Institutional Assessment (IA)

Institutional Assessment (IA) coordinates assessments and evaluates activities associated with the outcomes of the University's institutional and strategic goals and objectives. IA assists and supports programs and administrative reviews, and institutional effectiveness and accreditation.

Vision

Institutional Assessment seeks to develop and monitor a comprehensive and progressive system for effective assessment and continuous improvement of student learning at VSU.

Mission

The mission of Institutional Assessment is to coordinate institution-wide development, implementation, and reporting of the University’s assessment framework and processes, and program review, especially for programs without external accrediting bodies.

Assessment

Assessment is the systematic, continuous process of gathering, reviewing, and using data on student learning and program outcomes in an academic program for the purpose of making improvements. Assessment is an ongoing four-step process of “establishing clear, measurable, expected outcomes of student learning; ensuring that students have sufficient opportunities to achieve those outcomes; systematically gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to determine how well student learning matches our expectations; and, using the resulting information to understand and improve student learning” (Suskie, 2009, p. 4).

Assessment Process

The assessment process at VSU is a systematic and ongoing cycle designed to promote the continuous improvement of academic programs. It involves the assessment of the level of student performance at the pre-determined Program-Level Student Learning Outcomes (PLSLOs). This process of identifying expected PLSLOs is faculty driven and is developed, coordinated, assessed, and reviewed collaboratively by the faculty members in each academic program or department. The process is informed by both internal and external requirements, academic guidelines, and industry best practices. Each school and/or program accredited by external professional accrediting agencies take into consideration the requirements for its respective programs as stipulated by their accrediting bodies when identifying student learning outcomes. The figure below illustrates the VSU Assessment Cycle.