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Outcomes measurements have always been an important part of proving to outside constituencies how you measure up to other schools with your business programs. A common nationally-normed exam that is used is the Major Field Achievement Test in Business from Educational Testing Services. Our paper discusses some guidelines that we are pilot testing to see if we can improve not only our lowest score, marketing majors in the finance area, but all of our overall outcome scores in the eight (8) segmented areas covered in the exam. If we are going to use the MFAT, let us try to make sure that the input from our students is the best we can get so that our output scores are truly meaningful.

Social responsibility is a concept often used to describe how large corporations, or even small businesses, should “give back” something to the communities that they serve.  We feel the same is true when it comes to faculty members.  Oftentimes, the greatest expertise in a given subject area in a community is housed within the confines of the faculty members of the local college or university and such knowledge and expertise can be shared in a plethora of venues as part of the “service” component of their annual evaluation.  Our paper sets forth an example of such faculty involvement in an attempt to improve the decision-making of our incoming students and, as a result, the overall community by providing a presentation to our Freshman Seminar courses on the legal ramifications of poor decision-making as they begin to manage their newfound freedom of choices.  In our paper, we point out the pedagological system that we use to emphasize the importance of making the right choices for now, which will clearly have a direct effect upon their future.

In the current environment in higher education of trying to substantiate and justify that you are doing a great job as a department educating your students to be prepared for the “real world”, outcomes assessment is a major player.  But as many departments have found, “once you have received the feedback, now what do you do with it?”  Our paper will discuss how some of the outcome measurements that we use at Northwest Missouri State University in the Finance discipline become our decision drivers in course content and curricular reformation.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt;"><em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">In the course of our university service to the community in outreach activities, we have gravitated toward providing occasional group sessions in personal financial planning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>On the surface, the content of these financial coaching events may appear elementary to the casual observer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>But to the contrary, we have found that personal financial planning is a sorely needed skill set for many in our region.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Our typical session touches on the basic elements of family budgeting, retirement planning, goal setting and behavior modification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Those contemplating establishment of a similar program of study may benefit from our field experience.</span></span></em></p>