Continuous Assessment/Improvement

Mission Statement

Each program should create a mission statement that formalizes the philosophy and vision of the program as a clear and concise declaration. With the institution’s stated goals of excellence in research, education, and service in mind, each unit should craft a mission statement emphasizing its uniqueness and strengths towards accomplishing each of the goals. The mission statement should be no longer than two to three sentences and should be crafted for long-term vision. It should be re-evaluated every year to make sure that the unit adheres to the stated philosophy and vision.

Program Learning Outcomes

The learning outcomes should be three to five sentences to describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities expected of the graduates of the program. The departments may have separate learning outcomes for formative and summative assessment. The formative assessment may be used to assess students just after completing their sophomore year.

Step 1: Establish Assessment Plan Benchmarks

Benchmarks are predefined standards to objectively measure the quality of learning outcomes. The faculty should establish benchmarks for both formative and summative phases of assessment. Benchmarks are essential to continuous quality improvement and help to overcome complacency.

The benchmarks will be dependent on the description of the assessment method and will describe the criteria for success.

Step 2: Collect Data

The mode of data collection should be identified based on the assessment plan. Data needs to be reported in the form of group data to preserve the privacy of students as well as faculty. The personnel involved in data collection should be identified, and data should be collected from different sources, including the office of institutional research and individual faculty members.

Step 3: Analyze Results

The data collected should be summarized and reported in a meaningful way to the faculty. The faculty members should reflect on this summary and provide input on how to improve the program. The strong points of the program should be used to advertise the program to new students as well as to employers. This self-reflection should also help in analyzing the areas that need improvement. This will help to improve the overall quality of the program.

From the feedback of the faculty at large, the Committee should develop a recommendation for next steps, including a plan and timeline to implement any changes. It should also include the key personnel involved in data collection and reporting.

Step 4: Provide Final Report to Provost

The final report to the Provost will be routed through the appropriate Dean. The report for each program will be provided on a form. As a hypothetical example, the set of program learning outcomes is shown in Figure 1, and an example report on one outcome is shown in Figure 2.

**Figure 1: Set of Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)**
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)	Direct / Indirect Measure (Indicate number of measures for each PLO. Must have at least one Direct Measure per PLO.)	Data Collection Date Range	Data Analysis & Reporting Schedule
PLO 1: Describe the social, political, economic, and cultural determinants of law.	1 Direct Measures Mid-term exam essay question in LS 430 (fall) 0 Indirect Measures	AY 2020-2025	Annual Review Meeting July 2025
PLO 2: Apply legal reasoning and analysis in common law, civil law, and other legal systems.	1 Direct Measures Presentation in LS 480 (spring) 0 Indirect Measures	AY 2021-2026	Annual Review Meeting July 2026
PLO 3: Analyze the cross-cultural and international valences of law in distinctive social orders.	1 Direct Measures Mid-term research paper in LS 480 (spring) 0 Indirect Measures	AY 2022-2027	Annual Review Meeting July 2027
PLO 4: Explain the functioning of legal institutions and how those institutions differ from other societal institutions.	1 Direct Measures Presentation in LS 480 (spring) 0 Indirect Measures	AY 2023-2028	Annual Review Meeting July 2028
PLO 5: Navigate, access, and summarize publicly available legal resources (laws, regulations, court cases and secondary scholarly literature on legal topics).	1 Direct Measures Final project LS 430 (fall) 0 Indirect Measures	AY 2024-2029	Annual Review Meeting July 2029
Additional Student Success Assessment Question (as drafted by the department or committee) What effect did the recent change in program course requirements have on student achievement for PLO 4?	0 Direct Measures 1 Indirect Measures Exit interview	AY 2025-2030	Annual Review Meeting July 2030

**Figure 2: Example PLO Report**
PLO 1: Describe the social, political, economic, and cultural determinants of law.
1. Title of measure: Mid-term exam essay question in LS 430
2. Describe how the measure aligns to the PLO: This essay question asks students to write about how both the industrial revolution and romantic ideas about nature led by about 1900 to the rise of the Conservation Movement and new laws regulating access to and use of natural resources.
3. Type	X Direct Measure ❑ Indirect Measure
4. Domain (if Direct Measure)	X Examination ❑ Product ❑ Performance
5. Point in program assessment is measured	When? Strongly recommend assessing in final year but can also assess earlier for comparison ❑ In first year of program ❑ In second year of program ❑ In third year of program and/or X In final year of program*	Where does the assessment occur (e.g.. course name/number or how it is administered if outside of a course)? Legal Studies (LS) 430, mid-term exam
6. Population measured	X All students ❑ Sample of students (Describe below)
7. Frequency of data collection	❑ Once/semester X Once/year (each fall) ❑ Once/two years ❑ Other – describe below
8. Proficiency Threshold: What constitutes “met” for proficiency? How do you determine if students meet that threshold (e.g.., rubric, exam score)?	Describe: To be considered proficient in this PLO, the expectation is that individual students will score at the “Meets Expectations” level or higher for each criterion on the essay rubric for this question.
9. Proficiency Target: How many students in the program do you expect to have “met” your Threshold (e.g., 70%)?	Describe: This is an essential outcome, and the expectation is that 80% of all students will meet or exceed the threshold noted above.
10. Who is responsible for implementing this assessment? (e.g.., course instructor)	Describe: The instructors assigned to teach Legal Studies (LS) 430 will ensure the question is asked on the mid-term exam, use the provided rubric for the essay question, and send the de-identified set of individual student rubric scores to the undergraduate curriculum committee at the end of the fall semester.
11. Who is responsible for analyzing the results? (e.g.., curriculum committee)	Describe: The undergraduate curriculum committee analyzes this to determine whether the expectations are Met, Partially Met, Not Met, or Unknown as regards PLO 1.

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