University of Nebraska Kearney

English Graduate Program Assessment Plan (Replaced F06) 

Direct Measures

Graduate Assistant Portfolios

• Each Graduate Assistant submits an annual evaluation portfolio. This portfolio (and its assessment) is required for requests to the Graduate Office for the continuation of the assistantship, the renewal of the position, or the creation of a new assistantship position.
• This portfolio includes the following:
  • Current curriculum vitae
  • Self-assessment statement
  • Statement of teaching strategies, goals, philosophy, and accomplishments
  • Written description of class visitation by the Composition Coordinator
  • Statistical scanning sheets for undergraduate student evaluation of courses
       (and, as an option, any written student remarks)
  • Evidence of participation in scholarly, creative, and/or service activities
       (such as conferences, presentations/readings, publications, community
        service)

  Students may also submit comments pertinent to their academic performance.

  The Composition Coordinator and Graduate Director (and any other supervisors or mentors to whom the assistant may be assigned) submit letters of evaluation. In addition to verifying that the assistant has maintained a GPA of 3.0 or higher and demonstrated sufficient progress to retain the assistantship position, these evaluations examine the GA portfolio materials for general evidence of the knowledge and skills [see 1-5 under "objectives" above] and of the values [see a-d under "objectives" above] included in the program objectives.

  Evaluators comment specifically on:

  Portfolio Protocol:

  The extent to which the current curriculum vita shows the ability to communicate clearly and objectively and presents the M.A. student as a professional in an accurate and persuasive manner;

  The extent to which the self-assessment statement portrays a student with a commitment to life-long learning and an ability to connect academic and ethical concerns, and presents an individual of integrity, curious about the world and seeking to play a role in intellectual and community forums

  The extent to which the statement of teaching strategy, goals, philosophy, and accomplishments incorporates the student's literary knowledge, critical ability, and acquaintance with appropriate rhetorical, research, and critical practice and terminology; shows creative assignments and an engaging and nurturing pedagogy; embodies accurate understanding of the courses taught and their place in the curriculum; and reveals accomplishments borne out in the written description of class visitation by the Composition Coordinator

  The extent to which the statistical scanning sheets for student evaluation of courses (and, as an option, any written student remarks) and the statement of teaching strategy, goals, philosophy, and accomplishments indicate that the M.A. student teacher's and the undergraduate students' perceptions of the classroom experience are similar;

  The extent to which evidence of participation in scholarly, creative, and/or service activities (such as conferences, presentations/readings, publications, community service) portray an active engagement in the profession and verify a willingness to contribute to the profession, the literature of the field, and the greater public.

Graduate Student Writing Samples

Graduate students submit writing samples each semester in which they are enrolled in coursework with an expository writing component. The Assessment Committee (three graduate faculty, selected at random) reads and evaluates these samples, with student names converted to numbers to maintain anonymity. The committee uses a standard rubric constructed by the committee and a set of protocols for each of the categories in the rubric constructed in consultation with faculty involved in program assessment. Each assessor gives one score per category. [Should any of the faculty serving on the committee turn out to be the faculty for whom papers were originally submitted, the faculty member recuses himself or herself during consideration of that particular paper.] This assessment is conducted each semester, with the results filed for longitudinal studies and reported annually to appropriate committees (e.g. the Graduate Committee) for program improvement.

Indirect Measure

Graduate Student Personal Assessment

Over the course of a graduate student's program in English, the Assessment Committee administers a Graduate Student Personal Assessment questionnaire [see below] similar to that given at the undergraduate level in the capstone courses. The Graduate Committee (five faculty, chaired by the Director of Graduate Studies) reports these self-assessments annually to the graduate faculty and uses them to determine the level of graduate student satisfaction with the overall learning experience and the component parts of the graduate program in English.

Assessment of Assessment Process