General Education Core:  Overview of Assessment

Program assessment is essential to ensure that our programs meet professional standards, continue to improve toward academic excellence, strengthen our various higher learning accreditation requirements, and best serve our students.
(Examples of best practices or "hallmarks of success" from the April 2009 Higher Learning Commission Annual Meeting)

Student mastery of the baccalaureate General Education Core competencies is to be achieved and demonstrated in the senior capstone course. 

                                            Undergraduate Core Competencies

Along with the four core competencies, Information Literacy is an essential skill that supports each of the baccalaureate competencies and must permeate every component of the General Education Core.  Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information.  It enables learners to master content and extend their investigations, become more self-directed, and assume greater control over their own learning.
                     

Rubrics

The General Education Coordinating Committee has transformed the definitions of the four Baccalaureate Competencies and information literacy into General Education Core Templates Rubrics.  These are qualitative and quantitative ways to gauge — on a university-wide level — student achievement of the competencies.  Faculty may elect to use the templates as written, or to use them as guides to develop discipline-specific rubrics for the capstone.  The General Education Coordinating Committee showcases exemplary discipline-specific rubrics to provide guidance to faculty as they continue to work to refine their rubrics.  A directory of rubric examples and a source list of rubric links can also help in defining or improving assessment tools.

                                       General Education Core Assessment Process

University Data Gathering

The University compiles the results for each capstone assessment rubrics at the University and at the college level:

• The number of students assessed per capstone

• The average scores of each competency

• The percentage of students per capstone who have achieved adequacy or greater, and the percentage of students who have achieved less than adequate scores on each baccalaureate competency

• Faculty comments and suggestions for assessing the baccalaureate competencies

General Education Core Continuous Improvement Plan

Data from the capstone assessment will be reviewed in annual college assessment meetings.  These meetings will offer an opportunity for the Vice Provost for Assessment and Student Learning to meet with an appropriate mix of college faculty and administrators to generate ideas for continuous program improvement:

1.  Review the General Education assessment data collected in each college including a commentary on the data’s  validity and accuracy.

2.  Identify and review additional evidence of student achievement of the baccalaureate competencies including results from employer surveys, NSSE, service learning, and data gathered for professional accreditation reports.

3.  Review assessment results and identify areas of concern and of best practice.

4.  Review college specific plans for future data gathering.  This may include reviewing General Education curricular maps, collecting formative assessment data from additional General Education courses and experiences, and identifying opportunities for specific and relevant faculty development, especially with regard to the design and use of rubrics.

5.  Identify priorities for improving the General Education experience for UC undergraduates including changes in pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment.

Annual Review Report

After all college meetings are completed, a University General Education Core assessment report is shared with senior capstone course faculty, designated General Education Core faculty representatives, and appropriate college administrators.  All assessment reports are posted each year on the General Education Core web site.