Temple University College Portrait

Student learning is a fundamental component of the Temple University mission and the assessment of student learning is an essential element of the assessment of Temple’s overall institutional effectiveness. At Temple, approaches to assessment of student learning are as diverse as our array of academic offerings. At the University level, Temple has established eight competencies for its new program in general education and has developed various strategies for determining how our students are doing in meeting these learning outcomes. At the school, college, and department level programs are developing assessment plans and processes that identify program goals and objectives and instrumentation for measuring these goals; describe the data collected; as well as describe major findings and how they were used for student learning and program improvements. Others ways that Temple assesses student learning and program effectiveness include periodic program review, course and teaching evaluations, licensure and professional exam pass rates, graduation and retention rates, and professional and regional accreditation. Temple has invested in an outcomes management system to support faculty and administration in the implementation, reporting, and sharing of assessment activity. Temple University is committed to enhancing its culture of assessment.

Temple University participated in the VSA Student Learning Outcomes pilot during the 2010-2011 academic year. A sample comprised of 200 incoming freshmen completed the computer-based version of the ETS Proficiency Profile under proctored conditions during the first several weeks of the Fall 2010 semester, and a sample made up of 200 graduating seniors (excluding transfer students) was tested under the same conditions in Spring 2011. Results were posted to CollegePortraits.com in 2011-2012. Temple seniors performed at the “Above Expected” level in Critical Thinking, and “At Expected” in Writing.

Learning Assessment Examples