North Carolina State University College Portrait
North Carolina State University203 Peele Hall, Campus Box 7103 Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-2434
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- Student Success & Progress
Discover how many students who start at NC State finish their bachelor's degree and how long it takes.
- Student Learning Outcomes
Figure out what learning gains to expect in critical thinking, writing, and other important subjects at NC State.
North Carolina State University Learning Outcomes
Undergraduate programs, transcripted certificates offered for credit, and co-curricualar units participate in the student learning assessment process. The requirements are flexible enough to allow programs and/or colleges wide latitude in implementing the procedures, including integration of undergraduate and graduate program review where desired.
Assessment activities continue to be centered in the programs and are facilitated by the colleges and divisions. The Associate Deans for academic affairs and Dean for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs (DASA) are the central figures in managing both the ongoing assessments of student learning outcomes and the eight-year self-studies. Each year the Associate Deans will collect reports from each undergraduate academic program and transcripted certificate and write a summary for the college and the co-curricular units submit reports and receive feedback through DASA.
The undergraduate programs, certificates and co-curricular units are aided in their efforts by the Division of Academic and Student Affairs (DASA), University Planning and Analysis (UPA), the Undergraduate Academic Assessment and Comprehensive Program Review Steering Council and assigned university consultants.
Basic expectations for the undergraduate assessment process:
1. Each program, transcripted certificate and co-curricular unit must have a set of comprehensive student learning outcomes which are measurable (i.e., need to use action verbs such as those found in the Bloom’s tables online) and can all be assessed within a 3 to 5 year cycle.
2. Each program, transcripted certificate and co-curricular unit must use direct measures of learning that are aligned with the outcomes such as test questions (not grades) or projects with a rubric (or other method that will allow for systematic review of the course product) from upper level courses. When done well and in the aggregate, these methods will allow programs to determine not only if the students achieved the outcome, but will allow faculty to identify where there are both strengths and weakness for the program. Each program can measure as many outcomes as they deem appropriate each year as long as they are all assessed within 3 to 5 years.
3. Each program, transcripted certificate and co-curricular unit must make clear decisions based on the data collected. The spirit of the process is that the faculty review the data and make decisions regarding whether changes are needed and if so, what those changes should be.
It is recommended that each program, transcripted certificate and co-curricular unit complete a curriculum map to help identify the courses in which outcomes are addressed and where the best direct evidence can be collected.
Information on student learning assessments will be published in time for the 2014-15 VSA profiles, in accordance with VSA guidelines for publishing campus profiles.
Learning Assessment Examples
North Carolina State University administered the ETS Proficiency Profile in 2010 - 2011.
North Carolina State University conducted a Senior-only benchmarked administration of the ETS Proficiency Profile in 2010 - 2011. The results are displayed below in the SLO Results tab.
For additional information on NC State’s process for administering ETS Proficiency Profile, please click on the Assessment Process Tab below. For information on the students included in the administration, please click the Students Tested Tab above.
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Assessment Process
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Students Tested
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Results
The ETS Proficiency Profile was chosen for our institutional assessment for several
reasons.
1. The VSA allows for several measures of student learning. We had used the CLA and
CAAP in the past and wanted to pilot the ETS Proficiency Profile.
2. The instrument measured four core skill areas we believe to be important: critical
thinking, reading, writing and mathematics.
3. The ETS Proficiency Profile was cost effective and implementation was reasonable.
We gathered data using the ETS Proficiency Profile in 2010 and 2011. Data were gathered from 170 and 63 students, respectively. Of the total 233 students who participated during these two years, 78 were seniors.
The test was administered in a sample of classes. In 2010, students were tested using pencil and paper. In 2011, the test was administered online. The tests were proctored both years.
The data were analyzed by ETS. The data and process were reviewed by administration in the Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs to look for ways to improve testing procedures in the future.
The ETS Proficiency Profile project was a pilot to determine if it was the right instrument for our program. The pilot was very useful in developing better strategies for increasing student participation rates. The results have not yet been used to evaluate academic programs.
Of 7590 senior students eligible to be tested, 78 (1%) were included in the tested sample at North Carolina State University.
Probability sampling, where a small randomly selected sample of a larger population can be used to estimate the learning gains in the entire population with statistical confidence, provides the foundation for campus-level student learning outcomes assessment at many institutions. It's important, however, to review the demographics of the tested sample of students to ensure that the proportion of students within a given group in the tested sample is close to the proportion of students in that group in the total population. Differences in proportions don't mean the results aren't valid, but they do mean that institutions need to use caution in interpreting the results for the groups that are under-represented in the tested sample.
| Seniors | |||
| Eligible Students | Tested Students | ||
| Gender | Female | 42% | 53% |
| Male | 58% | 47% | |
| Other or Unknown | <1% | <1% | |
|
Race/
Ethnicity |
US Underrepresented Minority | 18% | 10% |
| White / Caucasian | 78% | 85% | |
| International | 1% | 1% | |
| Unknown | 3% | 4% | |
| Low-income (Eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant) | 16% | 22% | |
Due to difficulties in recruiting students, the results are not generalizable to our population. Specifically, the sample was not representative in relation to college, gender or ethnicity.
The VSA provides sample size guidelines for institutions based on a 95% confidence interval and 5% margin of error. So long as the tested sample demographics represent the student body, this means we can be 95% certain that the “true” population learning outcomes are with +/- 5% of the reported results. For more information on Sampling, please refer to the Research Methods Knowledge Base .
At NC State, senior students who completed the ETS Proficiency Profile Critical Thinking test (n=78) scored higher than 84% of seniors at all other ETS Proficiency Profile-participating institutions in Spring 2010.
At NC State, senior students who completed the ETS Proficiency Profile Written Communication test (n=78) scored higher than 67% of seniors at all other ETS Proficiency Profile-participating institutions in Spring 2010.
As NC State did not participate in a value-added administration, scores are not adjusted to account for the incoming ability of NC State students.
