REPORT: UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SCORE ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

A progress report on the Outcomes Assessment Program at Southeast Missouri State University shows that Southeast juniors and seniors in the University Studies program are performing better than the national average, university officials announced Friday.

Pauline Fox, director of academic assessment, presented the findings at a meeting of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents.

The Outcomes Assessment Program, initiated in 1987, provides the campus with a set of guidelines for assessing academic achievements of students at Southeast.

The report says the program has "matured substantially."

Academic departments and colleges have experimented with several assessment strategies, Fox said. Some of the information collected has led to major and minor curriculum changes. Now, many departments are working to more clearly define student goals and objectives to better determine appropriate assessment strategies.

To date, the most significant findings of the report are based in the area of University Studies where a national test of general academic skills -- the Academic Profile examination -- was administered to a group of GS101 students last fall and to a group of 400-level interdisciplinary University Studies classes last spring.

The results are encouraging, Fox said. Although Southeast's beginning students generally scored lower than the national sample of freshmen, Southeast's juniors and seniors surpassed the national sample of juniors' and seniors' mean scores overall, on each of the academic areas, and on each of the skill dimensions.

"Because of the way the data is reported, this is a strong indication of what our students can do," Fox said.

The number of seniors participating in outcome assessment through various majors also is impressive, she said.

"I am pleased with the number participating in various assessment measures outside their own course work," she added.

For instance, in the Writing-Across-The-Curriculum Program, an English writing skills placement test is being administered to students to determine assignment to the appropriate composition course, and the writing examination is a graduation requirement.

In the College of Business Administration, students are being assessed by taking the Major Field Achievement Test in business and by employer surveys, placement records and pass rates on the Certified Public Accountant exam, she said.

Assessment in the College of Education is being done through course work, interviews, student teaching, observations, oral examinations and tests. In addition, all students in teacher education by state law are required to pass the C-Base exam as an entrance requirement and the NTE as a certification requirement.

Departments within the College of Health and Human Services emphasize internship experiences, certification and nationally standardized exams, and have made excellent progress in developing and implementing assessment plans, the report says.

In the College of Liberal Arts assessment measures include examinations, exit interviews, senior papers, senior performances, senior exhibits of work, portfolios, internship evaluations, placement information, graduate school acceptance rates, alumni surveys, employers' surveys and evaluation of student work in capstone courses.

Various exams, including the Major Field Achievement Test, in addition to portfolios of work, exit interviews and projects in capstone courses within majors, are used as assessments in the College of Science and Technology.

Southeast also conducts annual surveys of alumni as a key assessment measure, Fox said.