Report to the Faculty Senate on Outcome Assessment
Fall 1999
by Joyce E. Jentoft, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies

I am pleased to report that most of the academic units of the University have become engaged in using outcome assessment for the purpose of improving their educational efforts. Reflective of the various "cultures" of education across the University, of the creativity of our faculty and of the differing educational goals, these efforts are non-uniform except in their goal of improving the educational offerings provided to students. Those engaged in our outcome assessment efforts have taken seriously the challenge of improving the learning environment on the CWRU campus.

The purposes of periodic reports to the Faculty Senate on the school and college outcome assessment activities are to stimulate campus-wide awareness and interest and to provide a forum for sharing ideas about approaches to and uses of outcome assessment across campus.

My oral report will briefly summarize the efforts underway in the college and schools. The appendix to this report contains the full reports from each unit. The chair of the outcome assessment committee for each academic unit is also included in the appendix; they are contacts for more information about each program. I hope you will look at the appendix as a resource that can be shared with your departments as each of you thinks about the best way to use outcome assessment to improve the learning environment for your students.

• Case School of Engineering: Efforts are underway to develop tools to assess the success of the revision of the undergraduate engineering curriculum, now in its second year. At the same time, the faculty have been challenged with identifying distinctive features of a CSE education and determining whether those features are being successfully transmitted. The features are: mastery of the fundamentals of engineering, creativity, leadership skills, professionalism, and societal awareness. The easy piece to measure is the fundamentals; the intangibles are much more difficult to specify and to measure. In the iterative development of the new curriculum, new courses are assessed by telling the students at the outset what the objective is and the reason for taking the course, and asking at the end of the course, whether the objectives have been met.
• College of Arts and Sciences: Each department has been charged with developing an outcome assessment policy, and has the responsibility of reporting on progress for implementation of their policy in their annual report to the Dean. College-wide efforts have focussed on how to assess an undergraduate education, and conversations are continuing on that effort. A pilot program is underway to assess the development of student's writing skills as they progress through their undergraduate years.
• Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing: An outcome assessment plan is being developed, but has not yet been approved by the faculty.
• Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences: An assessment-based learning approach is being implemented this year for a volunteer group of 42 first year students in the Masters program. These students will use faculty-led learning groups to develop ability statements, academic portfolios and self assessment tools to integrate information and experiences of their graduate education. The progress of these students in meeting educational goals will be studied via an approved human subjects protocol.
• Physical Education: The department identified the desired outcome for students participating in physical education activities, and developed a survey (enclosed in the appendix) as their assessment instrument for evaluation.
• School of Dentistry: The Dental School's program, initiated in 1995, is undergoing major revisions in response to new expectations from the Joint Commission on Dental Education. The school plans to implement a more streamlined and concise list of outcomes and goals beginning in January 2000 so they will have a one year cycle upon which to report when they go up for re-accreditation in 2002. They plan to have a more central data collection system and select fewer areas for measurement, ones that are proving to be more useful in their evaluation of performance.
• School of Graduate Studies: A survey focused on the quality of the educational experience is requested of every graduate. The same survey is mailed to 5- and 10-year alumni. The survey results are shared with every program director and dean as a way to encourage improvement of the graduate educational experience. A copy of the survey is included in the appendix.
• School of Law: Recent attention has been focused on early identification of students who need extra help in being successful in classes and in passing the Bar exam. The School of Law has had a mandate of instilling skills and values into its students, and has integrated values into all courses, including, for example, ethical dilemmas into case discussions. The School of Law can serve as a valuable resource for others who are struggling with how to do assessment of values.
• School of Medicine: Two major measurements of successful medical education are results on the United States Medical Licensing Exam and the match between student's choices for residency placement and their placement assignments. The medical curriculum is under revision, moving toward a integrated approach across all four years of medical school. Simultaneously, the focus of evaluation is directed toward mastery of (stated) learning objectives.
• Weatherhead School of Management: Outcome assessment of incoming and outgoing MBA students has been a core component of the program. Outcome assessment studies on other programs are also conducted. Currently, longitudinal studies are under way regarding the EMBA and EDM programs. Richard Boyatzis is a recognized expert on assessment and as such, is wonderful resource for the University on these issues.

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