Outcomes Assessment

JWU’s School of Arts & Sciences Outcomes Assessment Committee is charged with collecting samples of students’ work in order to redefine and refine learning at the course level.

The committee consists of faculty members from each department in the School of Arts & Sciences, as well as the assistant dean. A faculty member always chairs the committee.

In the past 30 years, colleges and universities have needed to verify their ability to educate. With specific expectations from accreditation boards and increasing competition between colleges, learning institutions need to be accountable and prove that they are continually successful in educating their students.

In its early years, the committee was instrumental in drafting a set of measurable outcomes for the school, originating the curriculum audit and designing authentic assessment instruments, including atomistic and holistic rubrics and surveys. Pilot studies were conducted to determine the reliability and validity of these instruments.

The committee has adopted the Accuplacer skills tests as another assessment vehicle, thus leading to a multi-dimensional assessment program that incorporates rubrics, surveys and normed tests.

Each year, the committee works on improving existing assessment procedures and developing new ones for outcomes not yet assessed. The committee also continues to look at the complete picture and remember that closing the loop is just as important and starting it.

Membership List, Academic Year 2012 – 2013  

Cheri Almeida, Social Sciences
David Capaldi, Mathematics
Russell Chabot, Social Sciences
Robert Christopher, Economics
Eve Condon, English
Nadine Dame, Denver Campus
Laura Galligan, Science
Mark Hengen, Science
Michelle Johnson-Garcia, chair, North Miami Campus
David Jewell, chair, Charlotte Campus
Ann Kordas, Humanities
Evelina Lapierre, Mathematics
William Lenox, English
Claudette Levesque-Ware, Humanities
Thomas Pandolfini, chair, Mathematics
Fred Pasquariello, Humanities
Mark Peres Charlotte Campus
David Spatt, Humanities
E. Spitzman, Humanities
Michael Stephens, Charlotte Campus
Christine Thompson, associate dean, A&S

Student Learning Outcomes

Higher Order Thinking
Graduates should be able to perform higher order thinking skills to include both critical and creative thinking. They should be able to apply the elements of reasoning and be able to use criteria and intellectual standards in order to make decisions, analyze arguments, conduct credible research, solve problems and create original ideas.

Communications Competence
Graduates should be able to read, write, speak and listen effectively and be able to express ideas clearly and succinctly. The graduates should demonstrate academic competence in written and verbal/nonverbal communication, and provide and accept constructive feedback.

Ethical Responsibility
Graduates should be able to discuss critically and defend the need for ethical standards to guide their decision-making in their professional and personal lives.

Global Diversity and Understanding
Graduates should be able to defend the principles that people should be valued regardless of heritage, religion, race, gender, ability and sexual orientation. Graduates should be able to identify the elements necessary in creating positive, multiperspective solutions to issues that arise between and among diverse populations, and propose solutions on both personal and professional levels.

Community Service/Responsible Citizenship
Graduates should be able to explain the need for being responsible citizens, and to demonstrate this responsibility through personal and professional service.

Leadership Skills
Graduates should be able to identify their own sources of strength that will enable them to motivate and influence others to attain meaningful professional and personal growth.

Artistic Appreciation
Graduates should demonstrate a knowledge of a variety of creative art forms, including the fine arts, the performing arts, literature and music.

Sociocultural Literacy
Graduates are expected to understand complex ideas about human thought and life as demonstrated through awareness of disciplinary perspectives (including math and science, humanities and social sciences) and through the ability to articulate the connections among those disciplines.

Quantitative Literacy
Graduates should be able to demonstrate computational competency and should be able to solve problems of a mathematical nature.

Scientific Literacy
Graduates should be able to explain and apply the scientific method and deductive reasoning to scientific questions about man and his natural world.

Information Literacy
Graduates should be able to recognize the need for information, identify information needed to address a given problem or issue, find the needed information, evaluate the information, organize the information and use the information effectively to address the problem or issue at hand.

Last revised: Sep 2008.