Using assessment results

Using data

• How do your results provide evidence for your outcomes? 
• What do your results say about your program process and the impact of the program on students’ learning and development?
• Based on the results, what decisions will you make or what action will you take regarding programs, policies, and services as well as improvements/refinements to the assessment process?

Transparency and reporting

Transparency is making meaningful, understandable information about student learning and institutional performance (assessment) readily available to stakeholders. Information is meaningful and understandable when it is contextualized and tied to program and institutional goals for student learning. Practicing transparent assessment motivates us to be ethical, and to draw conclusions that are well-supported and clearly-reasoned.  Here are a few recommendation for creating more transparency:

• Highlighting assessment results in your annual report
• Sharing assessment findings on program website
• Engaging participants or stakeholders in analyzing data
• Sharing conclusions with board or committee members
• Presenting results/process at a conference.
• Sharing in briefings and in marketing

Feedback loops

Information from your data analysis and interpretation should be fed back into the assessment planning process. Based on the results, what decisions will you make or what action will you take regarding programs, policies, and services as well as improvements/refinements to the assessment process. Make sure to assess the effectiveness of these decisions or actions at a later date. 

If results were not as you hoped, then perhaps explore if outcomes are well-matched to the program; if assessments are aligned with outcomes. Do changes or improvements need to be made to the program in order to reach the goals of the program? Is there differential performance in that some groups of students benefitted and others did not?