Assessment: Comments from the assessment plan review process

The following is reprinted from the December 1992 issue of Briefing (vol. 10, no, 3, p. 8), published by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. North Central's Commission on Institutions of Higher Education approved a “Statement on Assessment and Student Academic Achievement” that in part expressed the expectation that “an institution has and is able to describe a program by which it documents student academic achievement.” After some experience in reviewing campus assessment plans, the panel members offered the following comments on what distinguishes good plans from not-so-good plans.