The student learning assessment at Wagner College is a campus wide initiative which collectively engages and organizes the assessment efforts of the campus community. The Assessment Infrastructure is designed to:

• Coordinate all assessment activities related to student learning and to accreditation.
• Maintain and further Wagner College’s long term assessment plan.
• Provide analysis of institutional progress on the initiative.
• Provide ongoing support for department based assessment activities.

The Players Involved

Assessment Consultants: Select members of the faculty and administration well versed in assessments that are used as a resource for various aspects of the assessment initiative.

Committee on Learning Assessment: Faculty elected committee representing the five divisions of the campus: sciences, humanities, arts, professional programs, and social sciences that communicate and connect the faculty to the national/campus wide conversations on assessment.

External Assessment Consultant: Professional consultant to be invited to campus throughout the accreditation specifically for assessment consultation.

Faculty Departmental Assessment Coordinators: Each department’s point person responsible for organizing assessment data and reports.

Graduate Assistant: Aids both provost and associate provost in all aspects of assessment specifically with communication and outreach.

Provost and Associate Provost: Responsible for overseeing the assessment initiative as a whole.

Assessment

An Overview

Writing Assessment Project (WAP)

* About the WAP: To assess student development of college-level writing skills, the Writing Assessment Project was begun during the 2000-2001 academic year. For this project, annual cohorts of first-semester freshmen are followed throughout their Wagner College years. Copies of each participant's formal writing are collected during each academic year and assessed each May by a group of faculty members and administrators. Using a common rubric with clearly stated criteria devised by faculty from the English and Education departments, and the Director of the Writing Center, at least two evaluators read and rate each paper, with a third assessment in case of disagreement. The results are presented for discussion to the entire faculty as a whole. [1]

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

* About NSSE: The National Survey of Student Engagement(NSSE) is designed to obtain, on an annual basis, information from scores of colleges and universities nationwide about student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development. The results will provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. Survey items on The National Survey of Student Engagement represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college. [2]

Critical Thinking for Civic Thinking (CT²)

* About CT²: As part of a recently funded National Science Foundation grant involving four institutions of higher education, selected faculty at Wagner College are participating in a project designed to investigate (1) the relationship between critical thinking and civic thinking, (2) how to improve critical thinking and civic thinking in students using already existing courses, and (3) how to directly assess any improvement in critical thinking and civic thinking skills.

Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA)

* About CLA: The CLA begins with conceptions of collegiate quality that are based on improvements in student learning, with three key elements serving as the project’s foundation: the institution, value added, and campus comparisons.
Institution The CLA uses the institution (rather than the individual student) as the primary unit of analysis. This means that the focus is on how the institution as a whole contributes to student development. Therefore, the CLA does not present another high-stakes test for individual students, but rather it aggregates the information to better understand the institution’s role in promoting learning.
Value Added The CLA focuses on the value added provided by colleges and universities. When institutional quality is based solely on the students’ scores on entrance examinations, there is no way to know what was learned after they matriculated; again, when student ability is only measured upon graduation, there is no way to determine the students’ relative growth without knowing their starting point. It is only by comparing what students know when they start college with what they know when they finish that it is possible to assess the learning that actually occurred while in college.
Comparisons This approach also allows for inter-institutional comparisons of overall value added. CLA results can be combined with institutional data to determine factors that promote student learning and growth. [3]

Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP)

* About CIRP: Each year, approximately 700 two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities administer the Freshman Survey to over 400,000 entering students during orientation or registration. The survey covers a wide range of student characteristics: parental income and education, ethnicity, and other demographic items; financial aid; secondary school achievement and activities; educational and career plans; and values, attitudes, beliefs, and self-concept.[4]

Departmental Outreach Project

* About the Departmental Outreach Project: Throughout the spring term of 2007, the Committee for Learning Assessment in collaboration with the Office of the Provost met with each academic department to discuss learning assessment. A rubric was designed to be used as the tool for “assessing the assessment” and each program determined their current status using the rubric. There were three areas of the departmental learning assessment process which were assessed: assessment plan, results, and cycle completion.

Assessment/Accreditation Timeline

Click here to access the timeline of activities related to the assessment as it relates to the Middle States Accreditation Process. Also refer to our Accreditation site.

Wagner College's Self-Study Team (Infrastructure with Committees)

Click  here to see the infrastructure with committees for Wagner College's Self-Study Team as it pertains to the Middle States Accreditation Process.

Accreditation

Wagner College is working toward its 2011 accreditation with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The information contained within this site supports the progress Wagner College is making towards this goal. Assessment of student learning is an ongoing commitment at Wagner College. It is integrally embedded into the  our campus culture as well as the accreditation process. For further information about Wagner College's Assessment efforts, please refer to the Assessment Initiative link. For further information on the accreditation efforts, please contact Dr. Jeffrey Kraus, Associate Provost, jkraus@wagner.edu.

Self Study Infrastructure and Committees