Part 4: Using the Results

The Need to Know Information

Main Function

Assessment results should be used to improve student or institutional learning.

Key Points to Know

• Assessment can only become meaningful if results are shared, discussed, and used to improve learning.
• Assessment results should never be used punitively.
• Results of one cycle should inform improvement strategies for the next cycle.

Benefits

When assessment results are reviewed with the intent to improve learning

• Discussion and reporting are improved: Faculty can point to tangible evidence when they report their students are (or are not) learning.
• Teaching is improved: Faculty can know how to adjust teaching when they see where students have skill deficiencies. In many cases, faculty can know how their students perform compared to other students, helping those faculty members hone their teaching methods.
• Collaboration is enhanced: Regular conversations about results can lead to discussions of best instructional methods, wider benchmarking and comparisons, common challenges and effective solutions, and more.

Self-Assessment on Using the Results

Take the self-assessment below related to using assessment results. Content is discussed throughout Part 4.

It is critical to understand that assessment is not meaningful unless and until the results are used appropriately. Assessment becomes meaningful only when faculty and others review the results and use those results to inform instruction and improve learning – their own or that of their students.

Review at Palm Beach State College varies based on the type of outcomes assessed.

• Institutional learning outcomes and general education competencies – review is most often by open invitation, done in small forums, campus meetings, cluster reviews, during Development Day breakout sessions, or in committee meetings. Faculty review results and develop improvement strategies to be implemented in the next cycle.
• Program learning outcomes - annual review includes a review of learning outcomes assessment results. Program faculty review the results, select at least one outcome to target for improvement unless all have been met and other data points are selected, and develop action plans for the next cycle.
• Course learning outcomes - review is conducted individually by faculty during the annual appraisal or preparation for continuing contraction portfolio. Faculty reflections on and use of assessment results are documented and shared with associate deans.

In a conversation about using the results, it is helpful to return to the cycle that has been presented in each section of this handbook, this time thinking of it as a continuous loop (Figure 5). It truly never ends!

• We must develop outcomes, the important learning goals we set for students.
• We must ensure classroom activities will provide opportunities for students to learn what we want them to learn and achieve the outcomes.
• We must assess. How else can we know whether and to what degree they know and do what we expect them to know and do?
• Finally, we must use those results to figure out what to do next, but then it starts all over, completing yet continuing the cycle! Results may lead us to keep or revise the outcomes, but we must start all over again based on the learning goals.

Figure 6. The Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Cycle

In education, reviewing assessment results and planning for the next teaching, learning, and assessment cycle is often referred to as closing the loop. When the loop is closed on each cycle, the discussion typically includes a review of several components.

• Faculty should consider the continued appropriateness of the learning outcomes, measures, and targets, planning for improvements where needed.
• A review should include conversations about how assessments were implemented, and if that implementation still makes sense, assuming it did in the first place.
• Individual faculty should consider the results of their students and consider those results compared to students taught by colleagues.
• Together, faculty should consider ways to adjust teaching methods to address any noted learning deficiencies and ways to improve the process to ensure maximum consistency if that is a concern.

A review of the results should never be punitive! The process at PBSC continues to evolve, and so does student learning. Results should always be reported in aggregate without individual student or instructor names, and results should be used only to make learning better and to design improvement strategies. If assessment results are less than desirable, faculty should derive an improvement plan with measurable objectives without singling out any individual instructor. If a faculty member continually struggles to help students achieve a learning outcome, help is available through the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence.²⁸

²⁸https://www.palmbeachstate.edu/CTLE/

Reporting Results

So, what information should be shared? While assessment reports will vary greatly depending on the audience and purpose, some basic components should always be included in a final report. Those elements are listed here (Table 17), and to aid faculty and others who may need to present such a report, a template is provided as Appendix Q.

Table 17. Standard Components of an Assessment Report to Share

Benefits of Sharing and Discussing Results

Results can be used to inform teaching. When faculty understand the deficiencies that exist, teaching methods can be adjusted to account for those shortfalls. With summative assessment, improvements can be planned for the next cycle. In the case of formative assessment, improvements can be made immediately.

Using results can lead to enhanced collaboration. Discussions about results should include conversations about pedagogy, successes, and challenges. As these topics are discussed, synergetic solutions can be developed to address and unattained outcomes or unmet achievement targets.

When faculty participate in regular review of assessment results, they are more knowledgeable regarding the degree to which students are achieving learning outcomes in the program or course. Such knowledge becomes useful in conversations with supervisors and deans and on performance evaluations when some related conversation is required, or in similar conversations with academic leaders, community business partners, or other stakeholders.

Faculty who are well acquainted with details about student learning are further positioned to stay ahead of legislation. When lawmakers begin to discuss changes to impose on educators, faculty and staff can speak to issues of curriculum with the facts about learning at their college.

Table 18 provides examples of questions to ask during a collective review of assessment results.

Table 18. Closing the Loop on the Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Cycle