The non-instructional faculty is also evaluated for their contribution toward achieving student learning outcomes specific to the program in which the noninstructional faculty member works. Observation of the faculty member working with students includes assessing whether the faculty member addresses and meets the needs of the students, helps the student to understand the full range of services available to the student, and whether the interaction with the student is appropriate. The non-instructional faculty is involved in the development and assessment of student learning outcome and must include a review of the process in their program reviews. The program reviews function as a form of faculty evaluation in a broader sense and are key to evaluating program and institutional effectiveness while providing the basis for annual planning to increase overall effectiveness. Ensuring Student Achievement All educators play direct roles in ensuring student achievement of the stated learning outcomes. As Laney evaluates its faculty, staff, and administrators, it determines their contributions to developing SLOs and assessment methods, as well as carrying out the appropriate tasks to assess student learning. Faculty must demonstrate that they have engaged in the process that leads to (and consists of) assessing student learning, yet they are not evaluated based on the results of SLO assessments (see College of Alameda, Berkeley City College, Laney College, Merritt College, Principles of Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes, Memorandum of Understanding, 2006). Administrators must reveal how they have supported this work at the course, program and institutional levels. Staff, in particular instructional aides, tutors, and other support personnel, are necessary to ensure efficient use of methods, and, in some instances, collection of results. In all instances, the evaluation of each group of personnel is intended to inform and be informed by the institutional effectiveness indicators of the district and college that are developed continuously (IIIA1c-3). Learning Assessment Committee Laney has developed and implemented an infrastructure to ensure student learning and achievement of explicit student learning outcomes. It has established the Learning Assessment Committee
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(LAC), a joint shared-governance body of the Faculty Senate and the Office of Instruction which consists of instructional and student services faculty, staff, and administrators. The Learning Assessment Committee (LAC) is Laney’s formal body created to develop a method(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of producing student learning outcomes. Working with the college’s Curriculum Committee, the LAC checks the outcomes for quality and results and recommends approval of SLOs. If improvements are required, help is provided to the authors to ensure successful completion and submittal through the curriculum committee review process. Once approved as an addendum to the newly updated course outline, the Office of Instruction processes it for final approval via the District-wide Council on Instruction, Planning and Development if necessary. Once the course is offered, the SLOs are required to be placed on the course syllabi. Once assessment results are compiled, the LAC forwards the results to the Faculty Senate, Office of Instruction, Office of Student Services, and the College Council for college-wide deliberation. Already, this process is yielding meaningful and useful results. It has contributed to deepening the discussion about the importance of learning outcomes as an important tool for students and assessing them effectively as an essential process for assuring integrity and desired results. In 2006, with LAC leadership, the Faculty Senate approved an aggressive timeline for developing student learning outcomes (SLOs), developing assessment methods, implementing the assessment process, and ensuring that course outlines are updated to reflect these changes. Within two years, progress has been made in terms of documentation, dialogue, and implementation: Documentation •
Many course outlines have been updated with the required SLO/assessment addendum.
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Over 30 of 38 departments and programs have openly discussed, proposed, and articulated SLOs for at least some of their courses, and many for their certificate and general education programs.