{"id":1601,"date":"2026-07-21T16:21:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T21:21:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/?page_id=1601"},"modified":"2026-08-04T09:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:02:08","slug":"decennial-assessment-plan-example-strategies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/decennial-assessment-plan-example-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Decennial Assessment Plan Example Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For each of the questions below, which appear in the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1OI_3n-3Wah_S0QJZDj8Re3pJGrGI7Afjva9rmzGi9Oc\/edit?tab=t.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Decennial Assessment Plan Template<\/a>, we offer potential strategies for departments and programs to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:24px\">What are the key findings from the program review, as they relate to assessment of student learning?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Introductory courses are not accessible to a broad range of students from different backgrounds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students feel unprepared for Level-III writing assignments and feel they need more writing instruction in level-II courses (This example might apply also to analytical skills, broad or specialized knowledge, etc.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The department\u2019s methods for assessing student learning from capstone papers has been effective, and the practice should be continued.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students are unable to identify the difference between a data set and a summary statistic table (This example might apply to various types of disciplinary tools or knowledge).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The department\u2019s practice of having students write reflections in level III courses on the connections between courses has meaningfully contributed to assessment of student learning, and should be continued.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The department should expand offerings related to global societal challenges. (This example might apply to various curricular changes suggested by external review).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coursework should include more examples that are sensitive to issues facing minoritized communities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Students are not connecting concepts across different courses in the major.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:24px\">What are your department\/program ILOs (Intended Learning Outcomes)? Does your department see the need to revise your ILOs in light of recent findings?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Good reasons to adjust ILOs:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ILOs are out-of-date or not right for the major anymore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ILOs represent a good learning goal, but are not readily assessable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ILO language is unclear or inaccessible to students.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This link will take you to the <a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/curriculum-committee\/ilo-all\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ILOs for all departments and programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:24px\">What changes to the curriculum do you anticipate making in response to your last program review?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Adjust the requirements for the major to include a course that requires a research project using data, in order to ensure that students have experience interpreting data.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Add a course that focuses on Asian philosophy in order to broaden the international scope of course offerings for students.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Incorporate a once-a-year department meeting agenda item for the faculty teaching advanced courses to discuss issues of preparedness for students entering those courses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Update the ILOs to include a focus on digital literacy within the major.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:24px\">What methods and\/or strategies have you used to assess student learning in the past? What changes to those assessment strategies, if any, do you anticipate?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Direct Assessment Examples:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use a rubric to evaluate portfolios of three writing samples students submit in the middle of their senior year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Faculty who teach upper-level courses periodically evaluate the preparedness of students for encountering content in those courses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Administering an assessment instrument (mini test) to second-semester seniors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">Indirect Assessment Examples:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Questionnaire about students\u2019 understanding of their own development.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:24px\">Please provide your year-by-year proposed schedule of ILO assessment between now and your next program review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/decennial-assessment-cycle\/\">The Decennial Assessment Cycle resources page<\/a> contains some examples of Decennial Assessment Plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For each of the questions below, which appear in the Decennial Assessment Plan Template, we offer potential strategies for departments and programs to consider. What are the key findings from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1601","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1601"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1704,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1601\/revisions\/1704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/assessment-committee\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}