This page is also available as a PDF, prepared by the Office of Institutional Research and Program Assessment.
The purpose of this section is to provide an assessment framework for academic and administrative departments that support institutional resources and provide services for students. Assessment leads to the effective use of institutional resources and student support services. The assessment framework provided here enables academic and administrative departments to develop assessments for:
- Department Annual Reports
- CUNY Central Reports
- Federal and State Reports
- Accreditation Reports
- Grant Proposals
- Middle States Commission on Higher Education Self-Study
- Other reports requiring assessment.
Assessment is a process that involves:
- Relating your mission, resources, and activities to measurable outcomes
- Systematically collecting and analyzing data to determine to whether and to what extent outcomes have been achieved
- Using the data results to identify strengths and weaknesses of your Program/Unit and
- Implementing improvement strategies.
Assessment differs from annual reporting.
- Annual reports focus on inputs (resources invested and activities undertaken). Assessment reports focus on outcomes (what participants know and are able to do).
- Assessment focuses on processes, program components and aggregate outcomes, and not on individual staff or student performance.
- Annual reports list resources, activities, services and successful outcomes. It is not clear how program goals are aligned with the wider goals of the College. It is difficult to identify strengths and weaknesses of specific components, activities, services, and what students actually learned as a result of program interventions.
- Annual reports that do include some form of data analysis usually do so because of federal or state reporting requirements. They do not lead to strategies to improve program implementation.
See also: