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Summary from the 2001 Annual Meeting Conference for Departmental Chairs on Program Assessment

The second session during the 2001 Conference for Chairs addressed program assessment offering advice on conducting assessment and highlighting trends in program assessment. Requirements for program assessment continue to increase especially for public colleges and universities that are subject to state mandates. Objectives, strategies and tools for assessment are evolving as more institutions and departments implement assessment and examine the practices used and their impact on the distribution of resources, curricula design, faculty evaluation and student learning. The roundtable was the third Conference for Chairs session on program assessment. This topic to be revisited periodically through the conference in the coming years as more departments and faculty conduct assessment and more reports on experience will be available.

Elizabeth Moulds, Vice President of California State University, Sacramento and Executive Director of the Western Political Science Association, reviewed the demands for accountability on the part of the California State University System. Accrediting agencies, state legislatures and university governing boards want accountability from public universities. Political science has not been in the forefront in interpreting assessment objectives and designing procedures. In most departments, assessment is regarded as a lot of work unlikely to be worth doing. Dr. Moulds referred to her Assessment Plan for the Department of Sociology during the session.

Vicki Golich, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Faculty Center at California State University, San Marcos and chair of the roundtable, reported on her special expertise in the design and tools for faculty leadership in assessment. She advised faculty to think about assessment as something that they do as a regular part of their job and to choose techniques that are multi-purposed and compatible with their work as educators and researchers. Assessment should be ongoing and focused on what is taught, how students learn, and how faculty can enhance learning. Criteria for assessing student learning should be clear, public, and with high expectations. Evidence about student learning should be gathered systematically.

J. Theodore Anagnoson, former chair of the Department of Political Science at California State University, Los Angeles, described his department's assessment tools as a means to determine "value added" for students. These compare sophomore and senior performance and include questions from the GRE and the Civics NAEP. He reported that faculty and departments should expect this to be time consuming work.

Recommendations for Departments
Elizabeth Moulds suggests that departments should avoid viewing assessment as being imposed on them. Rather, departments could benefit by being proactive in response to assessment by building it into what they do, seeking support for faculty and staff time and rewards for the faculty involved.

She described the portfolio approach that uses portfolios of representative student work--performance at all grade levels--from core courses. The Department of Sociology at California State University, Sacramento is using this approach productively. Examine the assessment plans, assessment resources and portfolio strategies of all academic programs (including political science) at California State University, Sacramento by visiting the following web pages: California State University Sacramento, Assessment And Accountability For Learning and California State University, Sacramento, Program Assessment Portfolios.

Ted Anagnoson said that faculty and graduate assistants who examine student performance should be given release time. Information about the program assessment process in the political science department at California State University Los Angeles was to be available online.

Vicki Golich gave APSA staff a copy of the power point presentation she offers on assessment along with a bibliography on assessment. She identified the following books and the University of Colorado web site as particularly good references for comprehending and conducting an assessment.

Angelo, T.A. and K.P. Cross. 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. 2nd Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Diamond, R.M. 1998. Designing and Assessing Courses & Curricula: A Practical Guide. Revised Edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Walvoord, B.E. and V.J. Anderson. 1998. Effective Grading: A Tool for Learning and Assessment. 1998. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Political Science Chairs Respond
The majority of participants' remarks challenged assessment mandates, their costs and their usefulness in informing program development and reform. These comments from participating chairs echoed Elizabeth Moulds observations about political scientists views about assessment. Demands for measures of "student outcomes" are the most problematic interpretation of assessment. Some departments use external evaluations by faculty at departments with well regarded programs for assessment Harvey Starr, University of South Carolina, suggested that APSA maintain a collection of plans, research and results about assessment and possibly of items for determining student outcomes.