An Inventory of Faculty Assessment Practices

The Inventory of Faculty Assessment Practices (2008-2009) profiles the methods faculty use in shaping instruction and in determining the progress and success of community college students. This survey benchmarks uses of assessments in college transfer courses and selected occupational programs across a world-wide array of sites and instructional modes. The inventory includes sections on

• pre- and post-testing,
• quizzes,
• major projects / case studies and papers,
• exams,
• labs,
• feedback on a variety of assignments,
• grading tools, and
• teaching tools and methods.

Data summary

In 2008 CTC has had more than 1300 instructors teaching throughout the world.  In attempting to gain a broad sample we also hope to learn how teachers adapt to wildly varying instructional circumstances.

Rationale
The CTC director of learning outcomes assessment began work with CTC’s Quality Enhancement Plan mid-way through implementation.  Interviews with department chairs, deans, and central campus faculty revealed widespread frustration at the perceived presumption that faculty were not already using appropriate assessments to continually adapt instruction. 

The Inventory of Faculty Assessment Practices gave faculty an avenue to report how they use assessment in teaching and instructional feedback as well as in reporting student achievement.

Discussions with faculty and piloting of the survey in several disciplines revealed a rich, creative array of assessment strategies.  In some ways, the survey became ‘too long.’  However, this has enabled faculty to share practices that are both practical and creative in leveraging assessment time to instructional purposes.

Expected Outcomes
This inventory enables us to discuss the extent to which faculty are implementing the material taught at assessment and accreditor conferences. We may wish to replicate this study to demonstrate classroom uses of assessment and track faculty efforts to integrate new practices.  Aspects of the discussion are such faculty issues as academic freedom, test security, teaching to the test, and fears of standardization perceived as diminishing the ingenuity and creativity of both the teaching profession and the college experience. Readers are invited to help take this to the next level by proposing additional angles for analysis and exploring ideas for follow-up.