Assessment

COMMITTEE CHARGE MINUTES

The Student Academic Assessment Team (SAAT) mission is to promote assessment practices that both support institutional effectiveness and advance the continuous improvement of student learning.  At the institution level, SAAT provides planning, support, and leadership to promote the achievement of the College’s goals pertaining to outcomes assessment by ensuring alignment of assessment processes and procedures with the Board of Trustees Policy Manual, the SCC Effectiveness Model, SCCES, and the SCC Strategic Plan. In doing so, the SAAT can feel confident in the resulting evidence required for accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).

Nested within the institutional level outcomes are the General Education, Program, and Course level student outcomes. The general education core competencies are intentionally interwoven throughout SCC curricular and co-curricular programming and represent the identified qualities that students need to succeed after leaving SCC. At the program level, student learning outcomes address the required industry, accreditation, and licensing standards. Individual courses are mapped to meet programs’ student learning outcomes and general education core competencies.

SCC Academic Assessment Principles

Assessment at SCC is one of the vital resources used in each of the programs within the College, identified as assessment entities, to identify strengths, areas for improvement, and possible inequities to support continued improvement to student learning. The following principles guide the College’s work with assessment:

• Learning objectives are observable and measurable;
• Curriculum alignment provides the opportunity for students to achieve these objectives because the curriculum is driven by intended learning outcomes and assessment evidence;
• A variety of instructional and student success strategies is utilized to promote student engagement and contribute to student learning;
• Successful program completion provides students with the requisite skills for goal completion;
• Employee engagement is priority in increasing student learning and obtaining desired institutional outcomes.

SCC Academic Assessment Process

Academic assessment at SCC is a collaborative process. While SCC faculty lead the development of student learning outcomes and assessment activities, the SAAT is comprised of administrators, faculty, and staff from across the College. The Assessment Coordinator is a full-time faculty member responsible to lead the College in the implementation of the  Student Academic Assessment Plan. This plan details the systematic collection, examination, interpretation, and documentation of student outcomes data.

To manage and track the student academic assessment process, SCC utilizes Weave. Weave is a learning outcomes assessment software where all results of student learning outcomes assessment are posted and all college faculty, staff, and administration have access to view results.