The Assessment Cycle

As exhibited by the illustration above, assessment is not an end point—it's a continuous, iterative cycle. Whenever we assess a program, activity, or service, we need to make use of that data—dig through it to extract our strengths and opportunities for improvement. Based on the summary of key findings, each office develops action items to implement in response to the data. The action items range from exploring new programs, improving existing programs, or discontinuing certain programs and services because they are not contributing to student learning. Those action items are then implemented and the cycle continues, as we must assess again to determine whether student learning has improved based on the modifications to our activities, programs, or services. In order to build and sustain a culture of assessment, we believe it is imperative to share the data with the community, as students need to see the institution is committed to providing them with high quality opportunities, programs, and services to help them grow and learn.