A Brief History of

Assessment at PSU

Student learning assessment at Portland State is funded by President Bernstine as a presidential initiative and is assigned to the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE). The CAE serves as an internal assessment consulting service and an organizing body for institution-wide assessment planning. The CAE staffs and is advised by the Assessment Resources Network (ARN), a faculty-driven body appointed by the president.

The history of our assessment work can be divided into three stages. From 1999 to 2003, our focus was on getting assessment started. During academic year 2003-2004, we began building an institutional record of our assessment activities. As of fall, 2005, our focus shifted to creating structures and policies that will support a sustainable assessment program.

The PSU Assessment Council was formed in 1999. In its first year, the Council decided to reconstitute as the Assessment Resource Network (ARN), to be staffed by the CAE Assessment Associate and a newly-established CAE Faculty-In-Residence for Assessment. The ARN began its work by identifying ten academic units with a strong interest in assessment, and over the next three years worked to encourage all academic units on campus to write student learning objectives, formulate assessment plans, and begin assessment work.

The Faculty-in-Residence and the CAE Assessment Associate worked to promote campus-wide discussion and understanding of assessment issues. Instrumental support was provided to the academic units by a group of assessment graduate assistants. At the height of this program, thirteen graduate students were jointly trained and supervised by the Faculty-in-Residence and the CAE Assessment Associate.

Soon after the ARN began its work, campus planners decided to build a database in which program review information on all academic units would reside. A subsidiary database of information on student learning assessment was designed by OIRP in collaboration with CAE assessment staff. This assessment database is an invaluable and searchable repository of information regarding the assessment practices and challenges that predominate on our campus.

With this resource in place, President Bernstine tasked the 2004-2005 ARN with writing a report describing assessment at PSU, based on an inductive review of curricular goals stated and student learning assessment methods practiced by the PSU faculty. Pursuant to this, the 2004-2005 ARN directed the CAE assessment staff to conduct three reviews of the assessment database: a review of program-level learning objectives, a review of assessment methods being used on campus, and a review of the extent to which curriculum changes have been made based on assessment results.

At present, our greatest assessment challenge is sustainability. Given the severe constraints on faculty time, it is crucial to plan and prioritize our assessment work well. We need to move from our earlier concern to get everyone to “do assessment” to a focus on assessment work that may go more slowly, but is carefully considered, and based on genuine faculty questions about student learning. If a five-year program review cycle is adopted for all academic programs, most programs could develop five-year student learning assessment plans. This would encourage careful planning and lead to sustainable efforts. Our other major challenge is to establish a permanent assessment structure. As a presidential initiative, assessment has been well supported and highly visible. The ARN is proposing the creation of a University Assessment Committee. This body would function much as the ARN does, but be part of the shared governance structure report to Faculty Senate.

In 2006-2007 Academic Year, the Insitutional Assessment Council was formed to promote and oversee the contiuned implemantation fo the campus working closely with three offices: Instruction and Undergraduate Studies, Institutional Research and Planning, and the Center for Academic Excellence. The Council assist academic departments with assessment planning and implementation that reflects student learning at the program, department, and institutional level.

To see archived annual reports, please contact us.