ASSESSMENT FAQs
Department of English
Spring 2017
Q1. What is the purpose of academic assessment?
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), GSU’s accreditor, mandates that the university assess the effectiveness of all of its programs and degrees. The primary purpose of assessment is to give the department information about the strengths and weaknesses of its programs and degrees, to enable the department to improve them. A common misperception is that assessment is primarily a feedback mechanism for students. While students do receive their evaluations, (and in the case of senior portfolios the assessment is one of the student’s graduation requirements), the ratings are primarily for the department, not the student. Professional portfolios should be separated, at least conceptually if not actually, from assessment portfolios.
Q2. What needs to be assessed?
SACS requires that every program and degree must be assessed every year. In the English department, we assess every degree (B.A., M.A, M.F.A, Ph.D) offered in all four concentrations (Creative Writing, Literary Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, Secondary English). Best practices in assessment suggests that each degree program should be assessed twice (at appropriate gateway and capstone moments) in order to give a basis for measuring students’ growth.
Q3. How do we assess our students?
B.A.
· Each concentration performs its capstone assessment through the senior portfolio, which is compiled as part of the senior seminar, and includes both a selection of essays from throughout the student’s career and a self-reflective essay.
M.A./M.F.A.
· Each concentration performs a gateway assessment of the prospectus, now assessed by the M.A./M.F.A. thesis director.
· Each concentration performs a capstone assessment of the thesis, assessed by the advisor.
Ph.D.
· Each concentration performs a gateway assessment of the prospectus, assessed by the advisor after the prospectus defense.
· Each concentration performs a capstone assessment of the dissertation, assessed by the advisor and committee after the dissertation defense.
Q4. How do faculty record their assessment?
Faculty members assess undergraduate portfolios using Chalk and Wire. Those responsible for scoring portfolios will receive notices directly from Chalk and Wire regarding the students who have completed portfolios.
Faculty members assess graduate prospectuses, theses, and dissertations through the department’s online assessment website: https://englishweb.gsu.edu/assessment/ Copies of the assessment forms are available to consult or print through the “Graduate Documents” link on the department’s web page: http://english.gsu.edu/graduate/graduate_resources/graduate-documents/. Faculty should encourage students to register for assessment so that the students are in the system before they complete their projects.
Q5. What is the annual assessment cycle?
Assessment data are collected in all three semesters (Summer, Fall, and Spring). Senior Portfolios are collected by the Director of Undergraduate Studies and must be evaluated by two faculty members before the end of the semester in which they were collected. Ph.D. prospectuses and dissertations and MA theses are assessed after the defense and accumulated on a rolling basis. All assessment forms must be completed by August 15.
Once the data are collected, the Assessment Policy Committee will review them and determine whether there are any targets that have not been met. If there are unmet targets (i.e., learning outcomes where students scored lower than the target we set), the committee should then discuss what measures should be taken to improve that part of the relevant program. The measures to be taken can then be reported as action plans. The Assessment Coordinator (Audrey Goodman) submits a collective short report to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness by October 1. Long reports, with more extensive reflection and action plans, are now reported every three years. We submitted our last long report on May 1, 2017.
Q6. How do Directors and Staff coordinate assessment?
For students in Literary Studies and Creative Writing, the Undergraduate Studies Assistant (Heather Russel) works with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Stephen Dobranski) to determine a cycle of faculty members to assess senior portfolios, and ensure that faculty members have completed rating their assigned portfolios. Faculty members in Rhetoric and Composition and Secondary English currently coordinate their own assessment of senior portfolios in their concentrations. All faculty are responsible for sharing the work of evaluating undergraduate portfolios.
The Graduate Studies Assistant (Jody Brooks) and the Director of Graduate Studies (Chris Kocela) communicate with thesis/dissertation advisors to ensure that they perform their assessments. The Graduate Director will not sign theses and dissertation forms unless assessment has been completed.