At Chesapeake College, institutional assessment is directed to answering an overall institutional effectiveness question: how well are we achieving our mission and goals? The practice of institutional assessment then is the systematic collection, review, and application of assessment data about academic programs and administrative/co-curricular support services for the purpose of continuous improvement. The primary goal of institutional assessment at Chesapeake, therefore, is to encourage college-wide culture of evidence through the application of data to improve the quality of all programs, administrative services, and support units. To ensure sustained improvement of SLOs and administrative excellence, the institutional assessment processes are embedded in Chesapeake’s Continuous Improvement Agenda/Cycle. As an iterative, self-reinforcing process, the Improvement Agenda informs the following sequential processes:
- Academic programs and support services prepare annual assessment reports based on objectives, which are sourced from Chesapeake strategic plan/institutional initiatives
- Deans and Vice Presidents synthesize the assessment reports of units under their various jurisdictions to prepare summative statements referred to as College/Division-level Annual Assessment Results & Recommendation Report. These summative statements identify assessment-based and institutional initiatives-informed resource and budgetary requests
- During Chesapeake College Executive Cabinet (CCEC) meeting in tandem with Chesapeake Budget Committee, the summative statements are turned into instruments of resource allocation for the continuous advancement of institutional initiatives.
In the context of Chesapeake’s continuous improvement agenda, institutional assessment is an integrated outcome of two assessment streams: academic program assessment, and the assessment of administrative and support services.