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Examples of Assessment by Institution |
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University of Puget Sound regularly assesses effectiveness of a new core curriculum introduced in 2003, and an initiative in conjunction with the Center for Writing, Learning, and Teaching focusing on development of writing skills across the curriculum.
The core curriculum is the product of several years of intense faculty discussion about the distinctive nature of a liberal arts education within the developing context of interdisciplinary knowledge. The core curriculum is informed by a continuing assessment of its effectiveness obtained from annual surveys of freshmen and seniors; focus groups of graduating seniors; faculty analysis of student writing; baseline transcript analyses; Center for Writing, Learning, and Teaching writing assessments; and Curriculum Committee assessments. Consistent with the goals of the curriculum, findings emerging from assessment of the core demonstrate that students are exhibiting greater growth in their abilities to think logically, analytically, and independently; communicate clearly and effectively; and learn independently.
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) has been assessed on an ongoing basis for the past 10 years, with an assessment team charged with ongoing evaluation of the assessment methodology and making minor changes to the study design as needed. Results show that students are better writers when they graduate than they were as freshman, based on a blind assessment conducted by faculty across the disciplines. In the most recent study, WAC added student focus groups, which produced strong feedback from students about growing progressively better as writers as a result of faculty attention, intellectual maturation, and development in their writing processes.
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University of Puget Sound |
