What you will find here
- What is the purpose of Program Review?
- Instructional Program Review
- Student Services / Learning Centers Program Review
- What resources can help me?
What is the purpose of Program Review?
Every two years, faculty must report on the state of their programs – that is to say, their discipline or service areas. This is Program Review.
Faculty review their program from a number of perspectives: productivity, quality of curriculum, accessibility, enrollment, and so on.
One important component of Program Review is learning outcomes assessment. Faculty report on whatever assessment activities they have organized or participated in, at the discipline level, the institutional level, or both, in the previous two years.
This report is shared with the Academic Senate Governing Council, the College Assessment Committee, the Committee for Academic Excellence, and the Institutional Planning Committee.
ASGC and its subcommittees are primarily interested in using Program Review to support a community of practice at the college: to get a larger picture of our successes, identify shared challenges and concerns, pinpoint who needs help and how to deliver it, explore patterns of student learning across the college (especially in relation to closing achievement gaps and studying student learning in different modalities) and to use this to inform robust interdisciplinary discussions, and to direct flex day planning.
Instructional Program Review (includes CTE)
(YouTube video: "Assessment and Program Review - Instruction")This section is a brief walk-through of instructional Program Review, question by question.
For more details, visit the Toolkit page.
| Program Review question | Your discussion | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 2d: Program Coherence and Effectiveness: Explain any curriculum changes since last program review, including SLO alignments. | If you have completed a review of your SLO curriculum map, and made any changes to the language or alignments of learning outcomes, discuss these here. More details on mapping can be found at the Toolkit page, or at this YouTube video, "Mapping Learning Outcomes.") |
2d |
| 3a: Course and program assessment. Discuss the results of your program assessment. Explain any strategies, research, initiatives, curriculum development or other activities intended to improve student learning and promote educational equity in your discipline, either at the course or program level. | Summarize, explain, analyze and evaluate the activities described in your Assessment Plans and Updates for the two years of Program Review. More details on assessment can be found at the Toolkit page, or at this YouTube video, "How and Why To Assess Your Program." |
3a |
| 3b: General Education / Institutional assessment. Discuss participation in any General Education, Core Competencies, institutional or interdisciplinary assessment activities. | Summarize, explain, analyze and evaluate any assessment activities that someone in your discipline participated in (e.g., flex day ILO workshops); OR any interdisciplinary collaborations your faculty engaged in, in service to a shared learning outcome. If no one in your discipline has attended an ILO workshop or engaged in an interdisciplinary collaboration, say so. (And perhaps take it as an invitation to participate in something next year.) More information on interdisciplinary assessments can be found at the Toolkit page, or in this YouTube video from Fall 2018. |
3b |
| 4. Planning. Describe and prioritize goals and plans to sustain and improve student success and equity (referring to Parts 2 and 3 above). | In effect, this section includes what goes into your Assessment Plan (only in more detail): a brief outline of any activities related to improving student learning in your discipline, at the course or program level. You should still submit an Assessment Plan, a simplified and easy-to-access summary of the assessment priority described in your Program Review. For more information, visit the Toolkit page, or this YouTube video, "Filling In Your Assessment Plan." |
4 |
Learning Support / Student Services
YouTube video, "Assessment and Program Review: Student Services"YouTube video, "Assessment and Program Review: Learning Centers"
The goal of Learning Support and Student Services assessment, as with instructional disciplines, is
- to ask questions that will help improve student outcomes;
- to gather data that will answer those questions; and
- to analyze and act upon the findings.
| Program Review question | Your discussion | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Learning Centers: Current assessments (2d): Reflect on recent assessment results for the center, including SLOs, best practices, and surveys. Identify trends and discuss areas in need of improvement. Specify how assessment informs center development and changes to the center. |
For 3d: Summarize, explain, analyze and evaluate assessment activities / plans (i.e., surveys, usage data, workshop results, etc.) | 3d |
| Student Services: Current assessments (2e): Reflect on recent Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) and/or Service Area Outcomes (SAO) assessment results for the program. Identify trends and discuss areas in need of improvement. Specific how SLO/SAO assessment informs program development and changes to the program. | For 3e: Summarize, explain, analyze and evaluate assessment activities / plans (i.e., surveys, usage data, workshop results, etc.). NOTE: This discussion includes SLOs and SAOs, as appropriate. (For more on SLOs versus SAOs, visit the Toolkit page.) |
3e |
| Both Learning Centers and Student Services: Planning (4): Describe and prioritize goals and plans to sustain and improve student success and equity. | For 4: In effect, this section includes what goes into your Assessment Plan (only in more detail): a brief outline of any activities related to improving student learning in your discipline, at the course or program level. You should still submit an Assessment Plan, a simplified and easy-to-access summary of the assessment priority described in your Program Review. For more information, visit the Toolkit page, or this YouTube video, "Filling In Your Assessment Plan." |
4 |
| What about interdisciplinary activities? Learning centers and student services are not required, in Program Review, to discuss participation in any institutional assess. However, like all College constituencies, centers and services support institutional learning outcomes (ILOs), both directly and indirectly. The first ILO, especially, addresses skills and abilities directly fostered by engagement with centers and services. The language of this outcome can provide a framework for center and service assessment, or offer an opportunity for assessment activities that involve collaboration with disciplines and services. |
(Optional): Summarize, explain and analyze any interdisciplinary activities or collaborations with disciplines or other learning centers or services, intended to improve student learning. Click here to visit the ILO page. |
ILO |
What resources can help me?
For details on how to create, conduct and document assessments, visit the Toolkit page.
For information on flex day workshops on Program Review (in Fall semester of even years), check Center for Academic Excellence's Flex Day agenda.
For more information on the Program Review process, visit the Program Review page.
Contact the Student Learning Outcomes Coordinator for help (see email at the SLO Overview page)
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