Strengthen systematic institutionalized assessment as part of regular University operations.

While Syracuse University has formalized assessment processes for academic programs, functional units and co-curricular programs, the University’s coordination and promotion of mechanisms to ensure quality has not fully matured. Recognizing the University’s previous non-prescriptive approach to assessment, the establishment in 2014 of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment was a necessary and important step toward establishing structure and feedback in the assessment process. The University has additional evolutionary steps ahead to ensure that academic centers, co-curricular areas, and functional units make continuous improvements to teaching, learning, curriculum, discovery, innovation, and operational effectiveness based on the findings (data) from regular, systematic evaluations of self-defined learning outcomes and operational effectiveness objectives.

To ensure sufficient influence over University-wide strategic planning, evaluation of co-curricular and functional units, as well as periodic assessment of the effectiveness of programs, policies, and procedures across the institution, Recommendation 1 proffers a suite of improvements to enhance outcomes assessment activities of faculty, staff, and administrators while reaffirming our University’s commitment to academic freedom, diversity of learning experiences, breadth of academic programs, and dedication to inquiry in all of its forms:

A.  Enhance the range of professional development opportunities—on and off campus—for faculty and staff to learn about, practice, and hone their skills and knowledge concerning assessment to make data-driven improvements to teaching, learning, research, and operations;

B.  Increase the staffing of assessment professionals within the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment and to academic units to levels commensurate with best practices at peer institutions that have similar numbers of students, faculty, staff, and programs to assist faculty and staff with assessment activities;

C.  Engagement with assessment and the use of data to improve teaching, curricula, research, and operations are valued activities at Syracuse; celebrate engagement with assessment activities, especially use of findings for improvement in teaching, learning and operations, using recognition, awards, incentives, and other measures as appropriate to encourage data-driven continuous improvements; ensure that assessment is a reported and rewarded activity in annual updates such as strategic plan updates, unit progress reports, tenure and promotion review, and curriculum vitae updates;

D.  By means of dual reporting or another organizational mechanism, ensure that faculty and staff with assessment-related duties that are embedded in units (academic, co-curricular, or functional) are supported by, trained by, and accountable to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment as well as their home unit;

E.  Explicitly connect the performance evaluation of unit leaders (e.g., deans, directors) to documented effective engagement with University assessment processes;

F.  Explicitly connect resource allocation for academic, co-curricular, and functional units to demonstrated use of assessment results for unit curricular and operational improvement and to professional development related to assessment and associated improvements;

G.  Work to establish, through the appropriate University Senate procedures, a standing Senate committee related to assessment that is charged with providing guidance and advice to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment and the units with which it works.