Using the Results of Assessment

As you have studied throughout the course, the purpose of assessment is to improve the teaching and learning process and to establish accountability, that is, to provide evidence that we are accomplishing what we claim to be accomplishing—educating students (or trainees). In Unit 7, you were introduced to the process of evaluation of that data in order to use “assessment information to make an informed judgment” (Suskie, 2018, p. 12). Using and citing the readings in these two units, what strategies will you propose in your Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Plan? Limit your recommendations to 5–7 strategies. Distinguish whether the strategies you propose address one or more of the following:

1. Improvements to the assessment process itself (including the appropriateness of the learning goal statements).
2. Improvements to the teaching, learning, or training process. (Use caution here; just one set of assessment data is not necessarily sufficient to determine what changes might be appropriate.)
3. Improvements to the action plan of strategies to develop the assessment effort before or during its implementation (recall your work in Unit 6).
4. Improvements to involving stakeholders more effectively.
5. Improvements to the means of interpreting and using the assessment data.
6. Other factors that you see as important for improvement and accountability.

Provide citations from the readings for the information that you use in your post. Your discussion will contribute to the component of your course project in which you propose strategies to use the results of the assessment to create improvements and to build a culture of assessment. Tip: You might want to use bullet points or a list format for some or all of this component instead of fully developed paragraphs.

You will determine for the final course project which information is to appear in your Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Plan and which is to appear in the Rationale Paper.

Response Guidelines

Read the posts of your fellow learners and respond to two. Are you and the learner focusing on the same approaches to improvement? Would his or her proposed strategies be applicable for your own Assessment and Evaluation of Learning Plan? What additional strategies might you recommend to the learner? In addition, consider making recommendations about how this information might be effectively presented. Would any parts of it be appropriate as bulleted lists, tables, charts, or other figures?

Learning Components

This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

• Apply assessment strategies for student learning.
• Synthesize findings and how they could be used to inform assessment planning and decision making.
• Apply knowledge of APA style for references and citations.
• Develop communications appropriate for the audience.