The goal of student learning outcomes assessment at American River College is to improve student learning through an assessment process which:
Respects faculty workload,
Relies on faculty expertise,
Meets the needs of a large college,
Has built-in flexibility,
Integrates with existing processes,
Practices shared governance when developing new procedures, and
Meets or exceeds accreditation standards.
The information provided on this website is intended to familiarize you with ARC’s overall approach to SLO assessment and to provide you with the specific knowledge and resources required to successfully engage in ARC’s SLO Assessment Program.
What are Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)?
Student Learning Outcomes, objectives, and goals are terms that are variously used by many institutions in a wide variety of ways. At ARC, we have chosen to use a specific interpretation. Student learning outcomes can be categorized in terms of what students should know or be able to do when they have successfully completed a course, program, certificate, or degree. They can generally be prefaced by … “the student will be able to” SLOs are one component of the educational process available to students at any level. SLOs are directly measurable skills or knowledge that students gain through successfully completing their classes. They stand beside student learning experiences and demonstrated behaviors, neither of which are as easily quantified / measured, but which are never-the-less important parts of the educational process.
Where can you find Course SLOs?
Course SLOs can be found in the official course outline of record within Socrates, Los Rios’ Curriculum management system. Socrates can be accessed by clicking on the Intranet link on ARC’s insider page, inside.arc.losrios.edu. Course SLOs are also listed in the official college catalog, and faculty are strongly encourage to include them in their course syllabi.
How are Course SLOs assessed at American River College?
Each student’s achievement of the SLOs for each course is assessed on a continual and routine basis by each professor in each class that they teach; this is done as part of their professional practices. Each year, faculty document student achievement for a randomly assigned course SLO using the Authentic Assessment Review Record, which involves a review of student work demonstrating achievement of the course SLO.
What happens after the student achievement of SLOs are assessed at American River College?
ARC faculty continuously uses assessment results to plan for improvement. As part of our professional duties as a faculty, we are constantly looking for ways to make improvements in our own classes. In addition, each department is tasked with reviewing the results of their aggregate achievement; using this information to look for ways to improve student achievement. Departmental efforts are documented using the SLO Departmental Action Plan (2018-2019) or as part of Annual Unit Planning (beginning in 2019-2020). The Departmental Action Plan/Annual Unit Plan takes into account any departmental requests for action (e.g., curriculum actions, professional development, resource requests) based on the SLO assessment results. In the Annual Unit Plan, these actions will also be aligned with the college’s strategic plan goals and objectives.
At ARC, how do we know our efforts to improve student learning are successful?
We document that our plans for improvement are carried out via the Implementation Report (2018-2019). Going forward (2019-2020), this will be accomplished via the Annual Unit Plan.