EIU Office ofStudent Affairs Assessment

Mission Statement

The Office of Student Affairs Assessment strives to develop a culture wherein the learning, academic success, and personal growth and development of the student are enhanced through constructive examination of the programs developed by various Student Affairs offices. 

 Services

We offer various services through the office of student affairs assessment including assistance with:

• Survey Development (i.e., creating questions, editing pre-existing questions)
• Survey Implementation (i.e., sending the survey out to students)
• Development and Implementation of Student Learning Outcomes
• Data Analysis
• Report Writing

About Assessment

Common Assessment Terminology

Term	Definition
Assessment	Refers to any effort to gather, analyze, and interpret evidence which describes institutional, departmental, divisional, or agency effectiveness (Upcraft, M. L. & Schuh, J. H., 1996)
	The gathering of information concerning the functioning of students, staff, and institutions of higher education (Astin, 1991).
	Collecting evidence of (1) student performance on specified measures of development, (2) program strengths and weaknesses, and (3) institutional effectiveness (Banta, 1988).
Evaluation	Any effort to use assessment evidence to improve institutional, departmental, divisional or agency effectiveness (Upcraft, M. L. & Schuh, J. H., 1996).
	The utilization of information for institutional and individual improvement (Astin, 1991).
Research	Research differs from assessment in a couple of ways.  The first being that assessment guides good practice, while research guides theory and conceptual foundations.  Second, assessment typically has implications for a single institution, while research typically has broader implications for student affairs and higher education (Upcraft, M. L. & Schuh, J. H., 1996).
Quantitative Methodology	The assignment of numbers to objects, events, or observations according to some rule (Rossman and El-Khawas, 1987).
Qualitative Methodology	The detailed description of situations, events, people, interactions, and observed behaviors; the use of direct quotations from people about their experiences, attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts; and the analysis of excerpts or entire passages from documents, correspondence, records, and case histories (Patton, 1990).
Learning Outcomes	Cognitive and affective abilities which provide an indication of how one's college experiences have supported their individual development (Frye, 1999).
	The actual learning, including thinking skills, that occur as a result of a program (Bresciani, 2001).
Direct Measures	Processes employed to assess student learning directly by requiring students to demonstrate knowledge and skills (e.g. an essay graded by a rubric to demonstrate writing skills)
Indirect Measures	Processes that focus on students' opinions or perceptions (e.g. an exit interview in which students are asked about their confidence in writing skills).
Rubric	An authentic assessment tool used to measure students' work.  It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a student's performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria, rather than a single numberical score.

The Iterative Systematic Assessment Cycle