Lyon College
Assessment Plan for Academic Services

I. Mission

The academic services component of Lyon College engages in a comprehensive, systematic, and continuous process of assessment to ensure the offering of curricular and athletic programs, learning resources, and other academic support services of superior quality in a personalized setting.

II. Goals

The assessment process of academic services will promote informed decision-making through the collection, analysis, storage, and distribution of data on key programmatic and component performance indicators. To advance this goal, the assessment process of academic services will:

• Ensure the alignment of the mission of the institution and the missions of the component’s programs and services.
• Facilitate the definition of mission-driven learning outcomes and the development of other component goals.
• Provide guidance in the development of relevant and effective assessment instruments and processes.
• Promote appropriate standardization of assessment instruments to ensure adequate levels of longitudinal and comparative data across the component and with comparable programs and services at peer institutions.
• Support data analysis and the presentation of assessment findings to appropriate college constituencies.
• Facilitate campus-wide collaboration in assessment activities to further the most effective use of institutional resources and assessment findings.
• Ensure storage and distribution practices that maximize access of the campus community to relevant data.
• Promote data reporting practices best suited to the needs of the constituencies to which the reports are addressed.
• Support the development of component action plans that respond to assessment findings and advance the mission of the component.
• Facilitate the implementation of component and institutional action plans.


III. Process

Scheduling: All programs and services offered by academic services will be reviewed every five years. The head of academic services in consultation with the heads of the academic and administrative units of the component will determine the need to modify the review schedule presented in Appendix 1. The director of institutional research and the institutional assessment committee will be advised of any changes to the schedule. The head of academic services will notify the units to be reviewed in early spring of the fiscal year proceeding the fiscal year in which reviews are to be conducted.

Participants: All full-time and continuing part-time faculty and staff engaged in the area under review are to participate in the review process. Student and alumni participation is also encouraged. The head of academic services or the head of the unit in which the review is being conducted may recommend the participation of an outside consultant in the process. The head of academic services must approve the participation of an outside consultant.

Planning and Assessment Portfolios: The process will result in the submission to the head of academic services of planning and assessment portfolios composed of the following primary and supporting information. (See Appendix 2 for additional information.)

Primary Materials:
• Mission statement of the program or service.
• Primary learning outcomes or other goals of the program/service.
• Description of assessment methodology and instruments.
• Summary of assessment findings over previous five years.
• Statement of the area’s strengths and weaknesses and of potential threats and opportunities.
• Five year plan for improving the area’s strategic position.

Supporting Documentation:
• Copies of assessment instruments.
• Assessment data.
• Other supporting materials designated by component head.

Reporting: Planning and assessment portfolios are due no later than the first working day in April of the year in which the reviews are scheduled. The head of academic services will review the portfolios with representatives of the areas evaluated. The head of academic services will present oral or written summaries of assessment findings and related action plans to the institutional assessment committee and the President. These summaries will also be presented to the education committee of the board of trustee at the discretion of the president.

Three copies of planning and assessment portfolios will be maintained: one for the unit, one for the institutional resource room maintained by the head of academic services, and one for the college archives. Two copies may be submitted in electronic form.

The head of academic services may require progress reports on unit efforts to follow-up on assessment findings. Follow-up reports will be due no later than one-year intervals from the due date of the original reports. Copies of follow-up reports are to be added to copies of the original reports.


Appendix 1

Schedule for Reviews

The academic programs and administrative units of academic services will be reviewed at least every five years beginning in the academic years indicated below.

Appendix 2: Supplemental Guidelines for Reviews

The following guidelines are designed to assist faculty and staff in the conducting of reviews. The guidelines are organized in accordance with the planning and assessment portfolios required as part of the assessment plan for academic services.

Mission Statements

All academic programs and administrative components of academic services will have mission statements that concisely present their primary purposes. The wording and audience of these statements are often comparable to the introductory statements found in college catalogs and other promotional materials on specific programs. The relationship between these mission statements and the mission statement of the institution should be consistent and easily discernable.

Goals and Learning Outcomes

Programmatic goals naturally range from the general to the specific. Preparing students for graduate school is an example of a general goal. General goals may also convey students’ “destination” within a particular curriculum, encompassing what we wish graduates to know, do and value, for example, the ability to reason critically or the desire to serve their community. Such general goals may be included in mission statements or listed separately. The latter is usually preferable.

Since the mastery of specific skills contribute to the achievement of more general goals, assessment of programmatic outcomes must take place at several levels. In other words, it is necessary to identify the component parts of general goals. For example, the goal of preparing students for graduate school may imply further development of one’s ability to formulate and defend an original thesis. These more specific formulations of what we want students to know, do and value are often referred to as learning outcomes. The focus of assessment activities should be on the achievement of fairly specific learning outcomes.

It is important to communicate desired goals and learning outcomes to students, if we are to maximize their prospect of meeting these expectations. Thus planning and assessment portfolios should show that this information is being effectively conveyed to students, for example, through syllabi, assignments, evaluation criteria, and catalog descriptions.

Assessment Instruments and Processes

Assessment instruments and processes should be designed to demonstrate that intended goals and learning outcomes are being achieved. Assessment of student satisfaction is also appropriate, but does not substitute for outcomes assessment.


Outcomes assessment takes two forms: benchmarking and valued-added. The former places performance in terms of some preset objective, such as sixty percent of the graduates of program X will be admitted to graduate school. The latter form of assessment involves measurement prior to and subsequent to programmatic efforts to enhance a specified skill or attribute (i.e., the use of pre-tests and post-tests). While benchmarking is the most common form of outcomes assessment, valued-added assessments should be used when appropriate and practical.

The effectiveness of any assessment activity is closely related to measurability of the intended outcomes. Measurability is often a function of the specificity of the intended outcomes. This does not mean that the evidence presented must be quantitative in nature.
Qualitative evidence is an equally appropriate means of demonstrating the achievement of programmatic goals and learning outcomes.

Evidence demonstrating achievement of intended outcomes should be gathered from a variety of sources. The data used to assess student learning should include direct evidence such as coursework. A capstone course in the major may provide a logical focus for identifying what students achieve by the end of their program. It may also be helpful to collect student work over time in a portfolio, comparing their work at the beginning and end of their program so as to demonstrate their learning. Standardized test scores also constitute direct evidence of learning. In addition, it is desirable to include indirect evidence of learning, such as senior and alumni survey results. Assessment data should also include when practical the evaluation of learning outcomes by the employers of recent graduates.

Assessment Findings

The assessment process is intended in part to demonstrate to internal and external constituents the quality of existing programs and services and the commitment of faculty and staff to enhancement of these programs and services when appropriate. Therefore, planning and assessment portfolios should present a balanced representation of the strengths and areas of needed improvement suggested by the data collected.

Assessment findings should be summarized in the narrative of planning and assessment portfolios. A full compilation of the data collected should be included in an appendix to the portfolios.

Action Plans

The assessment process is incomplete without serious consideration of how to build on the strengths of current practices and address areas of concern. In fact, action plans are the most important component of planning and assessment portfolios. In other words, the portfolios must demonstrate the closing of the assessment loop by translating findings into actions. Detailed action plans are not required as part of the planning and assessment portfolio, but the document must present the general nature of the action required, parties
responsible for undertaking the action, an estimate of resource requirements, and anticipated completion date.


Preparation of Portfolios

Effective assessment is an ongoing process that contributes to continual improvement in the programs and services offered by the academic services component of the College. In other words, while planning and assessment portfolios are due every five years, planning and assessment are annual activities. Thus the following planning and assessment process is suggested.

Year 1 - Review and revise as appropriate mission statement
- Conduct senior outcomes survey
- Conduct follow-up on action plan

Year 2 - Review and revise as appropriate goals and learning outcomes.
- Conduct senior outcomes survey
- Conduct follow-up on action plan

Year 3 - Review and revise as appropriate assessment instruments and processes
- Conduct senior outcomes survey
- Conduct alumni survey

Year 4 - Analyze assessment data
- Conduct senior outcomes survey
- Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats) using focus groups composed of faculty, staff, and students.

Year 5 - Draft planning and assessment portfolio
- Conduct senior outcomes survey
- Prepare to initiate action plan

Internal and External Context

The primary function of the development of planning and assessment portfolios is to enhance the decision-making of faculty and staff with professional responsibilities in the areas under review. Their efforts to ensure the quality of the programs and services they offer must additionally advance the strategic goals of the institution. Thus it is important that the action plans presented in the portfolios take into consideration the goals and initiatives contained in the institution’s strategic plan. It is no less important that initiatives identified in the action plans inform the institution’s periodic updating of its strategic plan. Those engaged in the planning and assessment process should additionally have a basic familiarity with the expectation of the Higher Learning Commission as the planning and assessment portfolios will serve as critical documents in the accreditation process.