Assessment of Student Learning
Overview
In alignment with the University of San Francisco's Annual Assessment of Program Learning Outcomes and Student Achievement Policy, each program at USF participates in ongoing assessment and evaluation activities by assessing Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)—easily identifiable actions that students are expected to demonstrate in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes upon completion of a program. All programs should have an assessment plan that designates when each PLO will be assessed within a regular cycle. Programs then conduct an annual assessment of student learning focusing on that year’s PLO(s).
The purpose of conducting an assessment of student learning is to understand the following:
- What do we want students to learn?
- How well are they learning?
- How do we know?
The results of this inquiry guide program planning for continuous improvement in student learning, as well as ongoing improvements in a program’s assessment practices. Through annually assessing the gains in student learning and making programmatic adjustments, USF achieves and improves student success. The assessment process and results are presented in a report.