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Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Skidmore College

Frequently Asked Questions

What is "Academic Assessment"?

Why should we want to be involved in assessment?

What is a typical assessment process?

Do we have to do the same thing every year?

When I hear "outcomes assessment", I think of an industrial process that leads to "products." Education is not so easily described, especially a liberal education. Is this the only way to think of assessment?

What techniques should we use to assess our students' learning?

Isn't the education of a student more than the sum total of classes that a student has taken? What about all the other experiences that students have? Are majors and departments the only units involved in assessment efforts?

How is assessment different from regular evaluation of students?

Why can't regular grades be used for assessment?

What is "authentic assessment"?

What is "embedded assessment"?

Please explain the term "value-added."

What do we mean by "critical thinking"? Doesn't this concept involve a multitude of skills and attitudes?

What is "primary trait analysis"?

Our major is regularly reviewed for accreditation. Won't that meet the need to assess general education or the major?

I don't understand how the assessment of the major can also serve as an assessment of general education. Aren't we assessing very different competencies?

What is "high-stakes testing"?

What is to prevent our assessment from becoming a high-stakes test? Is our purpose to design assessments that help us learn whether our students are learning what we hope they are learning, or is it to establish a test that our students must pass?

Assessment Contact

PHONE

FACULTY DIRECTOR OF ASSESSMENT
Kelly Sheppard
Office: CIS 210D
(518) 580-5135
ksheppar@skidmore.edu

COORDINATOR FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH AND ASSESSMENT
Kerry Nelson
Office: Hoge 206
(518) 580-8309
knelson3@skidmore.edu

INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS SPECIALIST
Amy Tweedy
Office: Hoge 209
(518) 580-5024
atweedy@skidmore.edu

MAIL

Faculty Director of Assessment
CIS 210D
Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Coordinator for Institutional Research and Assessment
Hoge 206
Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Institutional Effectiveness Specialist
Hoge 209
Skidmore College
815 North Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

HOURS

8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.