Developing a Comprehensive Assessment Plan

Abstract

This chapter provides practical advice for developing a comprehensive assessment plan. Two examples from institutions that have created both individual and program-level assessment plans for leadership programs are shared.

Assessing Student Leadership Development From Mentoring, Coaching, and Advising

“…Assessment has become increasingly important in today's educational marketplace (Bingham et al., ; Rosch & Schwartz, ), yet due to the personal nature of mentoring, coaching, and advising relationships, it is often an afterthought when creating a plan for leadership educators. Those responsible for leadership education must be prepared to infuse assessment practices when they conduct these activities to document the achievement of programmatic and learning outcomes (Piatt & Woodruff, ).…”

“…As emphasized throughout this chapter, the best strategy to implement assessment practices in the context of the mentoring, coaching, and advising for leadership development with students is to have a plan to collect the information you want to know (Piatt & Woodruff, ; Roberts & Bailey, ). Once you have a determined outcome, you can identify assessment questions.…”

“…The need for leadership education has never been greater with rapidly increasing demands for accountability and results for higher education. However, the resources, tools, and approaches for learning may not yet be adequate to document and demonstrate impact (Piatt & Woodruff, ).…”

“…Difficulty can easily come in that as we try to conduct practices such as mentoring, coaching, and advising in leadership programs, there is too much to do, not enough resources, and questions of skills related to developing and analyzing data sets from assessment efforts. As leadership educators try to enact their work while also infusing opportunities to assess prioritized outcomes, it is vital to be laser‐focused on assessing leadership programs in ways that are purposeful and meaningful (Piatt & Woodruff, ; Roberts & Bailey, ).…”

New Directions for Student Leadership series review

“…Their examples range from episodic, the most common form of reflection, to periodic to metacognitive. For those campus activities professionals who are newer to the concept of assessment, Piatt and Woodruff (2016) provide practical suggestions for developing a comprehensive assessment plan, sharing examples from two institutions to provide contextual understanding.…”