Evaluating Student Learning
Modified Form E-1-A for Amherst College Departments/Programs
from the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of
the New England Association of Schools and Colleges
Please fill this out electronically and e-mail to the Committee on Educational Policy through Nancy Ratner (nkratner@amherst.edu) by March 1, 2012.
For help in formulating learning goals and determining what constitutes evidence for achievement, please contact Nancy Ratner, Janet Tobin (jstobin@amherst.edu) or Rick Griffiths (ftgriffiths@amherst.edu).
Department/Program _____________________________
1) What knowledge and skills does the department/program expect its majors to have acquired before they are graduated? (By graduation a major should be able to…)
2) Where are these expectations published? (Where are the department’s expectations accessible to potential majors: on the web or in the printed catalog and/or in handouts explaining the major? If on the web, please give the URL.)
3) Other than GPA, what evidence or data are used to determine whether graduates have achieved the stated goals for the major? (Direct evidence includes comprehensive exams, capstone projects, standardized tests, collections of student work [portfolios], and course-embedded assessment. Indirect evidence includes exit interviews, graduate follow-up studies of employment and enrollment, focus groups, and surveys of students, graduates, and employers).
4) Who interprets the evidence? What is the process? (Who, if not the whole department, interprets the evidence and for recommends changes in course offerings or major requirements?)
5) What changes have been made as a result of using this evidence? (Have there been recent changes to your major program or courses? Why were they made?)