The Academic Program Assessment Guidelines is a comprehensive manual that guides Program Coordinators step-by-step through the documentation process. We recommend reviewing the manual before developing your program's Assessment Plan as it describes key components of learning outcomes assessment. The manual includes:
- An introduction to program assessment at Texas A&M University
- How to use HelioCampus (formerly AEFIS) to document your Assessment Plan & Report
- Detailed information about each section of the Plan & Report, including the criteria Liaisons use to provide feedback
- FAQs for each section of the Plan & Report
Recent Updates to the Guidelines Manual
February 2024: Clarified information about the APR process as it relates to Program Assessment; clarified language in the OIEE Review section; Information about the types of actions appropriate to include in the report were moved from the FAQs to the first page of the Use of Results section.
Minimum Requirements for Assessment Plans & Reports
More information and examples can be found in the Academic Program Assessment Guidelines.
Assessment Plans
- At least one Program Learning Outcome (PLO) must be included in the submitted Plan.
- Each program should have identified at least 3 PLOs overall, which may be assessed on rotation.
- Best practice is assessing all outcomes within a 5 year period.
- Each PLO must be accompanied by at least one DIRECT measure.
- Targets must include specific thresholds that directly align with the related measure and PLO.
Assessment Reports
- Findings must be disaggregated if the report includes:
- 2 or more credentials (e.g., MS/PhD)
- A program offered via different modes of delivery (e.g., FTF option and Online option)
- Regularly low-enrolled programs must aggregate their data across cycles in order to report findings annually.
- Undergraduate: Min. of 10 students for reporting
- Graduate: Min. of 5 students for reporting
- The Use of Results section must describe an action designed to improve student learning--NOT an improvement to the assessment strategy.
- The Status Update section must refer to an action that was submitted in a Report from a previous assessment cycle.
Compliance Indicators
At the end of each Program Assessment cycle, OIEE staff review all Assessment Reports, provide final comments, and assign a Compliance Indicator. Compliance Indicators are simply meant to inform Program Coordinators and Liaisons of how well documentation requirements were met and to identify which programs might benefit from additional support during the documentation process. The rubric below is used to assign a Compliance Indicator to each report.
| Compliance Indicator | Description of Criteria |
|---|---|
Exemplary | The report goes above and beyond minimum requirements (see above). This generally includes the following:
|
Sufficient | All minimum requirements are met:
|
Needs Improvement | One or more of the following is true:
|
Noncompliant | Report was not submitted, or one or more required components of the report is missing, such as a PLO, direct measure, and/or use of results. The report does not demonstrate the program's commitment to continuous improvement of student learning. |