College Assessment Committee

College Assessment Committee Assessment Incentive Grant Program November 2006

The College Assessment Committee is inviting proposals from academic departments, interdisciplinary programs, support and service unit offices and administrative offices. The proposal should describe an activity or set of activities that would allow the unit, department or program to advance its existing assessment plan (or, if a new unit, to create a plan) or prepare for program review. These activities should be carried out during the winter or spring 2007, with a final report explaining the project activities, grant expenditures and how the objectives were met, due on September 15, 2007. There will be two tiers of awards: a) Tier I - a maximum of $1,000 per grant, and b) Tier II – a limited number of larger awards could be given in the $1,100 - $2,000 range.

In order to allow departments and programs maximum latitude to develop a project that will be most useful for their purposes, the College Assessment Committee is establishing a few specific guidelines for this program. The proposal should meet the following three criteria:

1. The proposed activities must clearly relate to a department/program/unit’s existing assessment plan or program review. For support and service units, the activities could also relate to assessing how the unit attempts to achieve at least one of the five overarching goals for this 5-year Strategic Plan cycle, its division plan and/or unit plan. If it is for a new unit, it can be used to assist in the development of an assessment plan. 2. The proposed activities must include some attempt to collect data relevant to the assessment plan or program review, analyze relevant data, or design a strategy that would lead to the collection and analysis of relevant data. 3. The proposal must demonstrate that its activities will provide information that will be used to benefit or improve the program.

In addition, for programs that received a CAC incentive grant in the past, the proposal must include a description of the prior CAC grant activities and outcomes.

Requested funds can be used to support activities related to program/unit assessment, such as purchasing supplies and materials, paying travel expenses for consultants or experts to come to campus, and hiring external consultants. Examples of appropriate activities for this incentive program include but are not limited to:

# Holding faculty/staff retreat to develop rubrics for evaluating student writing samples or to discuss and develop measures for assessing unit effectiveness. # Hiring an external consultant to review and help refine department/program's student learning outcomes measures or to help refine unit’s outcome measures. # Payment for the development of testing and/or survey materials. # Purchasing computerized testing software.

Past recipients of these awards used some of these funds to administer major field tests to senior students within a program, to fund departmental work retreats for specific assessment projects, to develop assessment tools, to analyze assessment data, and to improve curricular offerings and strengthen portfolio assessment. Samples of previously approved assessment grants are available for review by emailing Joy Hendrick at [email protected].

Academic departments and programs should refer to the College Assessment Committee's Assessment Resource Guide for Academic Programs, distributed in Spring1998, for ideas. The Guidelines for Assessing Student Learning Outcomes and Academic Programs included in that resource guide contains a number of concrete suggestions for assessment activities.

To apply for an assessment incentive grant, departments and programs should submit the attached application to the President’s Office, Miller Building, Room 441, no later than Friday November 17, 2006. Questions about the program should be referred to any member of the College Assessment Committee (Michael D Berzonsky, Ed Caffarella, Mariangela Chandler, Elizabeth Davis-Russell, Joy Hendrick, David Horrocks, Ingrid Jordak, Lisa Kahle, Virginia Levine, Roy Olsson, Alex Reid, Mark Prus, Susan Stratton, Shawn Van Etten, Donna West, Gail Wood).

of 2 Application - Assessment Incentive Grant Program College Assessment Committee November 2006

Department/Program/Unit: Project Director:

Project Title: Campus Address:

Total Amount Requested: Phone:

E-mail:

PROJECT SUMMARY

Describe the Major Objective(s) of the Project:

Provide a Rationale for the Project, Making Sure to Address Each of the Three Criteria Stated on the Cover Page:

Describe the Major Activities to Be Undertaken in Implementing the Project Page 2 of 2 Describe the Time Line for the Project (Activities Should Be Completed by June 1, 2007):

Did you receive an Assessment Incentive Grant previously from the CAC? If so, please describe your grant activities and outcomes.

BUDGET SUMMARY* Monies can not be used for computer hardware, conference travel, student incentives or for stipends for current SUNY Cortland faculty (during the academic year) or staff. Note: A maximum of $200 per day for retreats will be supported.

Budget Item Amount Requested

Personnel (Please describe briefly):

Materials/Supplies (Please describe):

Travel (Please describe):

Other (Please describe):

Budget Total:

*Note: Money must be spent by June 1, 2007 and purchase orders processed by June 9, 2007.

Submit applications to the President's Office, Miller Building, Room 441, no later than 4:00 pm on Friday, November 17, 2006. Email submissions are encouraged. Please email the application as an attachment to Ginny Levine at [email protected] A final report explaining project activities, grant expenditures and how the objectives were met, must be submitted by September 15, 2007.