DASA Assessment Highlights 2022-2023

Assessment within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs seeks to promote continuous improvement of programs, services, and courses. Each year, through the annual assessment reporting process, DASA units measure their progress towards their outcomes and reflect on ways to enhance their work. This process requires that DASA staff and faculty engage in significant effort to gather data, analyze results, and disseminate and discuss results.

Read the 2022-2023 DASA Outcomes Assessment Report

Assessment Highlights

This showcase seeks to highlight the best practices DASA units demonstrated in their 2022-2023 assessment activities as described in their report: establishing clear criteria, creating an assessment committee, updating unit outcomes and taking well-aligned actions. When units engage in best practices, assessment work may be more effective and insightful.

While DASA Assessment applauds the great assessment work many DASA units completed in 2022-2023, this page highlights ROTC – Air Force, University Housing – Residence Life, Marketing and Communications, and DASA Finance.

Establish Clear Criteria

Assessment criteria are decided in advance and set a clear expectation for the results of the assessment. Effective criteria are grounded in disciplinary standards, past performance, or professional expertise.

Highlight: ROTC – Air Force

The Air Force ROTC utilizes assessment criteria that is set by the U.S. Air Force. The criteria are a set of shared nation-wide expectations for minimum performance. The U.S. Air Force requires students to score at least 70% on written and oral communication assessments. NC State’s Air Force ROTC expands on this criteria, desiring students to score 90% in written and oral communication assessments. The establishment of clear and ambitious criteria ensures that Air Force ROTC is producing confident and qualified USAF officers.

DASA Assessment Tip:

Set clear criteria. To ensure that the assessment criteria are justified, work with unit faculty/staff to determine the basis for your criteria.

Create an Assessment Committee

Assessment committees ensure that faculty/staff are sharing in the responsibilities of assessment. Committee members regularly discuss assessment plans, collect data, and analyze results.

Highlight: University Housing – Residence Life

In University Housing – Residence Life six staff members sit on the assessment committee. These individuals take the lead or support different components of their assessment projects. The committee also engages in professional development to grow their skills and knowledge. In Residence Life, having assessment as a shared responsibility has meant that more individuals understand and buy-in to the data-driven changes made each year. When asked about the committee Sage Goodwin said, “As a Residence Life Assessment Committee member, I have learned how we aim to make decisions based on evidence and actual experiences in the department. I have had the opportunity to see assessment work used from its inception and how it shapes our work today!”

DASA Assessment Tip:

Assessment committees are an opportunity to train more faculty/staff to think strategically about the role of the unit and program improvement.

Students make their way back to a residence area after walking past Talley and Wolf Plaza on main campus. Photo by Marc Hall

Update Unit Outcomes

Unit outcomes articulate the priorities of the unit. Even though most units do not drastically change their role regularly, they are also rarely stagnate. To keep the assessment of your unit relevant and meaningful, it is critical to regularly examine the outcomes.

Highlight: Marketing and Communications

This past year Marketing and Communications staff decided it was time to revisit their unit outcomes. Marketing and Communications met with DASA Assessment to talk about successes and challenges of the current outcomes and talk about how their role within DASA has evolved. Marketing and Communications found that some of their outcomes were no longer a priority for their work while other critical components were not present. Marketing and Communications’ new outcomes more closely align with their mission and daily work.

DASA Assessment Tip:

If your assessment work does not yield results that make a meaningful difference to your unit, it may be time to revisit your outcomes.

Take Well-Aligned Actions

Taking action on assessment results is critical to the assessment cycle. Making data-driven decisions means that the actions taken are well aligned with the areas for improvement identified in the data.

Highlight: DASA Finance

Taking well-aligned actions is a strength of DASA Finance. In their most recent assessment report staff found that 26% of all P-Card transactions needed additional follow-up. DASA Finance staff identified multiple actions to take throughout the last academic year and for the upcoming year that directly relate to their assessment results. These actions include updating cardholder onboarding, updating spending guidelines, and recertifying p-card holders and reconcilers to reduce the number of audit findings.

DASA Assessment Tip:

Actions should not focus on how to improve the assessment process, rather they should seek to improve assessment results. Clearly state how the actions you are taking will impact the areas for improvement in the assessment results.