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A Quarterly Publication of
The American Sociological Association

ABSTRACTS--Volume 30, Number 4, October 2002

ARTICLES

THE CURRENT STATUS OF ASSESSMENT
(Gregory L. Weiss)

The movement to assess student learning more comprehensively and more systematically began in earnest in the mid-1980s, and today is entrenched throughout higher education. However, commentary about assessment continues to be dominated by anecdotal reports and analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of particular programs. In order to obtain a broad-based picture of the development of assessment programs within sociology, 150 sociology departments were randomly selected and sent a self-administered questionnaire regarding the level of development of their departmental statement of purpose, departmental goals and objectives, the use of and experience with particular assessment mechanisms, and a summative judgment about the amount of work invested in assessment to date and the effects of that work.

Almost two-thirds of the 70 responding departments have a departmental statement of purpose, but only about half of the departments have articulated specific learning objectives for students. Departments in public institutions are much more likely than departments in private institutions to have a statement of purpose and are somewhat more likely to have learning objectives. The most common assessment mechanisms being used are evaluations of specific assignments in required major courses, student surveys, alumni surveys, external reviewers, and evaluations of research projects. However, the most beneficial mechanisms are perceived to be reviews by external evaluators, work in a capstone course, in-house comprehensive exams, and in-house exams given early and late during a student’s progression through the sociology major. Responding institutions reported that they have dedicated only a moderate effort to their student learning assessments and that the information received from those assessments has provided only moderate value. The implications of these assessment patterns found in sociology departments are discussed.

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OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT IN SOCIOLOGY: PREVALENCE AND IMPACT
(Theodore C. Wagenaar

I review the literature on learning outcomes assessment and suggest relevant contextual factors responsible for the heightened interest in outcomes assessment. I then report on a study of several hundred sociologists regarding usage and impact of various outcomes assessment strategies. The data are broken down by school type—public and private—as well as by school size. Alumni and senior surveys and capstone products are used most often, while commercial exams, external review of student work, and oral exams are used least often. Few differences exist for school type and size. Impact on the curriculum and teaching is modest at best, with faculty members at private and smaller schools reporting greater impact. The implications of outcomes assessment for power redistribution are examined.

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ASSESSMENT AS CRITICAL PRAXIS: A COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
(Jeanne Cameron, Philip Walsh, Tina Stavenhagen-Helgren, and Barbara Kobritz)

Assessment within higher education is emerging as a highly contested issue. Arguments often center on assessment methodology, but the real source of disagreement is usually the underlying model of learning informing the methodology. This article describes a program for assessing student learning at a community college using critical theories of knowledge and the learning process. The faculty-designed assessment program includes an annotated bibliography assignment required in all introductory sociology sections. Faculty identified three types of literacy that students were expected to understand and practice as a result of the assignment: resource, social structural, and social scientific. Student learning in these areas was tracked across semesters using a survey, faculty observations, and sampled evaluations of completed bibliographies. All measures of learning indicate significant improvement in learning outcomes. The article records and discusses the program methodology within the framework of critical pedagogical theory.

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ASSESSING STUDENTS' UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY OUTCOMES-BASED APPROACH FOR THE DESIGN AND ASSESSMENT OF AN ACADEMIC PROGRAM GOAL
(Bruce Keith, Joseph LeBoeuf, Mike Meese, Jon Malinowski, Martha Gallagher, Scott Efflandt, John Hurley, and Charles Green)

In this paper, we present a strategy for the curricular design and assessment of one multidisciplinary program goal (understanding human behavior). We show how assessing a desired outcome requires attention to four specific areas: organizational context, the articulation of a learning model, program design and implementation, and outcomes assessment. Our findings, based on multiple indicators gathered over time and including both summative and formative measures, suggest that our graduates are generally achieving the outcomes established for them. We discuss how our results are used to inform decision-makers, and how inconsistencies discovered between the program’s desired outcomes and students’ actual achievements are managed within the framework of the program. Finally, we highlight several lessons learned as a result of this intensive process, linking its benefits to programs within sociology and other disciplines.

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A LONG AND WINDING ROAD: CURRICULAR DEVELOPMENT AS SOCIAL-CONTEXT-BASED ASSESSMENT
(Ginger Macheski and Kathleen S. Lowney)

This article presents the journey of our sociology program through three models of curriculum: the faculty-centered, discipline-centered, and student-community based curricula. In this paper, we explore our experience with these models in the context of discussing the social actors involved; that is, the faculty, institution, students, and community. This exploration of curricular development as a social process lays a foundation for social-context based assessment.

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CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT: A CASE STUDY IN SOCIOLOGY
(Charles Cappell)

In this paper, we provide not a “best practices” model of curriculum assessment, but rather a “sociology of assessment” describing how we implemented a less–than-ideal design, under numerous constraints, with mixed results. We describe different assessment designs available for different types of curricula and report results from a quasi-experimental design comparing the level of critical sociological reasoning skills between students near the beginning and those finishing their studies. Those students finishing their program, organized as a loosely-spiraling curriculum with a capstone course, displayed stronger sociological reasoning skills even when controlling for each student’s overall GPA. An analysis of course syllabi revealed an academic environment with variable standards inconsistently associated with course level. Several recommendations are offered for the “real world” implementation of sociology curriculum assessment. We think the multi-dimensional diversity within sociology presents the greatest obstacle to both designing and assessing sociology curricula.

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