

West Texas A & M Annual Assessment Cyclical Schedule