A “Realistic Appraisal” of
Student Educational Planning
The SMC Counseling Approach to Assessing SLOs
Esau Tovar, Santa Monica College
Accreditation Institute 2010
Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
March 20, 2010
Counseling Student Learning Outcomes—An Overview
• Student Learning Outcomes discussions and
plans start in March 2006 anticipating our Fall
2007 Program Review.
• Have undergone several assessment cycles for a
variety of SLOs; two cycles for educational
planning SLO.
• Adopted SLOs have included attitudinal,
behavioral, and cognitive domains for counseling
service and instruction.
• Common in all: lots of discussion, debriefing,
assessing, and willingness to sustain efforts.
– Frustrating at times…? Yes!!
2
Timeline Toward SLO Adoption & Assessment—
Some Milestones
Starts in 2006
March
2006:
Preparing
for
Program
Review
May 2006:
Adoption of
SLOs 1 &
2
March 2006:
Goal
Development
March
2007:
Data
Analysis
November
-January:
Data
Collection
April
2007:
Program
Review
Report
Turned In
Adoption of
“Global”
SLO for
Instruction
3
Timeline Toward SLO Adoption & Assessment—
Some Milestones
October 2007:
Special Programs
Submit SLOs
October 2007:
Review Of
Assessment
Results &
Future
Directions
Spring 2008:
Submit Status
Update In
Preparation
For
Accreditation
Self-study
Establish
Competencies
For All
Counseling
Courses
October 2007:
Changes To
Probationary
Student
Orientation
Implemented
Refined SLOs
1 & ISLO
November
2007:
SLO
Mapping
Toward
Institutional
Learning
Outcomes
4
Timeline Toward SLO Adoption & Assessment—
Some Milestones
May 2008:
Decision To Assess
SLO #1 And #2 In
Student Success
Seminar: 2
Presentations
Conducted: Transfer
And Educational
Planning
September-October
2008:
Presentations
Conducted
Students Meet With
Counselors To
Review Educational
Plans
May - August 2008:
Educational Planning
Rubric Developed
Late November
2008:
Quiz & Survey
Administered
Educational Planning
Quiz & Surveys
Developed
5
Timeline Toward SLO Adoption & Assessment—
Some Milestones
Spring 2009:
Revisions
made to
educational
planning and
transfer
presentations
January
2009:
Data
Analyzed
Report
Prepared
February
2009:
SLO
assessment
report
reviewed
Future
directions
decided
NOW:
We are
here!

September 2009 –
February 2010:
Cycle 2 Starts-Ends
Department discusses
outcomes
Decision to enter
Cycle 3 (Fall 2010)
6
Core SLOs for Realistic Appraisal of Educational Planning
Original SLO Adopted:
SLO #1:
As a result of the counseling session(s), students will demonstrate a basic understanding of
their individual interests and related academic and career goals which will help them to
formulate a realistic educational plan.
SLO #2:
Students will identify their math and English course sequences, understand the possible
consequences of not following appropriate course sequence and chart their individual
math and English course sequences to achieve their educational goals.
Revised Based on First Assessment Cycle:
Student will formulate a realistic self-appraisal of their educational
status and its relationship to their overall goals.
+ SLO#2
7
Multipronged Approach for Assessing SLOs
Direct
Evidence
of Learning
Application
of Skills
Learned
Perception
of Needs
SLO
Mastery
8
Logistics
• Required collaboration of counselors and
Counseling 20—Student Success Seminar
instructors.
• Willingness to dedicate 2 class sessions for:
– Ed Planning presentation
– Transfer presentation
– Helps to have small number of
engaging/knowledgeable presenters
• Willingness to administer post-assignment quiz and survey
9
Logistics (cont.)
• Require students to individually meet with counselors to
review ed plan
– Willingness to ask students to come back when it is clear little
effort was placed in completing assignment
• Provide guidance on how to create ed plan
– Review of 5 ed plan components. Identification of relevant:
• Degree/transfer General Education requirements (categorize)
• Major –specific requirements
• Prerequisites
• English/Math prerequisite sequencing
• 3 semester/session course planning
– Counselor evaluation of ed plan—based on completed assignment
and in-person discussion of student goals, etc.
10
Logistics (cont.)
•
Data Collection/Analysis
– Counselors must keep track of ed plans evaluated
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Logistics (cont.)
• Data Collection/Analysis
–
–
–
–
Counselors must keep track of ed plans evaluated
Records kept by student name, ID number
Require ID number on Quiz and Survey
Integrate ALL data above into single student record for
comprehensive analysis if desired
– Method affords opportunity to identify both a control and an
experimental group
– Opportunity to incorporate course grade received and examine
differences by select student characteristics or for group as a
whole
– Analysis requires someone with basic quantitative analysis
experience
12
Logistics (cont.)
• Closing Assessment Cycles
– Discussing findings and dedicating time to dialogue is
crucial
– Use findings to guide future directions
• Revise materials and methods used
– Willingness to sustain efforts
13
Results—A Brief Overview
Figure 1.
Student educational plan MEAN differences by cohort year
(all differences significant at p < .001)
14
Results—A Brief Overview
Figure 2.
Student educational plan PERCENTAGE differences by cohort year
(all differences significant at p < .001)
15
Figure 2. Percentage of Students Correctly Identifying Educational Planning Quiz Responses
Results—A Brief Overview
Figure 3.
Percentage of Students Correctly Identifying Educational Planning Quiz
Responses
16
Results—A Brief Overview
Figure 4.
Percentage of Students Needing Additional Assistance
with Ed Plan Assignment
17