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Guiding Principles for Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes

Â鶹ԭ´´ is committed to providing excellent, innovative and affordable educational opportunities to our students, and we measure our success in providing those opportunities. We have developed Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs) measures that are in line with the following basic principles:

• We affirm the importance of developing student learning outcomes that are derived from our mission and vision statements: Â鶹ԭ´´ improves lives  by providing equitable, student-centered education. We will provide accessible and innovative education by responding and adapting to changing student and community needs.
• We maintain that the outcomes we develop should apply to all of the different constituencies of learners we serve, including those in transfer programs, career technology programs, adult education programs, developmental courses and continuing education.
• We believe in the importance of measuring outcomes in both curricular programs and co-curricular programs and services such as athletics and student organizations.
• We affirm the importance of measuring outcomes at all levels (college level, program level, course level) and recognize that different measuring instruments may be appropriate at different levels.
• We maintain that the importance of outcome measures is to be found in their invaluable role in the continuous improvement of the educational opportunities we offer at all levels.
• We believe that developing, measuring and using student learning outcomes is a dynamic process — one that should be a regular part of what we do both in planning and delivering educational opportunities and demonstrating our accountability to our learners, our community and our accreditors.

Institutional-Level Student Learning Outcomes

Â鶹ԭ´´ improves lives  by providing equitable, student-centered education and will provide accessible and innovative education by responding and adapting to changing student and community needs. To that end, we aim to improve lives by guiding students in the development of a set of four core competencies in our curricular and co-curricular programs that will enable them to be successful.

1. Critical competence:

Learners will be able to understand, apply and analyze concepts. Learners will develop the ability to organize their thinking about concepts according to the dictates of sound reasoning, as appropriate. Learners will demonstrate the capacity to formulate appropriate conclusions based on their reasoning.

2. Creative competence:

Learners will exhibit the ability to recognize connections and transfer concepts between areas, as appropriate. Learners will demonstrate the ability to synthesize concepts and ideas. Learners will use innovative thinking and explore multiple perspectives in formulating solutions to problems encountered in different aspects of their experience.

3. Communicative competence:

Learners will be able to formulate a central message and share it with others. Learners will demonstrate the ability to support that central message and present their discourse according to sound organizational principles. Learners will exhibit an appropriate command of the elements necessary for communicating that central message to others.

4. Cultural competence:

Learners will recognize the various factors that shape individual and group identity, with an emphasis on the various components of culture. Learners will demonstrate the capacity to engage differences in various social settings.

We assess these competencies in multiple ways at the course, program and institutional levels. We measure General Education Outcomes through the AA/AS Program Student Learning Outcomes with embedded measures. We measure AAS Program Student Learning Outcomes and Certificate student learning outcomes with embedded measures. We measure Co-Curricular programs with reflective surveys and embedded measures mapped to Institutional Student Learning Outcomes. Faculty and staff report curricular and co-curricular results by semester on an Outcomes Assessment Report due in late spring, and use this information in making annual plans submitted each fall. These activities are coordinated by the faculty lead Assessment Committee and are overseen by the Vice President of Instruction. 

Prior Learning Assessment

Students enrolled at Â鶹ԭ´´ may receive college credit for previous experience and learning by one or a combination of methods. Learn more about Prior Learning Assessment in the .