University of Nebraska Kearney

Psychology Assessment Mission 

Mission and Goals  

1. Students will develop a comprehensive knowledge base (basic knowledge of psychology).
2. Students will be familiar with the methodology for furthering ideas, theory, and knowledge within the discipline.
3. Students will communicate their knowledge clearly through both spoken and written media.
4. Students will apply their knowledge with:
1. tolerance of conflicting viewpoints
2. critical thinking approaches
3. appropriate professional and scientific ethics and values. 
5. Students will be prepared for future academic and/or professional endeavors.

Objectives  

Goal 1

1. For each ACAT content area (except experimental and statistics), the departmental assessment committee will compare the scores of students who have had the relevant coursework to those who have not over a two-year period. Students with the relevant coursework will show a higher mean score in that content area than those without the relevant coursework.
2. Students, as a group for the academic year, will score above the 50th percentile in each of the eight content areas noted above.
3. Field experience and practicum students, as a group for the academic year, will score above 3 on the five-point scale above in each area assessed (using end of field experience data where beginning and end points are assessed).

Goal 2

1. Students will score above the 50th percentile on the experimental and statistics areas of the ACAT.
2. At least 20% of exiting seniors will produce a paper or poster that is presented at a regional, national, or international psychology conference.
3. UNK Psychology will rank in the top 20% of institutions represented at the annual Great Plains Student Psychology Conference for the number of awards for papers or posters at each conference.

Goal 3

1. There will be a statistically significant increase in scores from the PSY 270 papers to the upper-level papers.
2. At least 10% of our exiting seniors will present an oral paper at a regional, national, or international psychology conference.
3. UNK Psychology Majors will rank in the top 20% for the number of awards for oral papers at each conference.
4. At least 10% of our exiting seniors will present a poster at a regional, national, or international psychology conference.
5. UNK Psychology Majors will rank in the top 20% for the number of awards for poster presentations at each conference.

Goal 4

1. Exiting seniors will score higher than freshmen and sophomores on each of the items of the values and ethics survey.
2. Field experience and practicum students, as a group for the academic year, will score above 3 on the five-point scale above in each area assessed.

Goal 5

1. Our alumni will exceed the standards in each of the relevant areas as determined by the national statistics compiled by ETS.
2. Exiting seniors will be successful in their application to graduate schools or be hired in the job market of their chosen field.

Previous Mission, Replaced Fall 2007