Home  |  Faculty & Staff  |  Multimedia Books   | Curriculum & Materials Center | Diné Language Arts Fair  |  Diné Language Association Assessment Step 1: Organizing Ideas & Developing the Instruments    When we assess our AA Elementary Ed program, we examine: How do we assess student learning? In other words, Do each of our courses address some program outcomes? What guides us to understand students are learning the outcomes? Are the courses we offer appropriate for the program? In other words, Are the courses transferrable? Is the program transferrable? Are the courses the right ones based on our mission? What is the process for assessment? In other words, What objectives will be assessed and when? Will students be assessed at the beginning, a benchmark, or at the end of the semester? Who will use an assessment instrument, collect the data, and evaluate it? What is the criteria for determining program success through evaluation of data? Q. Student Learning Do each of our courses address some program outcome(s)? A.  We use the Program Matrix (see below) to help us organize and understand how, at the most specific level, the program outcomes are being assessed. Elementary Education Associate of Arts Program Matrix EDU 111 EDU 238 EDU 290 EDU 292 EDU 240 Goal 1. Students will articulate what it means to be a teacher. 1.1 Student will able to express her/his own philosophy of education. Essay Final N N Poster 1.2 Student knows what schools and education systems are. N Final N Interview N 1.3 Student has beginning skills and knowledge that are used in a learning environment. Essay Final Y N N 1.4 Student can participate in rich professional, critical talk. Essay Final N Interview N Goal 2. Students will become educators of Navajo students. 2.1 Student knows Navajo Nation schools and communities. Essay N N Interview Poster 2.2 Student knows Navajo students and their families. N N N Interview Poster 2.3 Commits herself/himself to be an advocate for quality education. Essay Final Y N Poster Goal 3.  Students will transfer to a BA program of their choosing    3.1 Courses transfer successfully.         Use existing College system through Articulation Committee and internal CDTE process of contacting area institutions. 3.2 Student performs well in a BA program. Utilize data from Development Office. Modify an existing survey? Q. Student Learning What guides us to understand students are learning?       A.  We used the guidelines below to develop the rubric built from the program goals and objectives to assess a student-generated product from each of the Elementary Ed major courses. Rubric for the Learning Outcome I: Articulate what it means to be a teacher in three sections: Assessing Students' Feelings, Thinking Skills, & Communication Skills Assessment of Students' Expression of Feelings Does the student through his/her work show..... how opinions, judgments, or decisions have been formed and why? how to be resourceful, to gain information when questions arise tomorrow, the next day, or further in the future? a passion/curiosity/enthusiasm/strong feelings for the topic? In other words, do they show they care? Specific criteria to keep in mind when reviewing the student product:  Comments: a philosophy of education?   knowledge of schools and education systems?   beginning skills and knowledge that are used in a learning environment?   skills to participate in rich, professional, critical talk?   Assessment of Students' Showing Thinking Skills Does the student through his/her work show..... Knowledge: Recall/ recite information from resources and/or personal experiences related to topic? Comprehension: Retelling in own words, interpreting; translating from one medium to another; describing or organizing in one's way and selecting facts and ideas in a deliberate way? Application: pose or identify problem(s) to solve and/or a position, point of view? Analysis: analyze idea(s) through showing patterns, organization of parts, recognition of hidden meaning, and/or identification of elements that make up the problem(s)? Synthesis: use known/old ideas to create new ones; (connect prior knowledge),  identify alternative solutions, generalize from given facts; relate knowledge from several areas; predict (what could be done in the future), and/ or draw conclusions? Evaluation: evaluate by comparing and discriminating between ideas and/or more than one point of view; assess value of theories, show choices based on reasoned argument; verify value of evidence; recognize own subjectivity? Specific criteria to keep in mind when reviewing the student product:  Comments: a philosophy of education?   knowledge of schools and education systems?   beginning skills and knowledge that are used in a learning environment?   skills to participate in rich, professional, critical talk?     Assessment of Students' Showing Communication Skills Organization & Support of Ideas: use relevant examples, descriptions/definitions, and/or explanations(details, facts, reasons, examples and descriptions)? Contextualize his/her opinion with examples, descriptions to clarify his/her ideas?Are the examples, descriptions/definitions, and/or explanations helpful to the reader to understand the student's POV? personal experiences used to support or lend better understanding of viewpoint? ideas expressed linked together (unified) throughout? Style: Are metaphors, symbolism, sensory detail, and/or idioms used to show the subtleties of language and power of imagery? Is there a redundant use of particular words/ideas? Are there precise word choices? Grammar: Accurate capitalization? standard grammar and usage (e.g., subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement and consistency of verb tense)?accurate spelling?Accurate us of punctuation (e.g., comma, ellipsis, apostrophe, semicolon, colon)? use of persuasive word choices and sentence structure (e.g., connotation, strong verbs, repetition and parallelism)? Specific criteria to keep in mind when reviewing the student product:  Comments: a philosophy of education?   knowledge of schools and education systems?   beginning skills and knowledge that are used in a learning environment?   skills to participate in rich, professional, critical talk?        Q. Program Appropriateness?     1. Are the courses transferrable?      Is the program transferrable? A.  1. This worksheet indicates courses that are transferrable as electives or education courses.    Q. Program Appropriateness?    1. Are the courses the right ones    based on our mission? A.  1. We have detailed documentation from our meetings where this has come up as discussion. We will continue to consider this question.    Q. What is the process for assessment? 1. What objectives will be assessed and when?   2. Will students be assessed at the beginning, a benchmark, or at the end of the semester? 3. Who will use an assessment instrument, collect the data, and evaluate it? 4. What is the criteria for determining program success through evaluation of data? A.    1. Our intention is to assess 5-10% of students participating in an EDU course each semester. A rubric utilizing all four outcomes will be the assessment tool.    2. Faculty will gather artifacts for student assessment as pre- and post-tests, or at the end of the semester.   3. All faculty, including the faculty appointed as the Assessment Coordinator will participate in program assessment. 4. This criteria is under consideration by the Faculty. Step 2: Gathering Data & Organizing data for review Step 3: Critiquing Data & Reporting Step 4: Informing Stakeholders of Program Successes & Changes      for improvement of student learning and program appropriateness.             ©2005-06 Center for Diné Teacher Education, Diné College, Tsaile, AZ 86556 Questions? Contact CDTE@dinecollege.edu Updated 6 February 2006.