Annual Program Assessment | Common Terminology

Assessment
The systematic and strategic gathering, and analyses, of information undertaken for the purpose of improvement; fundamental to the process of program review.

Assessment Cycle
A continuous cycle that (1) starts with the articulation of program mission, goals and objectives, (2) continues with the identification and collection of appropriate direct and indirect measures of the goals and objectives, (3) is followed by the evaluation of performance, based on the identified measures or indicators (4) uses the outcomes to improve the program, (5) and then begins again to re-examine the goals and objectives and outcomes.

Mission
The stated purpose of the program.

Goals
General statements of desired ends to be achieved. They describe the intended long-range outcomes and are the basis for the strategic directions of the program.

Objectives
In the program review process, objectives are the elements of the goals that are most readily specified for evaluation. These consider the particular knowledge, performance or skill mastery that students should achieve. In other words, objectives comprise the activities that will result in the achievement of (learning) goals.

Direct Measures
Procedures that are used to evaluate achievement of learning goals by means of a specifically observable result, i.e. the demonstration of a particular skill or knowledge.

Indirect Measures
Procedures that evaluate a program or learning by means of some implied indicator. Indirect measures of student learning, for example, might include surveying students about their learning in a particular course/program/institution or surveys of employer satisfaction.

Outcomes
The result of a process that is observable and measurable; the extent to which specified learning goals and objectives are being accomplished.

Learning Outcomes
Observable and measurable knowledge, actions, abilities, or competencies that demonstrate evidence of an educational experience.

Other Program Outcomes
Measurable program results that may be indicators of program quality, for example, faculty development activities, scholarships and grants, student-faculty ratio, class size.