Institutional Effectiveness
The Office of IRPE - Institutional Effectiveness (IE) at UTPB is responsible for assessing and improving the overall performance and efficiency of the institution. This involves evaluating educational programs, gathering data on student outcomes, and ensuring that the institution is meeting its goals and objectives.
Assessment, both academic and programmatic, are central to UTPB’s efforts to comply with our institutional mission to provide high-quality education to our students. IE supports the university’s efforts to comply with these standards on assessment in Educational Programs, Administrative Support Services, Academic/Student Support Services, and others. Through a process of data collection, self-evaluation, assessment and continuous improvement, these standards ensure that our academic colleges, departments, and programs provide data-driven decisions to capture effects of new initiatives. This process also assists our administrative services and university operations to effectively serve the needs of the university community and our students.
Institutional Effectiveness (IE) is the process of asking and answering critical questions:
- Why do we exist? (Mission)
- What do we want to create? (Vision)
- How are we going to get there? (Strategic Plan = prioritized action and resource allocation)
- How will be know we are successful? (Assessment)
- What do we do now? (Collaborative Learning, Reflection, and Implementation: teaching, research, program and service delivery)
Source: Seymour, D., & Bourgeois, M. (2018). Institutional Effectiveness Fieldbook. Santa Barbara, CA: Olive Press Publishing)
Core Elements of Assessment Planning:
- Clearly defined institutional and programmatic mission and vision
- Measurable outcomes that align to the mission of the institution
- Data sources/activities for assessment of those outcomes
- Benchmarks to help assess achievement of the outcomes
- Timeline for data collection and reporting
- Documentation of the results to guide decisions and changes to create improvement planning, budgeting, and resource allocation
UTPB Assessment Model
- Institutional Learning Outcomes
- Board Policies
- UTPB Strategic Plan
- General Education Outcomes
- UTPB Core Competencies
- Program Level Outcomes
- Accreditation/Licensure Standards
- Program Objectives
- Course Level Outcomes
- Curriculum Maps
- Course Objectives
Assessment Cycle
- PLAN - ○ Define Objects and Goals ○ Define Assessment Methods
- DATA COLLECTION - ○ Gather data on performance/outcomes ○ Ensure data accuracy
- ANALYSIS - ○ Evaluate data ○ Identify patterns/trends
- REPORT FEEDBACK - ○ Report Results
- IMPROVE - ○ Implement Changes ○ Adjust Strategies
- MONITOR - ○ Track Progress ○ Identify areas of ongoing improvement
- REVIEW - ○ Reflect on effectiveness of changes ○ Adjust as needed