Direct Measures
Four steps will be taken to assess student writing samples:
- In order to assess the level of student writing upon entry into the major, students in ENG 234 (Reading and Writing about Literature, the first class specifically for English majors) submit writing samples each semester. The Assessment Committee reads and evaluates the samples, with student names converted to numbers to maintain anonymity, using a rubric constructed by the committee (*). This assessment is conducted each semester, and the committee evaluates the samples, reports on the findings, and files the results for later comparison studies.
- In order to assess the level of student writing upon completion of the major, students in all senior seminars (capstone courses) also submit writing samples, which are assessed in conjunction with the sophomore-level writing samples. The Committee reads and evaluates the anonymous samples using the same rubric constructed by the committee.
- These two bodies of writing (1 & 2 above) are compared to assess the improvement students as a group achieve over the course of the major.
- To track individual student progress in writing, the department compiles a writing file, with student names converted to numbers to maintain privacy, that includes the writing samples and Committee assessments from the 234 and senior-level courses. The Assessment Committee evaluates the files each year, examining the evidence for individual student writing improvement as expressed in the scores received on assessments at the sophomore and senior levels.
In addition, the following protocols have been established for use of this rubric:
- Each essay is identified by a number system only (keyed to student name held in a separate file);
- Before assessing essays, the committee uses a norm referencing process to reach agreement about the expectations for each evaluated item;
- Two members of the committee (or, in cases of disagreement, all three members) read it and score it independently;
- Composite scores of two readers must agree or be within a similar range, defined as no more than one possible score intervening and both scores being in the same half of the total range; lacking such agreement, the paper must be read by additional readers until such agreement emerges;
- Final scores are calculated as an average of all scores received.
Objective
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Participants
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Evaluators
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1, 2
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students in ENG 234
students in all senior seminars
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committee of three faculty members
using the Essay Rubric
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All English education majors participate in student teaching experiences in the public schools and are evaluated on their performance by their cooperating teachers using the standard Student Teaching Evaluation Form. Results of the Final Evaluation are shared with the English Department Assessment Committee. The English Assessment Committee will use these evaluations to assess the students' level of preparation for a career in teaching.
Objective
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Participants
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Evaluators
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1, 3.a, 5.a, 5.c, 5.d
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all English education majors
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cooperating teachers
using Student Teaching Evaluation Form
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Indirect Measures
During their student teaching experience, students will perform an English Subject Endorsement self-evaluation conducted by the College of Education in consultation with the English Department (#). The English Assessment Committee will use these surveys to assess the students' perceptions concerning their level of preparation for a career in teaching.
The senior-seminar courses, including most (but not all) of the courses in the sequence ENG 443-ENG 471, will serve as capstone courses for all majors. Students will perform a self-assessment by responding to a survey near the end of their senior seminar/ capstone courses. The Assessment Committee will use these surveys to assess students' perceptions concerning the effectiveness of our program and specific course offerings.
All English education majors participate in student teaching experiences in the public schools and will be evaluated and graded on that experience. During that experience, students will perform a self-assessment for Mission Statement Objectives #1-4 by responding to a survey. The Assessment Committee will use these surveys to assess the students' perceptions concerning their level of preparation.
Assessment of Assessment Process
The English Assessment Committee will review assessment plans yearly and make changes or revisions, as they deem necessary. The English Assessment committee will use the yearly assessment to help the Department of English modify course offerings/ requirements and develop programmatic and instructional changes at all levels of the undergraduate English program. Each year the English Assessment Committee will consider whether the plans created to meet specific objectives should be altered, especially as the needs and concerns of the Department English change, and in light of the mix of direct and indirect measure of specific objectives.