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ASSESSMENT REPORT

ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR


General Education Program
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

Spring 2004
Assessment Period Covered        

June 2004
Date Submitted

Expanded Statement of Institutional Purpose Linkage:
Institutional Mission/Goal(s) Reference:
Texas A&M International University, a Member of The Texas A&M University System, is committed to the preparation of students for leadership roles in their chosen profession and in increasingly complex, culturally diverse state, national, and global society … Through instruction, faculty and student research, and public service, Texas A&M International University is a strategic point of delivery for well-defined programs and services that improve the quality of life for citizens of the border region, the State of Texas, and national and international communities.

Administrative or Educational Support Unit Mission Statement:
At Texas A&M International University, the Core curriculum introduces students  to academic disciplines which form the foundation of human thought…Our Core is conceived to open new areas of learning for our students and to foster skills necessary for success in higher education. As they move through this course of study,  students are encouraged…to develop the capacity to articulate and support a thesis, to think critically, to synthesize their observations and to perceive analogies and relationships between seemingly diverse ideas and intellectual pursuits.”

Intended Administrative Objectives:

1. Compose an essay concerning a current events topic or a literary topic

2. Read with understanding

3. Demonstrate basic mathematical skills

 

ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR

General Education Program                                    
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

Spring 2004
Assessment Period Covered        

June 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:

Compose an essay concerning a current events topic or a literary topic

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
1a.  Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Upon completion of six hours of core-mandated English, students must take the University Writing Assessment (UWA), a locally developed and holistically scored writing assessment (Support Document 1). 70% of students who have taken the six hour core at TAMIU and are taking the UWA for the first time will pass on any given administration of the examination.

1a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected
During the spring 2004 administration of the UWA, 39 students who completed six hours of their Core at TAMIU took the assessment for the first time. 22 students or 56% of these students passed the UWA. (Support Document  2)

1a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
The analytical analysis (Support Document 3) of 100 sample UWA essays was conducted for the third semester to identify areas of student weakness in writing that can be used to formulate suggestions for alterations in curriculum and test administration. Of the five categories (1) organization & focus, (2) development, (3) logic and coherence, (4) syntax and style, (5) and mechanics, spring 2004 students are most deficient in logic and coherence, development, and mechanics. The analytical rubric data (Support Document 4) indicate that while grammar and usage remains a dominant category for evaluating student writing, the development of ideas and arguments appears to be the most important analytical category in predicting student success on the University Writing Assessment.

The summary data of 300 randomly selected essays from Spring 2003, Fall 2003, and Spring 2004 (Support Document 4) indicate that the critical area of instructional need in the English core is development and critical thinking followed by usage and mechanics.  The Associate Provost, Language & Literature Dept. Chair, Ex. Director /PASE who conducts the UWA scoring sessions,  and the  Director of the Writing Center who chairs  the  Engl 1301 & 1302 pilot program met to discuss results.  Two actions were taken: 1) the pilot program has incorporated curriculum that addresses these two critical areas of instructional need and 2) differences between the score results of holistic and analytical scored essays were reviewed and analyzed for possible errors in scoring and will continue to be conducted each semester to ensure the reliability of the UWA assessment.  

 


ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR


General Education Program                                    
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

Spring 2004
Assessment Period Covered        

June 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:

Read with understanding

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
1a. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
As part of PSCI 2306, students will take the Reading module of the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) examination. The average score of TAMIU students will be at or above the national average.

1a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected
128 students took the Spring 2004 administration of the CAAP. The mean for TAMIU students was 58 while the national average was 62.6 (Support Document 5).  The results are identical to Fall 2003 with only a .5 difference in the local percentage.

1a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
The University Assessment Committee (UAC) reviewed the results and requested a CAAP Linkage Report from 2002-2004 that would determine students' ACT reading mean upon entry compared to the national ACT reading mean. Results indicate that the pool of 190 students for whom ACT reading data was available scored five points lower than the national mean. The ACT reading mean for TAMIU students was 17.2 while the national ACT reading mean was 22.2. Discussion about how to improve students' reading skills is ongoing through the UAC.


ASSESSMENT REPORT

FOR



General Education Program                                    
Administrative or Educational Support Unit

Spring 2004
Assessment Period Covered        

June 2004
Date Submitted

Intended Administrative or Educational Support Objective:
NOTE:  There should be one form C for each intended objective listed on form B.  The intended unit objective should be restated in the box immediately below and the intended objective number entered in the blank space below

Demonstrate basic mathematical skills

First Means of Assessment for Objective Identified Above:
a. Means of Unit Assessment & Criteria for Success:
Students will take common course examination in College Algebra. 75% of students taking the examination will pass with a 60.

a. Summary of Assessment Data Collected
A total of 146 students completed the course and sat for the common final examination. Of these, 98 students (67%) had a score of 60% or above.

a. Use of Results to Improve Unit Services:
The results for the Fall 2003 administration of the common algebra improved significantly. Some of the suggestions for improvement made in unit services for the Spring semester have been implemented, particularly in the areas of tutoring and early intervention. More emphasis needs to be placed on traditional college algebra sections (including general problem solving, inequalities, quadratic optimization problems, and inverse functions) in order to meet or surpass the benchmark of 75%.



SUPPORT DOCUMENTATION

SOURCE

LOCATION/Special Instructions

1.  Holistic UWA Rubric

 

2. Focus report
MTSACUWA1 Spring  2004

 

3.  Analytical Rubric

 

4.Analytical Summary Report- Spring 2003- Spring 2004

 

5.CAAP Institutional Summary  4/2004

Available at KL 318