Assessment & College Data

Purpose of Assessment

How do we know, most importantly, that our students are successful? And, how do we know the work by staff and faculty to help students is impactful? Assessment of student learning and of our services permits us as a college to evaluate continuous improvement and to always assure quality.

Description of Assessment

The Community College of Aurora (CCA) values assessment of student learning as a crucial means to ensure the quality of the educational programs and experiences as well as the student support areas it offers. Additionally, student learning is assessed through curriculum and co-curricular activity. Therefore, CCA approaches assessment of student learning as a particularly important instrument to realize its mission of serving our diverse community by providing high-quality instruction and support services to prepare students for transfer and employment.

The Academic Success and Student Success divisions use assessment of student learning results to engage faculty and staff in continuous improvement efforts and to communicate with students, employers, and other stakeholders about the quality of teaching and learning taking place at CCA.

How CCA Assesses Student Learning

Academic Success and Student Success Divisions’ overseeing curricular and cocurricular programs follows this six-step assessment process in striving for continuous improvement:

////The Steps to Student Learning Assessment

Identify Learning Outcomes

Establish clear, observable goals for student learning

Map Learning and Mastery

Identify opportunities to achieve those goals and map where mastery (at exit level) should occur

Design Methods and Instruments

Construct assessment tools that allow for the measurement of the achieved outcomes in an accurate way

Collect and Analyze Data

Systematically gather and analyze data about learning

Draw Conclusions

Interpret evidence of how well student learning meets those goals and use that to determine benchmarks and targets

Close the Loop

Use the resulting information to understand and improve student learning

////The Steps to Student Learning Assessment

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