Annual Academic Assessment Process

In support of UB's ongoing mission provide excellent programs of undergraduate and graduate education, and to meet all criteria for the standards of accreditation for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, it is imperative for all programs to be able to

1.   Identify and document Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs).

2.   Link Program Learning Outcomes to the Institutional Learning Outcomes (ILOs) as established by the 2014 Realizing UB2020 Report with a curriculum map.

3.   Effectively assess each PLO, ideally using both direct and indirect methods of assessment.

4.   Continually meet or improve on each PLO, based on the results of the assessments.

Faculty who are identified as Program Coordinators are responsible for ensuring their programs Learning Outcomes are documented, assessed, and reviewed in UB's AAPAR Platform. If you believe you have been identified as the Program Coordinator in error, or are having difficulty with the site, please contact our office at ubcatt@buffalo.edu

The "Learning Outcomes" section contains the following fields which must be completed in AAPAR:

1. Program Learning Outcomes define what knowledge and skills students will be assessed for when they complete a study - what students will know and be able to do because they have completed a program. 
   
   Tip: check to make sure all of your program's learning outcomes are listed in AAPAR!
   
   
2. The "Assessment Methods" section details how the outcome will be measured: Who will be assessed, when, and how often.
3. The "Success Criteria" indicate the level of performance which represents mastery and what proportion of students should be achieving mastery.
4. The "Assessment Findings" is for assessment results and what they show about student learning.
5. "Actions Based on Findings" allows for a discussion of changes that were made or will be made to the program or courses in the program based on the results and who reviewed the findings.
6. "UB ILO Mapping" enables programs to show how program-level learning outcomes support UB's Institutional Learning Outcomes.
7. "Course Mapping" shows which courses in a program directly address the learning outcome. 

The "Planning" section has three interrelated fields that allow you to strategically plan improvements for your department:

1. The "Program Planning Based on Assessment Findings" section asks you to indicate the plan of action for maintaining, strengthening, or changing aspects of program delivery based on the assessment findings or interpretation of results for the outcomes focused on in this report. 
2. The "Budget Planning Based on Assessment Findings" section is a narrative that links strategic investments with supporting evidence of need identified through program assessment. Identify specific program budgetary needs to implement your program plan. 
   
   Tip: by narrativizing program needs in terms of outcomes and improvements, the budget plan section offers a powerful tool for discussing department funding needs!
   
   
3. The "Assessment Plan" section identifies which learning outcome(s) will be the focus of assessment in the upcoming assessment cycle.

The "Documents" section allows you to add supplemental documents that support your report with added details or evidence. These can include

• Narrative and summary reports
• Curriculum maps
• Assessment rubrics
• Evidence of student learning

This section can also contain documents from external accreditation or comprehensive program review, including

• Self-study reports
• Evaluator Reports
• Action Items

Tip: file uploads must be of type "application/pdf" and be no larger than 2.3mb in size.