We assess our students across knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions. Knowledge and skills are assessed through course assignments, internship evaluations, a Comprehensive Exam, and professional portfolio. Dispositions are assessed through annual student reviews by faculty. Below is a summary of our review of these data and any subsequent programmatic changes.
Knowledge
We assess student knowledge across each of the eight CACREP common areas (Professional Orientation, Social & Cultural Diversity, Human Growth and Development, Career Development, Helping Relationships, Group Counseling, Assessment and Testing, and Research and Program Evaluation), as well as for each specialty program. Course assignment data are reviewed during our annual Data Review meeting prior to the start of the Fall term, while comprehensive exam scores are assessed in the Spring. Upon reviewing these data after the 2020/2021 academic year, we are pleased to report that the majority of these scores were strong, indicating that students were adequately demonstrating knowledge in the assessed areas. We did, however, determine that the following programmatic changes were indicated:
Better calibration of assessment rubrics across all instructors using them (especially adjunct instructors), due to lack of variation in some assignment scores.
Changes to the wording and/or content for three comprehensive exam questions due to poor psychometric properties.
Skills
We assess student skills across each of the eight CACREP common areas (Professional Orientation, Social & Cultural Diversity, Human Growth and Development, Career Development, Helping Relationships, Group Counseling, Assessment and Testing, and Research and Program Evaluation), as well as for each specialty program. Course assignments and internship evaluation data are reviewed during our annual Data Review meeting prior to the start of the Fall term. Overall, these data indicated strong skills acquisition among our students, though we did note the following with regard to changes indicated from our evaluation:
Better calibration of assessment rubrics across all instructors using them (especially adjunct instructors), due to lack of variation in some assignment scores.
Evaluation of some internship evaluation items to improve face validity based on site supervisor feedback.
Dispositions
We assess professional dispositions through our annual student reviews conducted by core faculty. The dispositions we assess are communicated to and expected of all students in the College of Education. The dispositions we assess are: academic progress, professionalism, interpersonal and intrapersonal awareness, and commitment to learning and growth. Students are assessed each year of their program of study (three times total). In reviewing this data for the 2020/2021 academic year, we noted no programmatic changes were indicated, as scores were generally high and improved during each year. We did, however, generate several ideas for improvement, namely:
Considering curricular changes that would create introductory coursework for students to complete early in their programs related to dispositions, especially as they relate to multicultural and intersectional awareness.
Considering changes to the definition and assessment of "professionalism", a word which carries cultural significance and may bias our reviews in favor of students with dominant culture identities.