|
Evaluation and Assessment
Evaluation and assessment
are crucial skills showing a competent Student Affairs
professional. In order to see what works well and what
needs to change, a Student Affairs professional must be
able to evaluate and assess programs and student
services by using quantitative and/or qualitative
research. In order to understand trends and current
research, professionals must be able to accurately read
and comprehend journal articles and other published
works. It is also necessary for Student Affairs
professionals to be able to evaluate and assess their
own programs and services through written evaluations
and honest debriefing sessions.
Community Advisor (Cal Poly
Pomona, FHS) and Resident Advisor (Azusa Pacific
University) Evaluations
Quantitative Analysis: A Published
Article!
Qualitative Analysis
Program Evaluation
End of the Year Report Documenting
My Experience at CPP
CA/RA/RD Selection
Committees
Community Advisor (Cal Poly
Pomona, FHS) and Resident Advisor (Azusa Pacific
University) Evaluations:
As a Resident/Residence
Director, I provide feedback to those I supervise on
their job performance. At both Cal Poly Pomona and
Azusa Pacific University, I evaluated my Community
Advisor/Resident Advisor staffs at least two times every
year. First, I complete a written evaluation of each of
their individual performances. Then, I meet with each
of my CAs/RAs individually to go over the evaluation
with them. I have grown to value giving my students
positive feedback as well as discussing areas of growth
with them. Though it is not always fun to critique
people's performances, I know it is a necessity. It
allows for growth and a greater understanding of ways to
improve.
One of my personal goals in the
area of evaluation of my CAs/RAs is to be upfront about
my critiques, both positive and constructive, throughout
the year. At the time of official evaluations, my hope
is that my staffs would already have heard from me
regarding all the issues addressed in the evaluation. I
do not think that I am being fair to my staff as their
supervisor if I wait until "official" evaluation times
to give feedback.
Cal Poly
Pomona, FHS Evaluation of CAs
APU Evaluation of RAs
Quantitative Analysis: A
Published Article!
Due to my undergraduate
background in psychology, I came into the CSA program
with a foundation in quantitative analysis. Because of
this, I petitioned to take six units of independent
study in place of two required classes. For my
independent study, I worked with John Hoffman, an
adjunct professor at APU, on a research project titled
"Predicting College Success with High School Grades and
Test Scores: Limitations for Minority Students". The
intent of the study was to learn how and if pre-college
factors influence the success of students from varied
racial and religious backgrounds. For this article, I
focused on the literature review, while John
concentrated on the statistical analysis. By working on
this article, my understanding of statistics grew
immensely; John walked me through the complicated
processes of a priori path analysis, confirmatory
factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.
Though I am not able to do these types of statistics
myself, I can now understand their meaning and
function. I also learned how to create a literature
review detailed enough for publication.
Our
article is scheduled to be published in The Review of
Higher Education in either December or March.
"Predicting
College Success with High School Grades and Test Scores:
Limitations for Minority Students"
Letter from The Review of Higher Education
Access Database for Literature Review
The Review of Higher Education
Qualitative Analysis:
For Today's College Students, I
co-wrote a paper with Melissa Laraway on minority women
in student leadership positions at Azusa Pacific
University. I gained valuable experience interviewing
students, transcribing interviews, and writing a
qualitative research report. I learned how to see
themes and code information while reading through the
various interviews. Though qualitative research is a
time consuming process, the information is invaluable.
I loved discovering how the women on APU's campus view
their leadership positions, why they chose to be in
leadership, and the impact they feel they are making.
The
Experiences of Minority Female Student Leaders at Azusa
Pacific University
Program Evaluation:
As an RD, I have had the chance
to evaluate the programs that I have organized and
overseen during the past two and a half years. I have
truly come to value the importance of debriefing events
and learning from my experiences. There are two ways
that I have evaluated programs that I have hosted: on
paper in a formal evaluation and by debriefing with the
people who organized the event after it took place. By
reviewing programs on paper, I have the chance to see
where my money was spent, process what went well, and
think about what I could have done differently to make
the program better. By debriefing with my staff or with
the group who organized the event, I have the chance to
learn from their feedback and gain a better overall
perspective of the program. Program evaluation is
crucial in order to continuously sharpen processes and
programs that take place.
Major? What is That? - Post
Program Evaluation
Ice Cream and RAs - Post Program Evaluation
Street Meet - Post Programming Evaluation
End of the Year Report
Documenting My Experience at CPP:
At the end of my
year as an RD at Cal Poly Pomona, I wrote an end of the
year report detailing my experience. This report
included reports on the programming we had done, status
of the Community Advisors, the environment in the
Village, diversity issues, judicial issues, welcome
week, and various partnerships I had built throughout
the year. This report was a detailed evaluation of what
went well and what I would do differently if given
another opportunity. This report also left the new RD
staff information from which they could build upon for
the next years.
End of the Year Report
CA/RA/RD Selection Committees:
At both Cal Poly Pomona,
Foundation Housing Service (CPP, FHS) and Azusa Pacific
University (APU), I have had the chance to participate
in various selection committees. At CPP, FHS, I served
on both the Community Advisor and Resident Director
selection committees. At APU, I was a member of the
Resident Advisor selection committee. As a member of
these committees, I evaluated applicants' resumes,
application questions, reference forms, and interviews.
I learned how to conduct an interview as well as how to
read through an application looking for answers to
specific questions. These processes taught me a lot
about evaluation and assessment in that I was given the
opportunity to assess overall applications of people
desiring positions within the department.
Back to Top |
