Assessment FAQs

• Statements identifying what the students will be able to do as the result of study in the class/program.  
• Format: Students should be able to <action verb> <something>. (action verb indicates performance level)  
• NJC has five Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (drafted and approved in Fall 2022):

1. Think critically and creatively to solve problems
2. Communicate ideas, perspectives, and values effectively
3. Demonstrate skills to fulfill professional expectations and prepare for chosen career
4. Recognize the interconnectedness of global, national, and local concerns in regards to cultural, political, social, and environmental issues
5. Apply scientific and mathematical concepts

• Specific, measurable statements identifying student performance(s) required to meet the outcome; confirmable through evidence.  
• Define student learning outcomes  
• Provide a common language for describing expectations for student learning  
• Shared across faculty/discipline/institution  

• Give students the opportunity to show what they learned  
• Criteria for selecting assessment methods:  
  • Relevance – the assessment option demonstrates the student outcomes as directly as possible  
  • Accuracy – the option demonstrates the student outcomes as well as possible  
• Any learning demonstration is an assessment method  
  • Indirect Methods: surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups  
  • Direct Methods: standardized exam, oral exam, recital, clinical, presentation, assignment, ….  

• Scoring Tools (survey averages, checklist, scales, ratings, analytic and holistic rubric rating scales, …)  
• Provide quantitative and/or qualitative data that will inform the faculty of the extent to which student performance is being met  
• Designed to assess (score) the performance indicators of the learning outcome  
• Distinguish between levels (knowledge level, application level) of student performance  
• Identify strengths and weaknesses in performance   
• Provide direction for improvement  
• Have utility across multiple disciplines and assessment methods  

• There are three different levels of assessment: course, program, and institutional.

Course: Faculty are required to do assessment every semester. Faculty will collect and analyze the data and the fill out a report and save the document to the J-Drive every semester.

Program: We have identified 12 different academic programs. Individuals or teams within a program write program reports. These reports cover a calendar year.

Institutional: An institutional report will be written every year by May for the previous calendar year. The assessment coordinator will spearhead this with support from the Assessment Leadership Team [ALT].  

1. We build on what students already know  
2. Learning is active process (importance of students’ active involvement in their own learning)  
3. Expectations for their learning are clear  
4. They get relevant and timely feedback on their performance  
5. They understand the relevance of their learning