Accreditation, SLOs and You What are the patient outcomes or Will the patient survive Facilitators:

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Accreditation, SLOs and You What are the
patient outcomes? or Will the patient survive?
Facilitators Janet Fulks and Phillip Maynard

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• Self analysis and evaluation are essential to
  good health.
• How do you take your institutional vital signs?
• Who makes the diagnosis and writes up the
  treatment plan?
• Accreditation provides the perfect opportunity to
  diagnose and heal chronic problems.
• SLO and outcomes provide a health check on our
  curriculum and programs.
• These essential processes are areas of faculty
  primacy they need to be understood and driven by
  faculty leadership through the local senate.
• What is the blood pressure and temperature on
  your campus?

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Accreditation

• What it is and What it is NOT!
• Handout with summary of 2002 Standards
• National scene and efforts to support
  accreditation
• Look at the recent Accreditation Actions handout
  it is not business as usual
• Review of the annual report that now requires
  reporting on SLOs

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ACCJC Annual Report
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Accreditation

• What it can provide for an institution if faculty
  are involved - Vital Signs
• Do and Donts
• A means to get things done the lever or the
  hammer
• Importance of campus wide involvement.

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Why Student Learning Outcomes Assessment?
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What is Student Learning Outcomes Assessment?

• An ONGOING process to
• Understand student learning
• Set appropriate criteria and high standards for
  learning quality
• Collect evidence that makes learning visible
• Document and improve performance
• ONGOING Assessment
• Prompts deep learning for students, faculty, and
  the institution

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So Who Owns SLO Assessment? Not Accreditation!

• Accreditation simply validates that SLO
  Assessment is
• Locally appropriate and meaningful
• Crafted to institutional culture
• Enables diverse student populations to succeed
• Identifies what is meaningful to our campuses

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Who Owns SLO Assessment?Not Administration!

• They enable and help implement
• Faculty collaborate and cooperate with
  administration
• SLO Assessment is important to curriculum and
  programs -- Faculty must lead
• Local senates must support SLO Assessment
• See handout with resolutions and Assessment
  Philosophy Statements

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Benefits of Assessment
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Benefits of Assessment

• .

Kearsley, G. (2003).   http//tip.psychology.org/f
eedback.html
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Benefits of Assessment

• Assessment motivates and invigorates dialogue
  between

• Faculty Students
• Faculty Administration
• Faculty and Faculty
• Institutions and their Boards

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SLO Coordinators

• Over 100 faculty
• Various levels of training and experience
• Heavy workload with varied reassign
• Varied knowledge of governance
• Very few explicit job descriptions
• Selection process very murky
• Some supported by Senates and some not
• THEY NEED YOUR HELP!
• -

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ACCJC Annual Report
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SLO Coordinator Role

• Must be a faculty lead
• Lead a shared responsibility
• Must work cooperatively with the administrators
  and staff

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Who chooses them and who do they report to?

• Board
• College President
• Vice President of Instruction
• Senate
• Curriculum
• Program Review

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ACCJC Annual Report

• These same questions must be filled in for
• Courses (As above)
• Certificates and Degrees
• General Education
• Instructional Support
• Student Services

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Accreditation and Assessment can

• Link educational tracks
• Create cohesive student pathways
• Encourage interdisciplinary discussions

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Assessment can

• Help students think about their own learning
• Create deep long-lasting learning
• Target skills, values and behaviors not JUST
  content

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Faculty and Assessment

• Classroom assessment is the purest form of
  assessment-for-improvement, because the
  information gleaned can be immediately used to
  improve teaching and learning the further away
  from the individual classroom you get, the harder
  it becomes to turn assessment data into useable
  information (Miller, 1997)

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Assessment Done Right
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Faculty and Assessment

• Faculty are NOT motivated to do assessment
  because of accreditation.
• Faculty ARE motivated to do assessment
• to see measurable improvement
• to discover what works and what does not
• To produce consistency and fairness in grading

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Assessment in Action

• Grass Roots Approach to Change
• Nichols Model Focuses on Faculty Ownership of the
  Process
• Nichols Model Extends Outcomes Assessment Beyond
  Academic Departments (SLOs)
• into Service Units (AUOs)

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Mt SAC Steering Committee Creates SLOs/AUOs
Implementation Plan Framework

• Grass Roots Approach to Change
• Campus-Wide Participation
• Clear Roles for All Constituents
• Integration of SLOs with Existing
• Processes
• Variety of Communication Methods
• Financial Support

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Mt SAC Develops Clear Roles for All Constituents

• Board ratifies implementation plan
• President approves implementation plan and
  assesses AUOs in his office
• Presidents Advisory Council advises President on
  implementation plan
• Institutional Effectiveness Committee assesses
  progress toward goals through SLOs/AUOs
• Vice Presidents assess AUOs in their areas
• Deans/Managers assess AUOs in their
  divisions/units
• Academic Senate approves plan and supports
  faculty participation
• Faculty/Staff assess SLOs/AUOs in disciplines
  and units
• Faculty/Staff SLOs/AUOs Implementation Team
  Members and Researcher facilitate assessment in
  departments/units

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Mt SAC SLOs/AUOs Integrated with Existing
Processes

• Annual Program Review Process (Planning for
  Institutional Effectiveness)
• Annual Review of Governance and Operational
  Committees
• Institutional Effectiveness Efforts

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Mt SAC Communication Methods

• SLOs Coordinator Communicates to Campus through
• Updates on
• SLOs web site
• Campus Update Spread sheets
• SLOs/AUOs newsletters
• Appearances in
• Teams/Divisions/Units
• Institutional Effectiveness Committee
• Curriculum and Instruction Council
• Classified Senate
• Reports to
• Academic Senate
• Presidents Advisory Council

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Financial Support

• Board Approves Financial Support for
  Implementation Plan
• 2004-07
• 220 Released Time for Faculty Facilitators and
  Coordinator in Implementation Phase
• 2005-06
• Educational Research Assessment Analyst Position
• Trac Dat Software System Purchase
• Funds for Workshops/Staff Development
• 2007-Ongoing
• 100 Released Time for Institutionalized Faculty
  SLOs and Gen Ed Coordinator Positions
• Funds for Workshops/ Staff Development

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Final Note

• Be Prepared Changes in faculty and
  administrative leadership may require adjustments
  to the implementation plan
• Be Aware This will not be the only major
  initiative on campus!
• Be Flexible Modifications to plan components
  may be necessary before, during, and after
  implementation
• Be Patient Revolutionary change takes time!

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Who Owns SLO Assessment and Accreditation?

• YOU must you own your own course and program
• YOUR CAMPUS must own their own institutional
  outcomes, processes, and self study report
• YOUR SENATE must take the lead in the
  accreditation self study, support and help define
  the SLO coordinator position and committee

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• Thank You
• Questions???