CTE Programs
A Little History
Cabrillo College began experimenting with assessing student learning outcomes in transfer, basic skills and occupational courses in 1999 with its summer Learner Outcomes Institute. When the new accreditation standards were approved in 2002, the Cabrillo Faculty Senate (composed of many summer Institute alumnae) took the lead in creating a process to assess student learning in all courses at Cabrillo. The Senate sought to create an assessment process that:
- Built on both the informal assessment that most Cabrillo faculty undertook of their own courses and the research and practical experiences of the Summer Institute.
- Provided opportunities for faculty to dialogue about the results.
After much research and debate, the Senate, in conjunction with the Vice President of Instruction, the Council on Instructional Planning, the Occupational Educational Council and the college Curriculum Committee, made four other key decisions that have shaped the assessment of CTE programs at Cabrillo:
- All CTE programs must define and assess student learning outcomes for every course, certificate and degree that they offer.
- Many CTE degrees are composed of the classes that are required for a certificate, plus the associate degree general education requirements. Career and Technical programs are responsible for assessing the SLOs for their certificates and courses. The SLOs for the general educational curriculum are the four college core comptencies and are specifically defined and assessed in general education courses (see Assessment of Transfer and Basic Skills Programs). It is unnecessary for CTE programs to develop and assess SLOs for associate degree GE requirements.
- The on-going six-year Program Planning process is used as the vehicle for this assessment process. Approximately twelve transfer, basic skills and CTE programs embark on Program Planning each year. Departments link their plans for improvement and budgetary requests to their assessment results.
- Though CTE programs are not responsible for assessing the GE courses that fulfill their degree requirements, while undergoing Program Planning, they must carefully examine those courses and dialogue with department that is offering them.
The Faculty Senate decided that CTE programs could design the assessment method that best suits their fields, rather than necessarily follow the methods it created for transfer and basic skills programs (see below). CTE departments were asked to complete an Assessment Plan which detailed which method they chose. This assessment process was implemented gradually from 2004-2008, tied to the Program Planning cycle.
After an initial pilot of the process in 2004, those departments going through program planning in a given year were asked to create a plan as well as write SLOs for courses and certificates.
Beginning in 2009, all departments were asked to complete the assessment of all of their course SLOs, certificate and degree SLOs and dialogue with GE departments. This cycle, discussed below, is known as the Revolving Wheel of Assessment.
The college has since further defined what it means by an academic program.
Assessment Methods
Individual CTE programs design an assessment process that suits their field. Assessment methods l vary. For some, analyzing board exam results or using the assessment process required by their outside accrediting agencies makes the most sense. For others, the course-embedded approach used by transfer and basic skills is more appropriate.
No matter what assessment method is used, faculty dialogue about the results in a department meeting, sharing their analysis of the results and ideas for improvement, including what assistance the department and college could provide to improve student learning and success.
Department Chairs record the results of this dialogue on a departmental Assessment Analysis form. In keeping with the Cabrillo's Assessment Philosophy that assessment is not "a means to evaluate individual faculty or staff," no individual instructor's name or results are recorded on the form. Instead the overall departmental results are summarized and its plans to improve teaching and learning are the main focus. These plans then form the basis for any funding requests and are attached to the department’s Program Plan and Annual Report.
After review and approval by the Council for Instructional Planning, the analysis forms are forwarded to the Outcomes Assessment Review Committee for further evaluation. In addition, the forms are posted on the Instruction Office website as part of the department's Program Plan.
Revolving Wheel of Assessment
The Revolving Wheel spreads course, certificate and degree SLO assessment over the six-year program planning cycle. Every course, certificate and degree SLO must be assessed at least once during that time.
Department Chairs schedule when this assessment occurs, and this may vary depending on the size of the program. Generally speaking, course SLOs are assessed during the first three years and certificate and degree SLOs during the next two years.
During the sixth year, while the Program Plan is being written, no assessment occurs. Instead, departmental faculty look again at the assessment results of the previous five years, using them to help form the basis for improvement plans and recommendations for the next six years.
The SLO section of a department's program plan asks it to describe what assessment has occurred, what the department learned as a result, the improvement plans it made as a result of that assessment and what it plans to do in the future. Funding requests, when applicable, must to tied to SLO assessment results.