University of Nebraska Kearney

Psychology Assessment Plan 

Direct Measures

Area Concentration Achievement Test

The Area Concentration Achievement Test (ACAT) has been administered to all graduating psychology majors since Spring 1998. This is a nationally standardized exam (approximate normative n = 4015) that assesses knowledge in 10 major psychology content areas:

Field Experience or Practicum

Students involved in PSY 408F, Introduction to Clinical Psychology Field Experience, or PSY 475, Practicum, will be evaluated by staff at the site of the field experience (Richard Young Hospital) or practicum on their knowledge and learning. Staff evaluations will be based upon observations and interactions with the students.

Areas assessed: clinical knowledge regarding the client population (at beginning and end of field experience), knowledge of treatment approach (at beginning and end of field experience), knowledge of the treatment setting (at beginning and end of field experience) receptive to learning when new information is offered, actively seeks new information from staff or supervisor, ability to learn and understand new information, understanding of concepts, theories, and information, and ability to apply new information in a clinical setting

Conference Participation

Some majors will present papers or posters at regional, national or international conferences. Some will win awards for their presentations.

Student Writing

Samples of each student's writing will be assessed at two points in each student's undergraduate career; the first paper completed for the Experimental Psychology (PSY 270) course where the writing skills of the discipline are taught, and a paper selected randomly from any 300 or 400 level psychology course which requires an APA-style paper. Papers will be scored by UNK Psychology faculty who will be blind to the authorship of the papers.

Indirect Measures

Student/Alumni Survey

A survey has been sent out with the latest departmental newsletter to several hundred students and alumni

ETS Alumni Survey

A bi-annual survey developed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) will be administered to all alumni psychology majors for whom we have a correct address. The following survey items are relevant to goal #5, and the data will be compiled as percentages of respondents endorsing each response for a given item.

Marlowe-Crown Survey

A measure designed to assess social desirability, given to freshmen and sophomores and then compared to exiting seniors.

Values Survey

The Values survey was developed by the previous department assessment chair. Items 1 and 2 pertain to the tolerance of conflicting viewpoints, items 3 & 4 to critical thinking, items 5 & 6 to professional/scientific ethics, and items 7 & 8 to professional/scientific values. The survey is given to freshmen and sophomores and then compared to exiting seniors.

Previous Plan, Replaced Fall 2007