Division of Student Affairs

Assessment Plan

Assessment initiatives for the Division are lead by the Student Affairs Assessment Advisory Council SAAAC). The mission of this group is to enhance student learning/development and organizational effectiveness by providing assessment guidance and assistance to the Division of Student Affairs and its individual departments. SAAAC actively shares knowledge about best assessment practice, works to enhance the Division’s understanding of UConn students, staff, and faculty and their experiences. Further, SAAAC coordinates use of designated assessment tools, such as StudentVoice.

History

In the fall of 2007, the Division of Student Affairs Strategic Planning Committee created an Assessment Division Initiative (DI) which had as its purpose to build the Division’s capacity to perform high quality assessment. Beginning in the spring of 2008, the Assessment DI Committee worked diligently to create a manageable, flexible, and streamlined Assessment Plan.

The first iteration of the Assessment Plan contains the following elements:

1. Philosophy of assessment, including purpose, definitions, and guiding principles
2. Division assessment model, including explanation of components and guidance for practitioners charged with creating and implementing unit assessment activities
3. Reporting assessment findings, including timeline and report worksheets
4. Resources for all practitioners completing Student Affairs Assessment at UConn, including structure of the Student Affairs Assessment Advisory Council, and procedures for completing quality assessment (including using StudentVoice).
5. Context and history of the Assessment DI, including original charge, environmental scan, and professional development activities
6. Reports from the Environmental Scan completed by the Assessment DI Committee

The August 2010 iteration of the University of Connecticut Student Affairs Assessment Plan is necessarily incomplete. There is more work ahead to create a finalized comprehensive plan, but that work must be informed by the experience of Division staff members who begin working with this Assessment Plan in fall 2010.