Policies

Idaho State Board of Education

Policy III.X. – Outcomes Assessment

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Eligibility Requirement 22 – Student Achievement

The institution identifies and publishes the expected learning outcomes for each of its degrees and certificate programs. The institution engages in regular and ongoing assessment to validate student achievement of these learning outcomes.

Also see: Eligibility Requirements 11 (Educational Program) and 12 (General Education and Related Instruction).

Standard 2.C.1 – Educational Resources

The institution provides programs, wherever offered and however delivered, with appropriate content and rigor that are consistent with its mission; culminate in achievement of clearly identified student learning outcomes and lead to collegiate-level degrees or certificates with designators consistent with program content in recognized fields of study.

Standard 2.C.2 – Educational Resources

The institution identifies and publishes expected course, program, and degree learning outcomes. Expected student learning outcomes for courses, wherever offered and however delivered, are provided in written form to enrolled students.

Standard 2.C.3 – Educational Resources

Credit and degrees, wherever offered and however delivered, are based on documented student achievement and awarded in a manner consistent with institutional policies that reflect generally accepted learning outcomes, norms, or equivalences in higher education.

Standard 2.C.5 – Educational Resources

Faculty, through well-defined structures and processes with clearly defined authority and responsibilities, exercise a major role in the design, approval, implementation and revision of the curriculum, and have an active role in the selection of new faculty. Faculty with teaching responsibilities take collective responsibility for fostering and assessing student achievement of clearly identified learning outcomes.

Standard 2.C.10 – Undergraduate Programs

The institution demonstrates that the General Education components of its baccalaureate degree programs (if offered) and transfer associate degree programs (if offered) have identifiable and assessable learning outcomes that are stated in relation to the institution’s mission and learning outcomes for those programs.

Standard 2.C.11 – Undergraduate Programs

The related instruction components of applied degree and certificate programs (if offered) have identifiable and assessable learning outcomes that align with and support program goals or intended outcomes. Related instruction components may be embedded within program curricula or taught in blocks of specialized instruction, but each approach must have clearly identified content and be taught or monitored by teaching faculty who are appropriately qualified in those areas.

Standard 2.D.5 – Student Support Resources

The institution publishes in a catalog, or provides in a manner reasonably available to students and other stakeholders, current and accurate information that includes:

• Information on academic programs and courses, including degree and program completion requirements, expected learning outcomes, required course sequences, and projected timelines to completion based on normal student progress and the frequency of course offerings.

Standard 4.A.2 – Assessment

The institution engages in an effective system of evaluation of its programs and services, wherever offered and however delivered, to evaluate achievement of clearly identified program goals or intended outcomes. Faculty have a primary role in the evaluation of educational programs and services.

Standard 4.A.3 – Assessment

The institution documents, through an effective, regular, and comprehensive system of assessment of student achievement, that students who complete its educational courses, programs, and degrees, wherever offered and however delivered, achieve identified course, program, and degree learning outcomes. Faculty with teaching responsibilities are responsible for evaluating student achievement of clearly identified learning outcomes.

Standard 4.A.6 – Assessment

The institution regularly reviews its assessment processes to ensure they appraise authentic achievements and yield meaningful results that lead to improvement.

Standard 4.B.2 – Improvement

The institution uses the results of its assessment of student learning to inform academic and learning-support planning and practices that lead to enhancement of student learning achievements. Results of student learning assessments are made available to appropriate constituencies in a timely manner.