Assessment Surveys & Reports
McPherson College informs its practices through numerous direct and indirect assessments. Some assessments are administered annually and others are administered periodically on a set schedule. Click on each title below to learn more about these assessments and view assessment results.
Annual Assessments
General Education Assessment
General education assessment is conducted bi-annually on Assessment Day. General education assessments are taken by classified senior students. Faculty administer a performance task and a team of reviewers score students’ work. The assessment process helps identify student learning strengths and areas of improvement. The Education Policy Committee receives recommendations from faculty for change and determines actions to take based on assessment findings.
Academic Department and Unit Reports
Each department and identified unit at McPherson College complete an annual assessment report. The reports include an area of focus for the year, what the department or unit plans to do to improve the area of focus, and how the success of their efforts will be measured. Annual assessment reports are provided to the Institutional Research and Assessment office and inform academic and unit program review.
Course Evaluations-IDEA
Student course evaluations are conducted each term in every course for every instructor. The evaluation form includes essential student learning objectives for the course and 40 questions about the quality of the course and the instructor. Faculty then have access to individualized reports indicating their strengths and areas for improvement. Faculty can also compare themselves to aggregate data at the department, college, and national level.
College Senior Survey (CSS)
The CSS is administered each spring to graduating seniors. The CSS connects academic, civic, and diversity outcomes with a comprehensive set of college experiences to measure the impact of college.
Periodic Assessments
Academic Program and Departmental Planning
To assure that academic programs evaluate their program’s success in advancing student learning and contributing to the college’s mission, academic program outcomes are assessed through annual department reporting and through six-year cycles of program/summative assessment review. The Guidelines for Academic Program Review and Department Planning describes program requirements —a self-study of student learning and curricular effectiveness—to evaluate the programs’ success in advancing student learning.
Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI)
The Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) is administered every three years to all full-time undergraduate students. The SSI measures student satisfaction and priorities in areas such as academic advising, campus support and climate, safety and security, student centeredness, instructional effectiveness, and responsiveness to diverse populations. The data are shared with each academic department and unit on campus. The information is used to inform annual assessment reports and academic program review.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
This survey assesses student engagement in areas such as academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty, and campus environment. It also assesses participation in high-impact practices such as internships, research, service learning, and study abroad programming. The survey is administered to freshmen and seniors every three years.
Alumni Survey
This survey is administered to alumni one, three, five, and 10 years post-graduation. The alumni and advancement office uses the information to improve alumni programming and contacts. The survey asks students about their current employment or graduate school status which are both key college success indicators, volunteer service since graduating, and how well their education prepared them for graduate school and/or their career.