Important Considerations for Writing Annual PRAC/Assessment Reports
(especially if you’re new to this task and/or haven’t been involved in campus-wide discussions of assessment)
- Read the Guidelines carefully, and consult the Review Sheet for PRAC Reports and the Glossary of Assessment Terms developed by the Advanced Practice Subcommittee of PRAC.
- Include an introduction with background about the program or programs being reported on. This can be very brief: readers will want to know what programs the unit offers and, if you’re on a cycle where you assess a subset of programs or outcomes each year, which ones are included in the current report.
- Make it easy for the reader to see what the school, department, or program’s learning outcomes are. Include them in your introduction (or the beginning of the section of the report addressing that program) or provide a hyperlink where readers can view them.
- To provide the reader with helpful context, identify the source of your learning outcomes. Are they mandated by an accrediting agency, adapted from an accrediting or professional organization, or defined by program faculty and/or staff? Or generated in some other way?
- Do not conflate program outcomes with learning outcomes. While PRAC reports often include both, the main focus should be on the latter. Program outcomes address the goals the entire program uses to determine success and effectiveness. Graduation rates, licensure or qualifying exam pass rates, job placement, student satisfaction, and similar measures are program outcomes. Learning outcomes express what each student should know and be able to do as a result of their learning experiences. They are expressed as knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, or values that students have or should have acquired as a result of their participation in the program.
- Understand the difference between direct and indirect measures of learning. Consult the Glossary for definitions and Direct and Indirect Measures of Learning. Ideally, learning outcomes assessment includes both types of measures. You may want to explain in your PRAC Report the rationale for the mix of direct and indirect measures you use and report on.
- When describing actions taken or changes made to enhance learning experiences and outcomes (e.g., changes in curricula, teaching and learning strategies, advising), identify the assessment finding (usually from a prior year) that changes are intended to address. When describing learning improvements resulting from such changes, identify the relevant assessment finding and the change that was made (again, usually from prior years).
- Please do not submit a report developed for another purpose (e.g., program review or accreditation report). If you have a major event like an accreditation visit or a program review in a given year, please talk to someone from Planning and Institutional Improvement about the possibility of being excused from writing a PRAC Assessment Report for that year.