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Program Assessment

Program assessment constitutes a process of the evaluation of the success or worth of any ongoing set of activities intended to achieve some outcome. The first step in assessment of the program requires an articulation of the goals or outcomes associated with the program. Consider an educational institution and the evaluation of any department or degree program. The first step requires articulating the goals and the associated measures of success for the program. Without a clear and carefully articulated set of outcomes or metrics to evaluate the program, no real assessment is possible. A lot of effort goes into the design and implementation of an educational program and then determining whether the effort created improvement. Program assessment can consume a great deal of resources and time; therefore, the value of the assessment muse be known. This entry examines metrics for program assessment, how to translate program goals into outcomes, and the conditions under which program assessments typically take place.

Metrics for Assessment

A variety of potential metrics exist for determining the success of an academic program. Many academic programs have multiple outcomes and requirements that all receive consideration when evaluating any activity. For example, one could evaluate the ability of an academic program to pay for itself in terms of the generation of tuition/fees, grants/contracts, or other financial contributions. A program might be judged as successful if a large percentage of the students entering the program graduate. A program might be evaluated as successful by attracting high-quality students, creating alumni that are easily employed after graduation, and/or providing a significant service to the community/state/nation. Academic programs might receive favorable evaluation if the program generates partnerships with corporations, private agencies, or governmental bodies. Educational programs have the potential to generate a wide variety of outcomes, but not all outcomes are required or expected by all programs. A great deal of effort is spent establishing for the academic program the articulation of a vision of the goals of the program.

The crucial step in the generation of an assessment becomes the articulation of the markers or criteria for success. For example, stating as a goal that the institution will produce “graduates well prepared to face the challenges of this century” is inspiring but vague. The statement of the goal contains no obvious markers or measures for determining the adequacy of the preparation. The challenge of a vague statement becomes the difficulty in assessing whether the graduates of the program are in fact well prepared for ongoing challenges (which ones?). The translation of the vague statement (however desirable) to the actualized and realized outcomes becomes a fundamental challenge when conducting program assessment. The process of conceptualizing the meaning of an often vague statement and then creating operationalized specific measures becomes the focus of establishing the details in program assessment.

Translating Goals Into Outcomes

Assessment remains impossible without establishing a metric to measure the accomplishments of the program against. If an articulation of the goals exists, then each goal should be capable of translation into some measureable marker or outcome. For example, if an academic program completion represents an important goal, then a simple total of the numbers of persons successfully completing the program may serve as an adequate indicator. Often an organization has a number of stakeholders and each stakeholder may have an agenda or a focus that requires consideration. Consider the statement of a goal that cannot be measured. If a goal cannot be measured, then no evidence exists that the program meets the goal. No evidence for improvement exists if no measurement exists for the goal. Program assessment requires the articulation of some demonstrable outcome capable of evaluation for the process to have value. If the organization tries to argue for meeting goals that cannot be measured in any manner, then the organization cannot provide evidence of meeting those goals.

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