What is academic program assessment?

At Texas A&M University, assessment of student learning occurs at multiple levels--course, program, and institution. Program Assessment is the process of evaluating what students know and what skills they can demonstrate within the scope of the defined Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) of their academic program. Faculty collect data, discuss the findings, and use that information to develop and implement an action plan to further improve the student learning experience in the program. 

The goal of program assessment is continuous improvement, and therefore the Program Assessment process at Texas A&M is cyclical in nature, consisting of 3 main phases:

1. Plan phase: Faculty collectively decide which PLO(s) will be prioritized for assessment and what direct measures will be used to collect learning data from students.
2. Data Collection phase: Faculty implement their plan for obtaining learning data over the course of an academic year.
3. Report phase: Learning data is analyzed and discussed within the faculty group. The findings are used to inform improvements to be implemented in program, specifically focused on what and how students are learning.

The University requires that programs document their Program Assessment processes. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Evaluation facilitates documentation in HelioCampus (formerly AEFIS). Program Coordinators are expected to document their program's Plan and Report annually.

Academic Program Review & Program Assessment

Academic Program Review (APR) is coordinated by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. It is a much broader process than annual Program Assessment, but requires consideration and documentation of learning outcomes assessment. Departments submit documentation for each program and are reviewed on a 10-year cycle. It is OIEE's goal to help departments prepare for upcoming APRs. 

For more information about the APR process, visit the Academic Affairs website.

Learn more about the how Program Assessment plays a part in the APR process by reading this Occasional Paper published by NILOA: Program Review and Assessment for Continuous Improvement: Asking the Right Questions.

Who participates in Program Assessment?

The following academic programs are required to participate in program assessment and submit annual documentation:

• All undergraduate programs
• All graduate programs
• Standalone and Degree-Dependent certificate programs

Regularly low-enrolled programs are required to submit annual documentation. In order to report findings, programs should aggregate data across multiple cycles. See below for minimum reporting numbers. 

• Undergraduate: 10 students
• Graduate: 5 students

Major-Dependent certificate programs, combined 3+2 programs, and minor programs are NOT required to submit annual documentation.

NOTE: Individual tracks or emphases within a degree program are not required to be documented separately. 

Programs that are being inactivated are required to submit annual documentation until ​the program inactivation proposal is approved at the Provost level in the Curricular ​Approval Request System (CARS). 

Departments appoint one or more Program Coordinators for each academic program to be responsible for ensuring annual documentation is submitted annually based on University guidelines and due dates. 

To see more specific information and resources relevant to the Program Coordinator role, please visit the Program Coordinator page.

Where do we start? 

If assessment is brand new to you, we recommend checking out the resource below by clicking the button. That resource will walk you through all of the available resources step-by-step to help you get comfortable with the Program Assessment Process. You'll be directed to our Assessment 101 resource page first, where you'll find general information about assessment, some helpful videos explaining each stage of the assessment process, and other resources such as the Center for Teaching Excellence's self-paced module, Writing Learning Outcomes.

Additionally we recommend reviewing the rest of the information on this page, with particular attention paid to identifying your college/school's designated Assessment Liaison.

If you're ready for a deeper dive, review the Academic Program Assessment Guidelines, a comprehensive resource which can be used as a companion manual while documenting your program's Assessment Plan and Report. It describes requirements, best practices, and tips to help you with both your assessment strategy and how to document it.

And as always, we are happy to meet with you to discuss program assessment and answer any questions you may have. Email us at assessment@tamu.edu to get something scheduled!

When are assessment reports due?

• Assessment Plans for the upcoming academic year are submitted every Spring semester in April. 
• Assessment Reports for the previous academic year are submitted twice every Fall semester--a draft version in October and a final version in December.

These due dates vary slightly each year as they fall on Fridays. Visit the Program Coordinator webpage to see specific due dates for the current/active Program Assessment cycles.

Please be aware that College/School Assessment Liaisons have authority to determine their own due dates for Assessment Plans and Reports. If your Liaison does not communicate different deadlines, programs are expected to follow the due dates published on the OIEE website. Automatic reminder emails based on the published due dates have been set up in the HelioCampus system, so please note that you may receive notifications that communicate different due dates from what your Assessment Liaison has communicated to you. 

Where/how do we submit the Assessment Plan & Report?

Texas A&M University uses HelioCampus to document Assessment Plans & Reports. Instructors and students automatically have an account in HelioCampus. OIEE can manually set up user accounts for staff. Users are prompted to log in using their NetID and password. Users who have a HelioCampus account must request to be added to academic program(s) in the system, which provides access to the relevant Program Assessment forms.

Need access to Program Assessment forms in HelioCampus? Click HERE to request access. Please be sure to include the specific program(s) you need access to.

This HelioCampus (AEFIS) User Guide shows how to:   

• Log in to the system                                                                    
• Access, navigate, and submit assessment forms
• View form history and save your work for later

Who is the Assessment Report shared with?

When an Assessment Report is completed at the end of a cycle, the report is archived in the HelioCampus system and is accessible by individuals who hold the Program Coordinator, Final Approver (usually a Department Head), or Assessment Liaison role. 

OIEE provides final report ratings (Exemplary, Sufficient, Needs Improvement, Noncompliant) to Assessment Liaisons. OIEE does not share Assessment Reports directly with any other parties, with the exception of the University's 5-year and 10-year SACSCOC accreditation reports where they may be included as supporting documents.

Who is my Assessment Liaison?

Each college, school, and campus has appointed at least one individual to serve as the Assessment Liaison for that unit.

Learn more about the Assessment Liaison role here. 

College/School/Branch Campus	Assessment Liaison
Agriculture & Life Sciences	Craig Coates, ccoates@tamu.edu
Architecture	Katie Reed, katiereed@tamu.edu
Arts & Sciences	Terri Pantuso, tpantuso@tamu.edu
Bush School of Government & Public Service	C. Blease Graham, cole_graham@tamu.edu
Dentistry	Aparna Biradar, biradar@tamu.edu
Education & Human Development	Nahed Abdelrahman, nrahman@tamu.edu
Engineering	Hamid Parsaei (UG Programs), hamid.parsaei@tamu.edu Duncan "Hank" Walker (GR Programs), d-walker@tamu.edu
Galveston Campus	Donna Lang, langd@tamu.edu Michael Sweeney, sweeneym@tamu.edu
Mays Business School	Shannon Deer, sknight@tamu.edu
Medicine	Teresa Isbell, tisbell@tamu.edu
Nursing	Sharon Dormire, sdormire@tamu.edu  Matthew Sorenson, msorenson@tamu.edu
Performance, Visual & Fine Arts	Christine Bergeron, cbergeron@tamu.edu
Pharmacy	Simi Gunaseelan, sgunaseelan@tamu.edu  Asim Abu-Baker, abu-baker@tamu.edu
Public Health	Eric Wilson, eric.wilson@tamu.edu
Qatar Campus	Ryan McLawhon, ryan.mclawhon@tamu.edu
School of Law	Terri Helge, thelge@tamu.edu  David Dye, ddye@tamu.edu  John Murphy, john.murphy@tamu.edu
Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences	Ashley Seabury, agustafson@tamu.edu  Kristin Chaney (DVM Program), kchaney@cvm.tamu.edu