How does TESC measure its success

TESC Mission from 2007 Strategic Plan

Evergreen’s mission is to sustain a vibrant academic community and offer students an education that will help them excel in their intellectual, creative, professional and community service goals.

TESC aims to emphasize careful evaluation and assessment of the educational experience of our students.

It incorporates the findings and recommendations of multiple Disappearing Task Forces and work groups:

• Sustainability
• Diversity
• First Year Experience
• Campus Life, Curricular Visions
• Enrollment Growth, Governance
• Exempt Staff Work Group
• Student Evaluation Process Review Study Group
• Hiring Priorities
• the Information Technology Collaboration Hive (ITCH)
  
• and others.

Our strategic plan charges us to:

• tell our story well
• attract and retain students who will benefit from and contribute to our unique learning environment
• sustain the vitality of our faculty and staff
• strengthen our interdisciplinary approach to teaching
• build relationships beyond our campus
• embrace technology
• promote diversity and sustainability (environmental, financial and cultural)
• broaden our base of support

Strategic Direction

• Deepen the teaching and learning experience at Evergreen, focusing on student success.

Evergreen utilizes three primary assessment methods to measure academic quality within its interdisciplinary learning communities:
1) The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) annual survey to assess student engagement using the five benchmarks of effective educational practice;
2) Transcript reviews to assess the Six Expectations of an Evergreen Graduate (The Reservation-Based Program is piloting an experiment with e-portfolios using the Six Expectations); and
3) End of Program Reviews (EPR) to collect data on each academic program’s inclusion of art, science, social science, and humanities.

Evergreen utilizes the NSSE benchmarks—comparable nationwide—as the centerpiece of its institutional assessment of academic quality and will strive to remain in the top 10% of colleges and universities nationwide on these five measures of student success. Evergreen emphasizes academic work on real-world problems within community-based settings and the assessment work reflects this. (Two examples: Evergreen’s NSSE indicators have improved, indicative of recent commitments to improving students’ community-based learning; and the inception of The Center for Community-Based Learning and Action).

NSSE measure:
The National Survey of Student Engagement represent empirically confirmed "good practices" in undergraduate education. That is, they reflect behaviors by students and institutions that are associated with desired outcomes of college.

"factors that are important to high levels of engagement, which is a good predictor of learning"

Five benchmarks are measured: 1) level of academic challenge; 2) active and collaborative learning; 3) student-faculty interaction; 4) enriching educational experiences; and 5) supportive campus environment.

1. Level of academic challenge

Sample Questions:

How much reading and writing do students do?

In the first year?
In required general education courses?
In the major field in which you are interested?

What is the nature of assignments in various courses and majors?

Is memorization emphasized? Or higher order, complex cognitive skills?

How much time do students spend preparing for class?

In the first year?
In the major field in which you are interested?