During 1998-1999, Lac Courte Oreilles Community College
developed a plan for institutional assessment, using a course-embedded
assessment model keyed to eleven general education outcomes.. This plan, created
with extensive faculty involvement, was accepted by the North Central
Association of Colleges and Schools. The plan, although reasonably well
articulated, was not fully-implemented, due to the departure of the college’s
assessment coordinator. In May 2002, the College filled this position with an
individual with strong technical and analytical skills, and considerable
experience in post-secondary assessment.
The college has provided resources to support assessment
activities. These resources include: office and meeting space; information
technology and support; and financial support with a small amount of operating
funds in addition to salary.
The assessment coordinator has already located considerable institutional data useful for assessment, and has done a close analysis of the existing plan. One next step will involve revising the plan, and modifying the College’s assessment activities to coincide with the revisions. This work will be done in concert with college faculty and administrators. A second step involves compiling assessment data into a single accessible location. A third step will involve establishing links between the college’s ongoing assessment activities and the conduct of the institution’s self-study, due in 2004.
This document is about the status of the Program to Assess Student Achievement at LCO Ojibwa Community College. During the 1998-1999 academic year, the faculty and administration focused their energies and prepared the 1999 Assessment Plan. The 1999 Assessment Plan, approved by NCA, set out the conceptual framework to document and evaluate student achievement. One year later, in 2000, the Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) was created to provide a format for an ongoing process of improving institutional effectiveness. As intended, the 2000 CIP identified strengths and concerns, and in so doing, proposed a series of eighteen remediation strategies. While assessment of student achievement itself was not addressed in the remediation strategies, the CIP identified at least two issues that apply to the improvement of assessment, namely placement (#8, pages 57-58, and #11, page 60), and advising (#10, pages 59-60).
Areas to be discussed in this Monitoring Report to the Higher Learning Commission include: Updating the 1999 Assessment Plan, Hiring of the fulltime assessment coordinator in May 2002, the newly hired assessment coordinator’s preliminary analysis of the design elements of the 1999 Plan, the status of assessment as seen by the new assessment coordinator in consultation with the academic dean, the resources being allocated to assessment, and the proposed steps for revision and continued implementation of the Assessment Plan.