Academic Program Checklist

Use the Academic Program Checklist as a guide when developing your program assessment plan and report.

1. Institutional mission and intended outcomes

Have you indicated the institutional mission and the graduate attributes that your assessment plan supports?

Do you have a manageable number of outcomes? 4-6 outcomes is common.
Do your outcomes address what your program wants students to know (cognitive outcomes), think (attitudinal outcomes), or do (behavioral or performance outcomes)?
Have you met and collaborated as a program faculty in determining the program outcomes?
Are your outcomes clear, simple, straightforward, and nontechnical statements of what your program wants to happen as a result of its activities?
Do your outcomes apply to your entire program and not just to particular courses?
Have you clearly linked your program outcomes to one or more of Lindenwood's graduate attributes?

Have you used multiple means of assessment for each program outcome? For every intended outcome, include at least two means of assessing that outcome.
Is there a clear, logical connection between the program outcome and the chosen method of assessment?
For any given outcome, have you included at least one direct means of assessment?
Have you included enough detail in your plan such that it is clear to any reader what is being assessed how and when? Have you indicated the context for the assessment (e.g., a specific course such as senior seminar)?
Have you indicated a benchmark for each means of assessment?
Is each benchmark stated clearly?
In setting each benchmark, have you been ambitious but yet realistic?
Do you have program faculty consensus as to the chosen methods of assessment and benchmarks?

Are the data cited in the report relevant in that they help answer the question "were the outcomes achieved?"
Are sufficient data provided such that the reader can tell that the described assessments actually occurred?

Have you indicated actions your program has taken in response to your assessment findings (i.e., have you "closed the loop")?
Do the actions cited logically flow from the intended outcomes and assessment methods used?
Did you meet and collaborate as a program faculty when making decisions regarding actions taken in response to the findings?