General Education Assessment

The purpose of student outcomes assessment is to provide useful and timely information about student achievement as it relates to the institution’s academic goals.  Buffalo State aspires to excellence in teaching and learning and scholarship, cultural enrichment and service and therefore has established the following priorities which reflect our values:

• To promote success in teaching and learning both within and beyond the classroom

• To maintain a nurturing and intellectually vital environment

• To recruit and retain a diverse population of students, faculty and staff

Information obtained through assessment activities is used to determine how well we are achieving out goals and to identify areas that we can improve.

BSC seeks to provide an outstanding general education program that has clearly defined learning goals and objectives.  The following assessment plan incorporates student learning in twelve areas:

• Mathematics

• Natural Sciences

• Social Sciences

• American History

• Western Civilization

• Other World Civilizations

• Humanities

• The Arts

• Foreign Language

• Basic Communication

• Critical Thinking

• Information Management

BSC graduates will demonstrate competency in these areas through assessment of the following learning outcomes:

• Mathematics: quantitative reasoning skills: arithmetic, algebra; geometry; data analysis; and quantitative reasoning

• Natural Sciences:  understanding the methods scientists use to explore natural phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence and employment of mathematical analysis and application of scientific data, concepts and models in one of the natural sciences

• Social Sciences: understanding of the methods social scientists use to explore social phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data

• American History: knowledge of a basic narrative of American history:  political, economic, social and cultural, including knowledge of unity and diversity in American society; knowledge of common institutions in American society and how they have affected different groups; and understanding of America’s evolving relationship with the rest of the world.

• Western Civilization:  knowledge of the development of the distinctive features of the history, institutions, economy, society, cultural, etc., of Western civilization and relating the development of Western civilization to that of other regions of the world

• Other World Civilizations:  knowledge of either a broad outline of world history or the distinctive features of the history, institutions, economy, society, culture, etc., of one non-Western civilization

• Humanities:  knowledge of the conventions and methods of at least one of the humanities in addition to those encompassed by other knowledge areas required by the General Education program

• The Arts:  understanding of at least one principal form of artistic expression and the creative process inherent therein

• Foreign Language:  basic proficiency in the understanding and use of a foreign language and knowledge of the distinctive features of culture(s) associated with the language they are studying

• Basic Communication:  producing coherent tests within common college-level written forms, revising and improving such texts, researching a topic, developing an argument and organizing supporting details; developing proficiency in oral discourse and evaluating an oral presentation according to established criteria

• Critical Thinking:  identify, analyze and evaluate arguments as they occur in their own or other’s work and develop well-reasoned arguments

• Information Management:  perform the basic operations of personal computer use, understand and use basic research techniques and locate, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources

A complete cycle of assessment will occur every three years according to the following schedule:

2002-2003:  Mathematics, Basic Communication, Foreign Language, American History

2003-2004:  Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking, Information Management

2004-2005:  Western Civilization, Other World Civilizations, Humanities, Arts

Overall, general education learning outcomes assessment:

1. will take place within general education courses.  This approach was adopted for several reasons:

2. The expected student response rate will be significantly higher when assessment occurs naturally within the context of a course.

3. It eliminates the problem of determining which students are transfers who may not have taken their general education coursework at Buffalo State ( and therefore should be assessed at the school where they did complete general education) and which are natives.

4. This assessment plan targets only students completing general education coursework  at Buffalo State.

5. It eliminates the problem of time away from the subject affecting the results.  If the  assessments were given at one set time for all students, some would have taken the subject matter recently and some would have taken it years before.  It can be reasonably anticipated that this would yield inconsistent results.

6. will take place at different times in students’ progress to graduation.  Buffalo State students tend to weave general education courses throughout their time here so there is no one point to effectively measure learning outcomes for everyone.  Embedding assessment in general education courses as they are taken is much more effective.

7. will reflect the distribution requirements in the areas identified. Therefore, one size does not fit all.  Some courses have enrollments of 90 and above and some have enrollments of 25 – 35; some courses are 100 level and some are 300 level.  Flexibility is necessary.  For example, it may be desirable and necessary to assess using different methods within one of these areas.  Courses vary greatly by enrollment, so multiple choice instruments may be necessitated in large classes and written instruments may be used in smaller classes.  In 100 level courses there may be more reliance on objective testing than there is in 300 level courses, etc.