A Little History

Cabrillo College began experimenting with assessing student learning outcomes in transfer, basic skills and occupational courses in 1999 with its summer Learner Outcomes Institute.  When the new accreditation standards were approved, the Cabrillo Faculty Senate (composed of many summer Institute alumnae) took the lead in creating a process to assess student learning in all courses at Cabrillo.  The Senate sought to create an assessment process that:

• built on both the informal assessment that most Cabrillo faculty undertook of their own courses and the research and practical experiences of the Summer Institute.
• provided opportunities for faculty to dialogue about the results.

After much research and debate, the Senate, in conjunction with the Vice President of Instruction, the Council on Instructional Planning and the college Curriculum Committee, made four other key decisions that have shaped the assessment of courses at Cabrillo:

• The General Education program is considered as one complete program.  Any transfer courses, and the basic skills classes that build the skills that lead to transfer, are part of that program.  Unlike some other schools, individual transfer or basis skills departments are not considered separate programs with their own student learning outcomes.
• The student learning outcomes for the GE program are the four college core competencies.  The Core Four are the SLOs for our AA and AS degrees.
• The on-going Instructional Planning process is used as the vehicle for this assessment process. Approximately twelve transfer, basic skills and occupational programs embark on Instructional Planning each year. Departments link their plans for improvement and budgetary requests to their assessment results.
• In addition to the Core Four, each individual course at Cabrillo has student learning outcomes.  The course outline forms were revised to include a section on the core competencies and student learning outcomes (see the Curriculum Handbook and Fiesta for details).

Assessment Method

The Faculty Senate developed a course-embedded assessment method to assess the Core Four and the SLOs for individual courses.  Extensive details about this process can be found in the Instructional Planning Workbook on this web site.  In general, faculty:

• Choose one major assignment that measures aspects of one of the Core Four or specific course SLOs. 
• Assess the assignment using a rubric that articulates specific standards and criteria.
• If the assignment is a major exam, faculty instead look at specific groups of questions that address the SLO or core competency.
• Faculty evaluate the results of the students’ assessments, note what student needs and issues were revealed and how the assignment or teaching activities could be altered to improve student learning.
• Faculty dialogue about their results in department meetings, sharing their assignments, their evaluation of the results and their ideas for improvement, including what assistance the college could provide to improve student learning.  
•  Program chairs record the issues and suggestions that arise during the discussion on an Assessment Analysis form.  In keeping with the Cabrillo's assessment philosophy that assessment is not "a means to evaluate individual faculty or staff," no individual instructor's name or results are recorded on the form.  Instead the overall departmental results are summarized and its plans to improve teaching and learning are the main focus.  These plans then form the basis for any funding requests and are  attached to the department’s Instructional Plan.  After review by the Council for Instructional Planning, the analysis forms are forwarded to the SLO Assessment Review Committee.  

The Faculty Senate and the Committee for Instruction Planning decided that this new assessment method would be implemented gradually and tied it to the Instructional Planning schedule.

• The twelve departments scheduled for Instructional Planning in 2004 piloted the process by assessing one of the core competencies.
• The 2005 group assessed two core competencies and revised all departmental course outlines to include SLOs.
• The 2006 group will assess three core competencies and will rewrite all departmental curriculum to include SLOs.
• The 2007 group will also assess three core competencies and will rewrite all departmental curriculum to include SLOs.
• The 2008 group and all groups thereafter will assess the entire Core Four and will add SLOs to all curriculum.  

After their initial assessment experience, all transfer and basic skills departments will follow the same five-year Cycle of Assessment Activities as part of Instructional Planning.  The Instructional Planning Workbook was designed to guide them through this process.  The Learning Outcomes Assessment Coordinator also provides training to entire departments and/or assists individual faculty with this process.

Assessment of Transfer Students

Cabrillo has also created an additional assessment of transfer students.  Each year in May, an activity is held to honor the work of students who are on the cusp of transferring from Cabrillo.  Sponsored by the Cabrillo Student Senate with help from the Transfer Center and the Faculty Senate, the activity includes speeches of congratulations, a meal and a short survey about the students’ experiences with Cabrillo’s transfer services and courses.  The inaugural Transfer Breakfast was held in 2005.  The 2006 and 2007 activites were a luncheon.  The survey results were compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and will be reported to the SLO Assessment Review Committee and included in its annual report.