The focus of this In the Abstract is on the assessment of student learning outcomes. Its purpose is to raise awareness as to what assessment means and to underscore the benefits of an active and effective program of assessment.

Assessment is often defined as "the process of collecting data/evidence about student outcomes through steps of establishing educational objectives, measuring progress towards or achievement of these objectives, and analyzing and using those data to make decisions about student progress." Results of assessments can also be used to improve courses and programs. Thus a primary audience for assessment is faculty and staff within a college or university, who want both to learn how students are faring and to improve the quality of instruction, programs and services they provide.

External agencies also seek evidence that the institution is assessing student learning outcomes. The North Central Association (NCA), Oakton’s regional accrediting association, makes the assessment of student learning a pivotal part of evaluating and reaccrediting institutions of higher learning. Every college or university seeking NCA accreditation must provide documentation and evidence that such assessment is an ongoing part of the institution’s processes and that it uses assessment results. In Illinois, the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) and Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) are beginning to request evidence of assessment as well. Note that none of these organizations prescribes how assessment needs to take place or what levels of achievement need to be attained. Specialized accrediting organizations, such as those that accredit Oakton’s health career programs, also require accredited programs to conduct ongoing assessments of student learning outcomes.

The assessment of learning outcomes takes place at many levels and in many ways. There is no "right" way to do assessment. Experts in the field agree assessment is messy, an art as much as a science, should take advantage of existing data and information as much as possible, needs to take place on a regular basis, and should rely on multiple measures and approaches.

Assessment takes place at several levels:

• Classroom assessment is conducted in the privacy of the classroom; it’s an approach designed by teachers to find out how well students are learning specific components within the class. Classroom Assessment Techniques are sometimes referred to as CATS. Example: One Minute Paper, in which students are asked to take one minute to write down the most important thing they learned in class that day. Their answers help the instructor know what students are taking away from that class session.
  
• Course assessment focuses on the extent to which students are learning course material and meeting course objectives across sections of the same course. Example: all Psychology 101 instructors agree that students should learn about operant conditioning in the course. Instructors agree to give students the same 10 questions about operant conditioning in a test, even though other test items are made up by the individual instructors. Instructors examine how their students did on the operant conditioning test items

• General education assessment addresses a college’s general education component. At Oakton, general education is comprised of courses in English, speech, mathematics, humanities/fine arts, science, and social/behavioral sciences. One of Oakton’s general education objectives is to recognize skills necessary to build and maintain effective human relationships. Example: a random sample of students watches a video clip from the movie Ordinary People. In the clip, the mother, father and teenage son attempt to communicate with one another about the son’s quitting the swim team. Students are asked to write a paragraph discussing which character demonstrates the strongest communication skills and why, and how the characters’ relationships are affected by the use of good communication skills. Faculty score students’ responses using a rubric that identifies what constitutes a "high pass," "low pass," and "no pass" answer. The college looks at the percentage of students who receive passing scores as one indicator of the extent to which students meet the general education objective. Of the percentage of students meeting a general education objective is below what is viewed as acceptable by the institution, then review and revision of curricula would be logical next steps.

• Program level assessment examines whether students meet program objectives, though we know that in community colleges the definition of "program" may be ambiguous and the number of students who complete a "program" may be small. The intent of program level assessment is to gauge whether students who complete a sequence or array of courses have attained the knowledge and skills expected of individuals who complete the program. Example: to earn an Associate of Applied Science degree in Fashion Merchandising a student must complete a practicum course in which he puts together a marketing campaign, including sample ads, budgets, media schedules, and displays to promote a new line of sportswear targeted to young teens. The program description states a graduate will have the knowledge and skills to accomplish these tasks. Two faculty members and the marketing director of a local clothing store evaluate the student’s work to assess whether it demonstrates the student has learned about target marketing, building budgets, selecting media to reach the audience and stay within budget, developing appropriate advertisements, and preparing displays. The institution uses the assessment results to determine whether the program is achieving objectives and to pinpoint areas where work might be needed. For example, if students do well on all aspects of the assignment except budgeting, faculty may want to devote more class time to teaching about budgeting.

Assessment is a tool to help the improvement of teaching and learning; it is not an end in itself. As we know,