TSTC Harlingen has always identified expected outcomes for educational programs and administrative and educational support services using the measurable outcomes found in TSTC's Indicators of Success (IS), the foremost measure of TSTC's achievement of its mission [Ref 1]. Using the performance standards that support each IS, TSTC has measured its success in achieving the outcomes through the report contained in the TSTC Harlingen Institutional Effectiveness Report Card [Ref 2]. When TSTC falls short of meeting a performance standard, improvement plans are created and integrated into the TSTC Harlingen Strategic Plan [Ref 3], the TSTC Harlingen Operational Plan [Ref 4], and individual Unit Action Plans [Ref 5]. However, very few of the measures originally contained in the IS were directed at measuring student learning outcomes. Using internal reviews (PAIT) [Ref 6], committee recommendations, survey results, and other mechanisms to identify areas for improvement, TSTC is well-established in assessment of the outcomes of programs, services, and activities. See the narrative for Core Requirement 2.5 for details regarding the ongoing, integrated, institution-wide planning and evaluation processes using a biennial planning and improvement cycle which demonstrated methodologies for identifying outcomes and assessing and evaluating each of them. The Institutional Effectiveness Handbook, available in [Ref 7], details the entire process of institutional effectiveness and the central role of assessment of expected outcomes as the key to demonstrating excellence and institutional achievement of its mission
All units of TSTC Harlingen are responsible for identifying outcomes, developing and refining assessment plans and procedures, and providing evidence of improvement. This effort is primarily coordinated by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research (IER), with strong support by VP of Student Learning, Pat Hobbs [Ref 8]; VP of Student Development, Servando Villarreal [Ref 9]; VP of Administrative Services, Mike Buck [Ref 10]; and Chief Financial Officer, Robert Gomez [Ref 11]. President Leal [Ref 12] takes a central role each biennium in hearing each unit's performance outcome results, improvements achieved, and needs for the future and using this information to guide budgeting decisions that address priority issues for TSTC Harlingen as a whole for the upcoming biennial budget.
In 2000, TSTC Harlingen made a conscious decision to revise TSTC's IS to include review of expected outcomes from learning outcome assessment plans. Administrators and faculty wanted to decentralize learning outcomes assessment processes, believing that this type of assessment is more meaningful if plans are developed and monitored by the units providing the instruction or services. Outcomes of learning assessments are reported biennially to the President and Vice Presidents/CFO in conjunction with their budget needs and the improvement plans contained in their UAPs [Ref 5]. IS now include measurable performance standards for learning outcomes assessment results [Ref 1].
In fall 2000, the administration began to research and plan its approach to learning outcomes assessment in an effort to customize the initiative into TSTC's existing structure and operations. Assessment plans for all educational programs and administrative and educational support services are divided into five categories:
- Technical programs/skills outcomes assessment for all AAS and Certificate of Completion programs of study, Continuing Education, and Contract Training programs and courses address the specific skills and outcomes expected from graduates of each program or completers of each non-credit course. These skill and knowledge outcomes must be demonstrated by students. The assessment plan objectives and expected outcomes, the methods of assessment, and scoring rubrics for each may be viewed through the following links:
- General Education outcomes assessment is slightly more centralized in that all general education faculty assess student achievement of overall general education competencies [Ref 13] in their courses while the final outcome, technology application, is assessed in the basic computer course required of all students graduating from TSTC Harlingen. See Comprehensive Standard 3.2.14 for a more detailed account of how TSTC developed and formally adopted expected general education outcomes. See the General Education Assessment Plan model [Ref 14] for the definitions of each general education competency, as well as the standards and specific courses used to assess each intended outcome. Below you may view the assessment plans for each course being assessed in general education:
- Student Development assessment is similar to the process followed for general education. Guided by the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) [Ref 15] for Student Affairs Programs, student development (student affairs) personnel adopted a series of 18 potential outcomes students may attain via engagement in student development programs and activities. Each of the ten student development areas identified which of those development outcomes might be achieved through student engagement in each student development area. Outcome benchmarks were established using student feedback from a variety of local and national surveys and studies. The Student Development Assessment Team continues to refine, define, and find ways to establish more direct assessment procedures to link student development to student engagement. See Comprehensive Standards - Programs 3.9.3 for more information on assessment cycles and methodologies for student development outcomes. The student development assessment plans, with each unit's expected outcomes, may be viewed through the following links:
- Instructional Support works together to enhance the direct relationships between faculty and students. Instructional support units generally rely on feedback from constituents regarding their performance in supporting the learning environment at TSTC. The assessment plans below detail the expected outcomes and assessment procedures for each instructional support unit:
- Operations Assessment plans base their evaluation on results of feedback from those constituents they support including students, employees, vendors, employers, etc. Constituents are given the opportunity to evaluate each operational area at least once per biennium. See the schedule of assessment surveys for these departments [Ref 16]. All data received from these evaluations is analyzed and other relevant data and information is reviewed, with results used to develop improvement plans and activities to "close the loop" for continuous quality improvement. These improvement plans are integrated into subsequent Unit Action Plans for these operational departments. The results of their most recent assessment can be accessed through the links below.
Departments collect data and compile assessment results for each IE cycle beginning in the fall semester of every odd numbered year and though the three terms of each even numbered year (i.e., Fall 2003, Spring 2004, Summer 2004, Fall 2004). Data is then evaluated by each technical program or non-credit skills development course instructor, by the General Education Assessment Team, the Student Development Assessment Team, and by the supervisor of each unit with Operations Assessments. Evaluation of data results is returned to appropriate constituents or committees to initiate discussions about how to improve areas of identified weakness.
All units present actual assessment results (submitted biennially to the Vice President's of Student Learning or Vice President of Student Development, with copies to the Institutional Effectiveness and Research Office) at the Unit Action Plan/Budgeting presentations each spring of odd numbered years. All improvement plans are held in an electronic database that can be continually updated and holds records of all UAP cycles since 2001 [Ref 5].
Although work on improvement in the areas of student learning and student development are in their preliminary stages and early data is just being compiled and analyzed, TSTC Harlingen has provided evidence of improvements within its educational programs and administrative and educational support services based on analysis of existing or new assessment results. In "College-Wide Examples of Improvement/Closing the Loop," demonstration of significant advances within TSTC, a department, or a program can be found [Ref 17].
