Each academic program must develop and maintain an active Assessment Plan, which documents how the program measures and assesses student achievement of their program student learning outcomes (PSLOs). 

• All non-accredited programs should use our updated Assessment Plan Template to develop an assessment plan for assessing all PSLOs.  The PSLOs included in the assessment plan should be the same PSLOs that are published in the catalog.  At least one direct measure per outcome is required (i.e., rubric items, exam items, internship evaluation items, etc.).  Additional measures (direct and/or indirect) are recommended.
• To support student success efforts, the Assessment Plan template also instructs programs to identify one student success outcome they are focusing on for continuous improvement.  Depending on program needs, programs may focus on recruitment, retention, time-to-completion, or graduation rates.  In addition to an existing institutional measure of the outcome, programs should include one additional measure that provides insight into issues related their selected student success outcome and efforts to improve that outcome.
• Accredited programs may use their assessment plan documentation included in their most recent self-study, as long as the assessment plan documentation includes valid and reliable measures for all PSLOs and an assessment schedule for assessing all PSLOs within 3 years. 

NOTE: All rubrics, test items, and other measures must be included either in the Measures section or in the Appendix of the Assessment Plan.  Please include all items in one document (do not upload multiple documents).  The only exception is for the curriculum map - this may be submitted as a separate file.

Review this checklist to ensure all criteria are met for Assessment Plan approval.

For new or modified programs submitting a Curriculog proposal, please follow the process described here.

Changes to existing Assessment Plans: If your program is modifying the outcomes and/or measures in an approved assessment plan, please use the updated Assessment Plan template to update your assessment plan. When you have a draft completed, please email it to assessment@kennesaw.edu for review and approval. Changes to an asssessment plan should not disrupt the assessment process.  Programs should continue to collect data as specified in your original assessment plan.  Once your updated assessment plan is approved, programs should start collecting data as specified in the new plan during the next year. 

Starting in March 2025, programs will follow the updated Assessment of Learning (AoL) and Academic Program Review (APR) Reporting Schedule.  According to the schedule for the new 3-year assessment cycle, all non-accredited programs will report assessment of learning (AoL) results every year and submit a full AoL report every 3 years.  A comprehensive Academic Program Review (APR) will occur every 7-years (please see the APR website for information about the APR process).  Accredited programs may have a modified reporting schedule and expectations, based upon their specialized accreditation standards and review cycle.

Although a full AoL report is only due every 3 years, programs are expected to review their assessment results with their program faculty every year and engage in ongoing continuous improvement efforts.  This report and continuous improvement efforts serve as evidence of assessment and continuous improvement for KSU's SACSCOC accreditation (Standard 8.2).

What needs to be submitted?

If your program has annual assessment results due, please submit a results table.

If your program has a full AoL report due (3rd year reflection/reprort), please use the 2024-2025 Assessment of Learning and Student Success Report (MS Word) template.

Accredited programs with an assessment reporting exception may submit their most recent self-study and any mid-cycle reports in lieu of using the report template above, as long as the self-study reports annual assessment results and strategies for improvement of student learning. 

 

What is reported annually?

• • Results tables for each measure.  For results due in March 2025, report the results for the PSLOs you have been assessing over the past few years.  For results due in March 2026, programs will need to report the results for all PSLOs (data collection on all PSLOs should start in 2025 and ressults for all PSLOs should be reported in March 2026).
  • Consider using a table to report rubric results in a granular fashion (by rubric criterion) so that the specific areas where students are struggling can be identified.
  • For exams, conducting an item analysis will help determine the specific exam items with which students struggle the most. If using D2L to administer the exam, you can generate an item analysis in D2L. See the "Introduction to D2L Learning Analytics Microlearning" below for more information.

What is reported every three years?

The Assessment of Learning (AoL) and Academic Program Review (APR) Reporting Schedule indicates when the Full AoL 3rd Year Report is due. The Full AoL 3rd Year Report includes:

• • A curriculum map,
  • Description of the measures for the PSLOs,
  • Interpretation of results and trends over the previous 3-year assessment period,
  • A discussion of specific strategies for improvement implemented over the past 3-years and planned improvement strategies for the next year(s). 

APPENDIX: All rubrics, test items, and other measures must be included either in the Measures section or in the Appendix of the report.

Please do not upload multiple documents. Only one document will be accepted.

Please clearly label all items in the Appendix (i.e., “SLO1 – Measure 1”). Screenshots work best; copy and paste the image into the Word document.

This website explains how to take a screenshot:
Mac: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/mac.html
PC: https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/windows.html

EXAMPLE REPORTS: Below you will find an example of a report (from a fictitious program).

• Sample Assessment of Learning Report - Undergraduate Program
• For programs who are assessing more than the minimum of 2 PSLOs, please see our report example for assessing 5 PSLOs in the same report. The format of the report is adjusted for the number of PSLOs assessed:
  • 2023-2024 AoL Report Assessing 5 PSLOs

How do I submit the results, report, or self-study documentation?

The report or self-study is submitted to our Assessment Office using a simple report submission form from SmartSheet that will be emailed to program coordinators in August. 

When are the results, report, or self-study documenation due?

All assessment reporting (results, 3rd year report, or self-study documentation) is due on March 15.

The Office of Assessment provides written feedback on all Assessment Plans and Assessment of Learning annual reports (not self-studies).  Below you will find the rubric and feedback form.  Please review the feedback form before submitting the report to ensure all of the criteria have been met.  In some cases, the report may need to be resubmitted if required information is missing or insufficient.

      2023-2024 AoL Report Rubric and Feedback Form

• You may download and print a copy of the rubric and feedback form using the link above.
• You may perform a self-review of your own program's report or a peer review of another program's report using the rubric and feedback form. This self or peer review process is optional. It is for programs, departments, or colleges that wish to utilize a self or peer review process to improve the quality of their report(s) prior to submission to the Assessment Office.
• Once your report is accepted by the Assessment Office (a resubmission is not needed), it will go through our university-level peer review process using the rubric and feedback form.  The Assessment Office will also use the rubric and feedback to review your report.  You will received the combined feedback from the peer reviewer and the Assessment Office. 
• When you receive the completed rubric and feedback form from our Assessment Office, please use the feedback to make improvements on your next report (if possible).  If your program needs more time to make the changes, please note that on your next assessment report and indicate when the program plans to make the changes. 

If you would like to discuss the feedback in more detail, please contact assessment@kennesaw.edu to set up an individual or team consultation.

Assessment results for the previous year are reported in March. However, to foster a strategic perspective in your continuous improvement efforts and allow time for improvements to be observed, the analysis of trends and strategies for improvement takes place every 3 years.

As such, the Full AoL 3rd Year Report must be completed every 3 years. It includes an interpretation of analyses, trends over time, and a discussion of past and future strategies for improvement.

Each program has been placed into a cohort based on the year their program started, the year of their scheduled Academic Program Review (APR), and/or the year of their specialized accrediation review.  Please review the updated Assessment of Learning (AoL) and Academic Program Review (APR) Reporting Schedule to determine what is due for your program each year.

Note: The updated reporting schedules were created recently.  If you see any potential errors and/or have any questions, please email us at assessment@kennesaw.edu.  While we started with the previous Cohort Schedule and Cohort Lists (previous list from 2023), some modifications were needed to adjust to the new 7-year APR schedule.

It is KSU's mission to provide students an exceptional learning experience and to prepare them for life after graduation. If done well, assessment tells us how well we are fulfilling that mission and how to best improve our teaching strategies, our curriculum, and the student experience.

The use of uHoo Analytics will make the assessment process more meaningful and manageable for faculty, as well as more impactful for students. Consider visiting the ​uHoo Analytics webpage below to discover how to access and use the learning analytics that are currently available in D2L. These analytics will be helpful for both formative and summative assessment. 

Additionally, this resource guide may be helpful as you decide which D2L learning analytics to access and how to use them to improve student learning, your teaching strategies, the curriculum, and/or your assessment instruments (i.e., test items and rubrics).

Please contact uhoo@kennesaw.edu if you have any questions about learning analytics.

View Introduction to uHoo Analytics

• Creating and Using Rubrics (by University of Hawaii Manoa)
• Writing Rubrics Right by M. Oakleaf
• Rubric Template by University of West Florida (uwf.edu/cutla)
• AAC&U Value Rubrics

Guiding Questions: Programs can make assessment more meaningful and manageable by:

• Focusing on outcomes and measures most in need of improvement,
• Discussing assessment results and improvement strategies at faculty meetings,
• Implementing targeted strategies to improve learning and your overall program, and
• Reporting on the continuous improvement activities that are already taking place. 

Use the following questions to guide your discussions of assessment at faculty meetings.

Faculty Team Meeting: Guiding Questions about Assessment

 

Additional Resources: The resources below are intended to support your assessment and continuous improvement activities. 

Please contact assessment@kennesaw.edu to request an individual or team consultation. Also, if you have any additional resources that may be helpful, please share them with us.

• Higher Education Quality: Why Documenting Learning Matters (NILOA, 2016)
• Institutional Review Board's (IRB) page on Assessment/Evaluation vs. Research.
• The 2018-2023 KSU Strategic Plan 
• 13 Steps to Creating a Learning Organization
• A Simple Model for Improvement
• An Approach to Designing Changes for Improvement
  
  • The slides for this video presentation can be found here.
• Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U)
• Center for Statistics and Analytical Research
• Lumnia Foundation
• National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)

• How should I begin?
  • Contact assessment@kennesaw.edu, or your college’s representative on the Academic Assessment Council, or contact your program’s Chair to ask for historical artifacts of assessment.
• What is assessment?
  • Assessment is a collaborative effort intended to measure and improve student learning and student success. It is guided by the Office of Assessment.
  • Your program has a mission and vision, along with program and course learning outcomes. Assessment results should inform efforts to improve student learning and student success, as well as curriculum changes.
  • Assessment is one step in the continuous improvement cycle and should never be a burden when done correctly.
• Are we done once the outcomes have been achieved?
  • Assessment and improvement is a continuous process. A new cycle begins after the previous one has been completed (see model above). Once there is no more room for improvement for a particular learning outcome, the focus should move to a knowledge or skill area where there is more room for improvement.
  • Learning outcomes and measures should also be revised as needed to ensure they align with curriculum changes, industry standards, and employer needs.
  • In these cases, the Assessment Plan should be updated to reflect the shift in focus.
• Why can't course grades be used as assessment?
  • Overall grades are not granular enough to determine the specific areas with which students struggle. As such, it will be difficult to identify strategies to improve student learning in those specific areas and track progress over time.
  • Many factors may contribute to course grades that do not relate to student learning, such as attendance and class participation.
  • Instead of course grades, direct measures of student learning include: exam items, rubric items, and internship evaluation items that directly related to the Student Learning Outcome of interest.

If you have other questions not explained here, send them to assessment@kennesaw.edu.