What is Student Learning Outcomes Assessment?
Broadly speaking, Student Learning Outcomes Assessment is the “systematic collection, review, and use of information to understand and improve learning and educational programs and services” (HLC Fundamentals of Student Learning Assessment). Its purpose is to improve the quality of programs and services at the college, provide data that can inform decision-making, show accountability and dedication to our students and community partners, and present evidence required by multiple accrediting bodies and funding sources.
What exactly is a Student Learning Outcome? According to the National Institute for Learning Outcome Assessment (NILOA), Student Learning Outcomes are "statements that clearly indicate the expected knowledge, skills, attitudes, competencies, and habits of mind that students are expected to acquire at an institution of higher education.”
One can think of student learning outcomes as tied to “student learning objectives.” Objectives might begin with the phrase “The student will be able to…” with outcomes being phrased as “The student does….” The objective is for the student to arrive at the outcome. During any academic course or co-curricular learning experience, students demonstrate their learning through responses to any assignment, whether it’s a quiz or exam, an essay or other writing, a presentation, a performance or activity, a survey, or anything else that allows students to demonstrate their learning. From these demonstrations, faculty and staff can determine if the student has learned what the course or co-curricular experience intended.
What Learning Outcomes are Assessed at SCC?
SCC assesses student learning outcomes at 3 levels: Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs), Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), and Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs), which are also SCC’s General Education Learning Outcomes.
CLOs officially state what students can claim they learned upon completion of any course taken at SCC. CLOs for each course are determined by each discipline’s Instructional Council, which are district-level committees made up of discipline-specific faculty representatives from each of the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges. CLOs for every course can be found at the Maricopa Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation Course Search website. Simply type in any course prefix and number without any spaces (e.g. ENG101) and hit Enter. They are called “Course Competencies” on that page, which are essentially each course’s learning outcomes expressed as learning objectives.
PLOs officially state what students can claim to have learned upon completion of any degree or certificate program offered at SCC. These outcomes were developed during district-level Guided Pathways mapping sessions between 2018 and 2020 and are reviewed by Instructional Council and Field of Interest committees. PLOs for every degree or certificate program can be found at the Maricopa Center for Curriculum and Transfer Articulation Program Search website. To find PLOs either type the name of the discipline into the “Title” box (e.g. Physics) or check one of the boxes on the right side menu and then click “Search” at the bottom of the page. You can also find information about PLOs on SCC’s Degrees and Certificates webpage. Search or scroll down and click on any program. Then look for “What You’ll Learn” to see the program’s PLOs.
ILOs are what SCC officially claims students will learn by being educated at SCC, both through its General Education program and more broadly through the educational experience the college provides. Many students attend SCC intending to transfer to a university with their Arizona General Education Curriculum (AGEC) certificate, a 35-credit hour program. The AGEC certificate is foundational in many majors at SCC, but a lot more learning happens at SCC beyond the AGEC. The sum of the many learning experiences that students can expect to find at SCC all relate to its Institutional Learning Outcomes, which were updated through the collaborative work of roughly 100 SCC faculty and staff members during the 2023-2024 academic year and are continually reviewed. SCC’s ILOs, their Performance Indicators, and the rubrics to evaluate them can be found on the Access SCC’s Learning Outcomes page.
Curricular and Co-Curricular
All three levels of learning outcomes are assessed in both curricular and co-curricular contexts. “Curricular” refers to formal coursework. “Co-curricular” refers to activities, events, or programs that complement the formal curriculum of courses and programs and enhance the institutional learning experience, such as might occur through Service Learning, educational workshops and conferences, and other voluntary or recommended student learning activities outside of formal coursework.
Student learning outcomes at all levels are items that students should be able to claim as achievements when they apply for transfer to a university or compose their CVs and cover letters for employment after attending SCC.
How is Assessment Conducted at SCC?
Every faculty and co-curricular staff member is responsible for providing ways that students can demonstrate the expected learning outcomes of courses or co-curricular learning experiences. Every assignment (exam, essay, performance, survey, etc.) provides the potential for assessment. It becomes a formal assessment when faculty or staff evaluate the assignment in terms that are specific to one or more stated learning outcomes with the aim to make changes to improve student learning related to those outcomes.
A formal assessment occurs as a 4-Step process (PLAN, DO, CHECK, ACT) that happens in two phases: as a “FIRST ASSESSMENT,” and then as a “REASSESSMENT” to determine whether student learning improved as a result of any changes.
Involves communicating intradepartmentally, identifying assessment needs, setting objectives, and determining steps to fulfill assessment responsibilities.
At the beginning of each academic year, the SCC Assessment Academy will announce which two Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) will guide the assessment initiative that year.
At the beginning of each semester, degree and certificate programs determine what Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) best align with one or both of that year’s ILOs and will therefore be in focus that semester. General Education courses use the ILOs as their PLOs. Departments then determine which Course or Co-curricular Learning Outcome(s) (CLOs) align with those PLOs/ILOs based on which courses and events will be offered that semester.
Each semester some faculty and staff will be conducting a “First Assessment” and others will be conducting a “Reassessment.” Reassessments may be from the previous semester or academic year, which means that there may be some overlap with yearly PLO/ILO focus.
In planning for First Assessments, faculty and staff determine when outcome concepts are Introduced, Reinforced, and Met within the course or co-curricular experience, and plan to conduct the assessment when the outcome(s) should be met.
In planning for Reassessments, faculty and staff review the previous semester’s assessment data and any feedback received on that data or the assessment design. Be sure to make any changes deemed necessary by the First Assessment.
Involves implementing a First Assessment, or a Reassessment after adjustments.
Any assignment used for an assessment must focus on what students should do or know in relation to the chosen learning outcome. The learning must be observable and measurable through the assignment, and the assignment must allow one to identify strengths and weaknesses in student learning.
The measure of student learning is often done through a rubric, an answer key, or a checklist, but also may be done through a qualitative analysis. However, assessment is different from grading. Grades may involve a variety of requirements, while assessment focuses only on the specific learning outcome.
For example, a Course Learning Outcome in ENG 101 is that the student can “generate, format, and edit writing using appropriate technologies.” An instructor could assign an essay and grade it for many things, but to assess this outcome a rubric might look like this:
| Criteria | 1 - Minimally Proficient | 2 - Partially Proficient | 3 - Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generation of Writing Using Technology | Struggles to generate writing using technology; limited proficiency with word processing tools or digital platforms. | Uses technology to generate writing, but may have some difficulty with features (e.g., formatting, organizing documents). | Effectively uses appropriate technologies to generate writing, demonstrating proficiency with word processing tools and digital platforms. |
| Formatting Writing Using Technology | Formatting is inconsistent or inappropriate; struggles to apply basic formatting tools (e.g., margins, fonts, headings) | Applies basic formatting using technology but may lack consistency or mastery of advanced formatting features. | Consistently formats writing appropriately, utilizing advanced formatting tools (e.g., styles, headings, tables) to enhance readability and presentation. |
| Editing Writing Using Technology | Limited use of technological tools for editing; struggles to use features like spell-check, track changes, or comments. | Uses some editing tools (e.g., spell-check, comments) but may miss key issues or fail to fully utilize available features. | Effectively uses editing tools and technologies (e.g., spell-check, grammar check, track changes) to revise and polish writing. |
It is up to individual departments to determine whether a common assignment and/or common rubric is used for assessment in courses taught by multiple instructors.
Full assignments or portions of assignments conducted or evaluated through Canvas can be identified as assessments using Heliocampus, which will align the assignment’s evaluation data with the relevant Course Learning Outcome (CLO), Program Learning Outcome (PLO), and Institutional Learning Outcome (ILO). For First Assessments, see “Fulfill Your Assessment Responsibility” for instructions to initially link the assignment to outcomes and set thresholds. Assignments not conducted or evaluated through Canvas can access Heliocampus directly to enter align data. See “Fulfill Your Assessment Responsibility” for instructions to initially link assignments when not working through Canvas.
Assignments used for Reassessment will already be linked in Heliocampus from the First Assessment. Before conducting a Reassessment, be sure to implement any adjustments in the instruction or resources of the course or co-curricular experience deemed necessary to improve student learning outcomes.
Involves analyzing assessment data, looking for evidence of student learning improvement, and investigating where adjustments could be made.
Faculty and Co-curricular Staff Members: After you’ve collected assessment data, you will be asked to complete a 2-part analysis:
- Reflection: What do the results say about student learning related to Course Learning Outcome or Co-curricular Learning Outcome (CLO) being assessed? What strengths and weaknesses in student learning can be learned from the results? Where did students seem to be struggling the most?
- Continuous Improvements: Based on your reflection, what revisions to instructional methods could be made between now and a subsequent assessment to improve student achievement of learning outcomes? Are there any additional resources that could improve student learning outcomes?
For Reassessments of the same outcome after adjustments have been made, a third question should be addressed:
- Reassessment: Did the adjustments you made after the previous assessment result in student learning improvement? Explain the evidence.
Department Chairs/PLO Leads: Heliocampus collects all the assessments that are aligned with specific Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), providing an aggregated view of how students are meeting PLOs across multiple sections and courses. Department Chairs and/or Departmental Assessment Leads should complete a 2-part analysis of the results for each assessed PLO:
- Reflection: What do the results say about student learning related to the Program Learning Outcome (PLO) being assessed?
- Continuous Improvements: Based on your reflection, what support can be given at the departmental level to improve faculty and staff assessment and student achievement of the PLO?
If the PLO is being reassessed after adjustments have been made, a third question should be addressed:
- Reassessment: Did the adjustments you made after the previous assessment result in student learning improvement? Explain the evidence.
SCC Assessment Academy Mentors: Heliocampus also collects all assessments aligned with SCC’s General Education/Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs), providing an aggregated view of how students are meeting ILOs across campus. The SCC Assessment Academy will complete the following analysis:
- Reflection: What do the results say about student learning related to each ILO being assessed that year
- Continuous Improvements: Based on the reflection, what support could be given campus-wide to improve faculty and staff assessment and student achievement of ILOs?
Involves making the adjustments needed to improve student learning outcomes.
This is the step where faculty and co-curricular staff modify the learning approach, instructional methods, resources, etc. in their course or co-curricular experience as warranted by the assessment analysis, so the next time students have the learning experience, even more students might be successful, and higher standards might be reached. This portion of the assessment process is often called “Closing the Loop,” since it brings the assessment process to its ultimate purpose, which is to use the assessment results to improve student learning and success.
After Reassessments, further adjustments may be needed. It is up to each department to determine whether a second Reassessment should be conducted immediately or if the outcome can wait until the next time it appears in the cycle.
The Continuing Assessment Cycle
Over the course of a department’s 4-year Program Review cycle, all Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) should be assessed through the courses and co-curricular experiences that comprise the degree or certificate program’s sequence. Ideally, all Course or Co-curricular Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for each learning experience will also be assessed during that period, but comprehensive PLO assessment is the priority.
Rather than assessing everything all the time, the SCC Assessment Academy recommends an organized pattern by which 1-3 PLOs are in focus each semester in alignment with the campus-wide ILOs in focus that semester.
Each program’s “curriculum map” can be a useful tool for visualizing everything that should be assessed during the program’s 4-year Program Review cycle. The work of creating curriculum maps for each program began during the Fall 2024 “Campus Conversation,” when roughly 80 faculty members plotted their degree or certificate program course sequence against their Program Learning Outcomes on a “Curriculum Assessment Matrix,” indicating where in the program sequence their PLOs are “Introduced (I),” “Reinforced (R),” or “Met (M).” They then indicated which assignments in the represented courses are used to assess each outcome, what measurement tool is used to measure the learning, and what the benchmark for success is.
Student Affairs staff also participated in this mapping project, considering how the co-curricular learning experiences they provide apply to specific Program and General Education learning outcomes.
If you have not seen your program’s curriculum map, ask your department chair about it.
How Does Student Learning Outcomes Assessment Relate to Faculty Evaluation Plans (FEPs) or Individual Development Plans (IDPs)?
Student learning outcomes assessment is not a faculty or staff evaluation. The data collected through the college’s formal assessment process is solely used to evaluate student learning in relation to the college's learning outcome claims with an aim to improve student learning. Individual faculty and staff performance is not a factor in the analysis conducted by the SCC Assessment Academy or Program Learning Outcome (PLO) leads. It should also not be a factor in each faculty or staff member’s own analysis of their assessment results. That analysis should be student-centered only.
FEPs and IDPs are where faculty evaluation takes place, and staff evaluation happens through departmental protocols. Faculty and staff might utilize their assessment work for a dual purpose, bringing their assessment results into the FEP, IDP, or staff evaluation process. However, that would only be voluntary and is not part of SCC’s learning outcomes assessment initiative.
How Can You Learn More About Assessment?
One way to learn more about student learning outcomes assessment is to take an SCC Assessment Academy course. For faculty, some of these courses will provide Faculty Professional Growth hours. Contact Regina Harrison in the SCC Center for Teaching and Learning for more information about SCC Assessment Academy course offerings.
You can also investigate the following resources:
“Evidence-Based Storytelling in Assessment” by Natasha Jankowski
“Closing the Assessment Loop” by Trudy Banta and Charles Blaich
The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)