Institutional Assessment

Office of Institutional  Effectiveness,  Accreditation, and Strategic Planning Mission:

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Accreditation, and Strategic Planning promotes the use of quality planning and measurement practices to assure institution and student success.

Institutional assessment occurs through:

1. strategic plan indicators,
2. unit plan effectiveness indicators,
3. student learning outcome achievement benchmarks, and
4. evidence-based actions for improvement.

The Director facilitates institutional assessment by:

• Leading, supporting, and coordinating planning, assessment and evaluation, and improvement efforts at the campus, unit, and program levels
• Documenting evidence of performance targets, metrics, and benchmarks
• Reporting to internal and external stakeholders on student learning outcomes achievement, goal performance indicators, and program effectiveness at the campus, unit, and program levels.

The office has implemented a seven-step model to guide assessment and improvement across all institution programs, units, and services.  The overarching focus across system units is a motto of Students First and Assurance of Student Learning.

All CSN campuses, units, services, and programs contribute to institutional effectiveness by participating in a regular system of assessment planning and reporting of data collected through direct and indirect measures of student learning, performance activities, or service delivery.  CSN uses a regular assessment system to collect, analyze, and evaluate data for achievement of outcomes, unit goals, and activities.  Documented evidence is used for decision-making in planning and budget request processes.

CSN participates in an integrated strategic planning system where all unit goals align with the CSN strategic plan and Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) strategic goals.  Assessment evidence is used to inform decision-making, improvement actions, resource allocation, and determine mission fulfillment.  The assessment system is divided into four data collection units: Academic Affairs, Academic Support, Student Support, and Institutional Support.  All units report evidence supporting achievement of strategic plan and institutional effectiveness indicators leading to CSN mission fulfillment.  CSN units are expected to align their assessment processes with two core guiding structures in higher education: the four essential learning outcomes of the American Association of Colleges and Universities Liberal Arts for America's Promise (LEAP) Initiative, and six standards and learning outcome domains of the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) in Higher Education.

Related Links:

Accreditation

Institutional Research

Strategic Planning

Questions about institutional assessment processes can be directed to:

Institutional Assessment