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BY- LAWS
(printable version - pdf file) History
of the Assessment Committee Introduction. The
Relationship between the Curriculum and Academic Standards (CAS)
committee and the Assessment Committee (AC) in Building and
Maintaining a Robust Curriculum. Almost from the beginning of Heartland Community College’s fairly brief history, the Curriculum and Academic Standards (CAS) Committee has played a crucial role not only in providing guidance to faculty writing new courses and programs, but also in assuring the creation of academically appropriate curricula characterized by suitable rigor and meaningful content. Creation of such curricula, however, is a task separate from their maintenance. This second component is both the duty and responsibility not of a single committee but of dedicated and committed faculty members and administrators whose goal is to assure high quality courses and curricula that can take their place among the best that community colleges can offer. To formalize efforts toward that goal, as well as to assist all faculty in these efforts, an additional advisory body, focused on assessment of general education outcomes, was formed somewhat later in the College’s history. Originally a sub-team of the CAS committee, more recently this group has become a separate standing committee at the College, at the same time widening its interest from general education courses alone to include academic assessment in general. This change is reflective of the difference between these two major instructional committees, CAS and the AC. Whereas CAS has as its primary responsibility the advisement of faculty in their tasks of creating or modifying challenging courses and programs, the Assessment Committee has the primary responsibility of creating and maintaining throughout these courses and programs a learning environment that supports student success. More specifically, CAS has the responsibility of assuring the College and the community that academic standards are appropriately rigorous and are fairly applied. The AC, by contrast, has the role of assuring that the course described by the syllabus is successful--that is, that the course fosters significant learning attainment, and that student learning outcomes are achieved both within the class and within the program overall. Thus both committees have responsibilities related to learning outcomes. CAS, through its advisement of faculty, helps them to select appropriate outcomes that are then incorporated into course syllabuses. The AC, by contrast, advises faculty and departments concerning the implementation of these outcomes both within courses and departmentally. At the same time, the AC works actively to promote internal research related to assuring course, departmental, and institutional effectiveness. It short, CAS’s role can be summarized as one of oversight, while the AC’s role is one of implementation. OPERATING GUIDELINES OF THE ASSESSMENT COMMITTEE Definition of Terms: Alternate: Person designated to cast
the vote of a committee member who cannot attend a regular meeting. Chair:
The chair is the presiding officer at the meetings who
coordinates all activities of the committee.
The chair is selected from among
the full time faculty members serving on the committee. The
term of the chair is one year. Co-chairs of ad hoc committee:
The co-chairs of
the ad hoc committee shall be the Vice Chair of the Assessment
Committee (AC) and the Vice Chair of the Curriculum and Academic
Standards Committee (CAS). Elected member:
One full time and one adjunct faculty member from each division
will each serve a two year term on the AC.
These are voting members and are eligible to serve as Chair
or Vice Chair. Ex-officio member:
Non-voting committee member, which includes the Vice President
of Instruction, Director of Institutional Research, CAS chair
and Dean of Instruction. LO’s:
Learning Outcomes statements. These
statements guide faculty in choosing
and implementing their assessment goals. Majority of quorum:
A majority of the quorum shall consist of a simple, numerical majority
of the voting members. Other members:
The committee may agree to the inclusion of other members who
express an interest in assessment, provided that the elected faculty
members approve their inclusion.
These members will have all the rights and privileges of
regular members, except that they may not serve as Chair or Vice
Chair, and will serve for two years. Quorum: A quorum shall consist of 50% of the faculty voting members.
A quorum is necessary in order to vote on an issue, but is
not necessary
to hold a meeting. Secretary:
The secretary will take minutes of each meeting, maintain a
record of the meetings and will assist the chair with preparing the
agenda. The secretary
is a non-voting member. Student Services Member:
This member will have all the rights and privileges of regular members,
except that this person may not serve as Chair or Vice Chair. This
member will serve for two years. Vice Chair: The Vice Chair assists the Chair and presides at meetings in his or her absence. The vice chair is elected by the committee yearly from among AC full time faculty members. The term of the vice chair is one year. Overview
of the Assessment Committee. The
Assessment Committee (AC) is a full standing committee consisting of
faculty, staff, and administrators. However, the membership is
predominantly composed of faculty, as assessment should be faculty
driven. The committee meets on a regular basis throughout the year to provide leadership for the College’s assessment efforts. In fulfillment of this role, the AC is involved in the following actions: o Advises faculty, departments and divisions about assessment goals, techniques and procedures o Maintains the College’s Learning Outcomes (LOs) in collaboration with CAS o Assists in the planning, development and implementation of assessment activities o Reports the results of assessment efforts o Provides a forum for meaningful discussions of assessment o
Provides assessment resources for faculty. I. Mission of the Assessment Committee. As educators, we at
Heartland Community College believe that institutional success is
measured by student success. Therefore, we are committed to
improving student performance, and we believe that assessment
provides perhaps the best tool for achieving that improvement by
furnishing us feedback about the effectiveness of teaching and the
quality of learning. Such assessment should be formative,1
occur on multiple levels,2 and uphold the integrity of
teaching and learning at Heartland Community College. The Assessment Committee (AC) provides faculty with a forum to discuss
and share assessment strategies, makes assessment resources
available to encourage continued learning about assessment, maintain
the College's Learning Outcomes, serves as a repository for faculty,
department and division assessment efforts and encourages
challenging and creative student-centered instruction. The AC
shall be faculty-led with appropriate support from the
Administration to carry out its responsibilities. [1Formative: of or relating to the growth and development. In term of assessment, we mean using the cycle of teaching, learning, assessment, and feedback throughout the endurance of the course. For a further explanation, see p. 5 of Classroom Assessment Techniques, by Cross and Angelo.] [2Multiple-levels
imply that assessments should include methods that examine student
learning in daily activities (individual assignments, short essays,
tests, etc.), throughout the whole course (portfolios, final exams,
cumulative papers, etc.), within the discipline or department
(program and department goals), and within the entire College
(learning outcomes).] II. Functions
of the Committee. The Assessment Committee has four main functions:
III.
Members of the Committee.
The AC is primarily composed of faculty; the majority being fulltime,
because of the College’s belief that faculty should have principal
ownership of the assessment process.
However, other stakeholders are also represented on the
committee. A.
Chair. The chair is the presiding officer at the meetings who
coordinates all activities of the committee.
The chair is selected from among the full time faculty
members serving on the committee. The term of the chair is one year. The
Chair is elected near the end of every academic year, in April.
Faculty who currently serve on the AC shall be eligible to
vote. All full time
faculty who are current members of the AC are eligible to be
nominated for AC chair. Candidates
for the position of chair shall be nominated by members of the
committee and be willing to serve.
If more than one candidate is nominated and accepts,
elections shall be by secret ballot; if, however, only one candidate
is nominated and accepts, confirmation of that person’s election
shall take place by voice vote unless any member wishes to have a
secret ballot on the candidate.
Self-nominations will be accepted. The AC secretary and
the ex-officio members will handle the nominations and voting
process and will count the ballots, if necessary.
The new chair will be announced as soon as the votes are
tallied. The new chair
will begin his or her responsibilities in August.
If the chair position changes hands due to an election, the
outgoing chair will work with the incoming chair during the summer
to ensure a smooth transition.
In order to be elected chair, the AC member must receive the
votes of a majority of the quorum. The term of the AC chair shall not exceed two consecutive
years. Since the chair will
only vote in the case of a tie, that person’s division must elect
a new representative to the committee to act as the voting member
for that division. In general the chair
serves as a meeting facilitator.
The chair will prepare the agenda for each meeting based on
input from committee members, college faculty and the college
community. The chair is
responsible for: 1) maintaining and disseminating a list of current
committee members, 2) maintaining the assessment website, 3)
overseeing the production of the Assessment Quarterly, 4)
oversee the assessment of the LOs, & 5) coordinate (in
cooperation with the CAS chair) the fall and spring best practices
workshops. In addition
the chair serves as the committee’s liaison to CAS and will attend
CAS meetings with a report from the AC.
If the chair is
unable to fulfill his/her duties a new election may be held
mid-year. Until the
election results are in, the vice-chair will preside over the AC.
B.
Vice Chair. The vice chair is elected by the committee every year during
April from AC faculty representatives.
Hence, the term of the vice chair is one year. The vice chair
assists the chair, serves as chair in his/her absence, and serves as
co-chair of the ad hoc committee with the vice chair of CAS as
related to the LOs. The vice chair shall
vote in all elections and decisions by the committee except when
serving as chair. The vice chair shall
be elected from among the full
time faculty members on the committee.
Candidates for the position of vice chair shall be nominated
by members of the committee and be willing to serve.
If more than one candidate is nominated and accepts, election
shall be by secret ballot; if, however, only one candidate is
nominated and accepts, confirmation of that person’s election
shall take place by voice vote unless any member wishes to have a
secret ballot on the candidate.
Self-nominations will be accepted.
In order to be elected, the member must receive the votes of
a majority of the quorum. The
term of the AC vice chair shall not exceed two consecutive years.
However, should the
sitting vice chair for any reason be unable to serve a full term, a
new vice chair shall be elected to serve the remainder of that term.
Until a new vice chair is elected, the chair shall appoint an
interim vice chair.
C. Members of
the Committee. 1.
Instructional Services.
Each of the academic divisions under the Dean of Instruction
shall elect one fulltime and one adjunct faculty member to serve a
two-year term on the Assessment Committee.
These elections may take place in April or August, whichever
is more convenient for the individual divisions.
Division chairs shall be responsible for conducting elections
and for reporting the results to the chair of the AC, but only
faculty shall vote. Fulltime
faculty shall vote for the full time representative and adjunct
faculty shall vote for the adjunct representative.
To assure continuity, the HFA, HHS, and TECH divisions shall
elect representatives in even-numbered years, and the BUS, MS, and
SBS divisions in odd-numbered years.
However, whenever a new chair of the AC is elected, the
division represented by that person shall elect a replacement.
If any elected representative resigns for any reason before
the end of the representative’s term, a replacement shall be
elected to serve the remainder of that term, following which another
election shall take place on the regular schedule.
(In 2004, all divisions will hold elections with members from
BUS, MS & SBS serving a special one-year term until 2005.)
Elections in divisions will rotate with the elections for CAS.
In addition to these elected faculty, other full
time or adjunct faculty may choose to join the
committee or in some cases (e.g., where they would bring special
expertise or experience useful to the committee) may be recruited,
providing (a) that no academic division would be unreasonably
over-represented by their inclusion, and (b) that the elected
faculty consent to their inclusion.
Faculty who are added to the committee in this manner shall
have the same rights and privileges as other members.
They shall serve two-year terms. 2.
Academic Support.
The academic division under the Dean of Academic Support
shall elect at least 1 person to serve a two-year term. This member
shall have the same rights and privileges as other members, and if
faculty, may serve as Chair or Vice Chair. 3.
Ex officio members are non-voting members.
These include: o Vice President of Instruction o Director of Institutional Research o CAS Chair o Dean of Instruction
5.
Other Members. Additional
members may be drawn from other areas of Instructional Services,
including administrators, advisors, etc., so long as the total
composition of the committee still reflects the primary role of
faculty in assessment activities.
These members may choose to join the committee or may be
recruited, providing (a) that no academic division would be
unreasonably over-represented by their inclusion, and (b) that the
elected faculty consent to their inclusion.
Members who are added to the committee in this manner shall
have the same rights and privileges as other members except that
they are not eligible to serve as chair or vice chair.
These members shall serve two-year terms.
6.
Secretary. The secretary will take minutes of each meeting, maintain a
record of the meetings and will assist the chair with preparing the
agenda. The secretary
does not vote on matters brought before the AC or in the election
for AC chair or vice chair.
IV.
Committee Procedures.
A. The
guidelines of the committee shall be available to any
interested person. B.
The committee shall meet on a regular schedule.
At the beginning of each semester, the chair shall publish a
calendar of meeting dates for that semester and send appointments to
the committee members. However, in exceptional cases due to exigent circumstances,
the committee may deviate from this published calendar providing
sufficient advance notice is published. C.
The minutes and a tentative agenda shall be provided to all
committee
members, division chairs, deans and any other interested
person. To
improve communication, it was suggested that minutes and meeting
agendas for both CAS and AC be put on the Intranet a certain, to be
determined later, number of days before scheduled meetings. D.
The session of the committee shall be conducted according to
the rules established by Robert’s Rules of Order, but may
be modified by a majority of the committee. E.
Decisions are by majority vote of the quorum.
The presiding officer votes in case of a tie. F.
A quorum shall consist of 50% of the faculty voting members. G.
All voting members of the committee should designate
alternates that may vote in the member’s absence or members may
indicate their vote in writing ahead of time by informing the chair.
The absentee votes will be tallied unless the issue has been
modified or diluted by amendments. H.
Votes shall be taken on the following issues:
I.
To provide for ample consideration, the committee shall
require two readings of proposed academic matters brought before the
committee. As
determined exclusively by a majority of the committee, the
requirement of a second reading may be waived. J.
The outgoing chair of AC, in cooperation with the ex officio
members, will produce an annual report tracking AC recommendations
on syllabuses, college learning outcomes and general educational
assessment. K.
The Assessment Committee will review syllabuses and advise
faculty regarding their assessment content.
L.
Shared Governance of Learning Outcome Statements (LOs):
If either CAS or AC initiates a revision of the LOs, the CAS
and AC vice chairs will convene an ad-hoc committee composed of
interested faculty to make the proposed changes.
In order to become effective, any revision(s) must receive
the joint approval of both CAS and the AC. V.
Amendments to these Guidelines.
The Assessment Committee Guidelines may be amended by a
majority vote of the members of the committee. Adopted
– May 04 Revised – May 05
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